Vancouver - The Last Last One
It's been three months since I left Vancouver so I should really finish up my emails about the place and get on to Paris, London and most importantly Edinburgh (where I've lived since October 12!). Here's a selection of highlights of my final weeks in Van.
The Cambie Drinking Game
As you may remember, the first place I stayed was the Cambie Gastown hostel (the Firetrap). Beneath these lodgings is the Cambie Bar & Grill where one could find me having a quiet after work beer with Scooter & D*ck most weeknights. These quiet beers would often turn into a few loud beers later in the evening.
For the most part the Cambie is a pretty ordinary bar. We were there for the cheap booze ($3.25 pints), the 'burger & brew' deal ($5.50) and because there wasn't much else in the way of decent pubs in the area. If we wanted to go elsewhere we had to choose between the dive bars of Hastings St (where we would risk a stabbing) or the tourist bars of Gastown (where we would risk bankruptcy). The punk pub up the road (Pub 340) was okay but the clientele a little moody. We went there fairly often but we rarely stuck around for long.
The last evenings spent in the Cambie were better than usual because we created an excellent Cambie drinking game. The game relied on the fact there is a small step between the bar & restaurant sections that tended to trip about half the people heading into the restaurant. Scooter, D*ck and I would take the table next to the step and make the most of others' misfortunes by playing a game with the following rules: if a patron stumbled after kicking the step, we had to skol two fingers of beer; if an employee succumbed, we skoled 4 fingers; and if anyone hit the step so hard they crashed to the ground, we finished our drinks (unfortunately we never got to see anyone make it to the floor but that last rule is pretty cool nonetheless). You'd be amazed how long the Cambie Drinking Game could amuse three Aussies - then again maybe you wouldn't.
Megadeth/Anthrax
One of the perks of handing out free newspapers on street corners was that my employer, Nasco, shared an office with House of Blues - a large concert promoter which, despite its name, puts on all kinds of gigs. Nasco got some extra tickets for shows to pass onto its employees for free. I was offered entry to a few concerts but none of them interested me... until one day my supervisor said, 'How many tickets would you like for the (eighties metal legends) Megadeth concert?' 'THREE!' I replied knowing that Scooter & Dick would be up for it. Turns out that not only were Megadeth to play but also Anthrax and Fear Factory!!!
I was offered more tickets before the event and, having remembered that I saw a door in the Dunsmuir with a Mortal Sin poster on it, decided to get a couple of extra tickets. The day before the gig I knocked on the door of an unknown neighbour brandishing two 'Gigantour' tickets worth about 60 bucks each. A large Russian tentatively poked his head out and didn't say a word. I said, 'Um, I have two free tickets for Megadeth if you want them'
He said, 'where did you get them?'
'I got them from work, they were giving them away. You can have them - I saw your poster...'
'For free?'
'Yes, for free'
He then went something like this, 'Megadeth, yesssssssss! Yessssssssss! You saved my life. I could not afford tickets. Rarrrrrrrrrrrrrr. Yessssssssss!
HAHAHAHAHAHA'
I walked away and as I got to the far end of the corridor I could still hear him yelling 'MEGADETH!!! Rarrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr'
Now, as you'd all know I'm not the most metal looking guy (although I'd like to point out that I did have a Megadeth t-shirt when I was 13) so I tried to metal up my image somewhat for the night by wearing black jeans, eighties t-shirt and my Levitt Safety cap placed backwards & loosely on top of the curls.
The lads smuggled in a mickey (half bottle) of Canadian Club each (quite an achievement considering the customs-like search they gave everyone at the door) and we sat down waiting for the mighty Anthrax to take the stage (we were too late for Fear Factory but, you know, who cares...).
The concert was held at the Pacific Coliseum where the (ice hockey team) Canucks used to play and where, as seemingly every Vancouverite points out, Rocky 5 was filmed. Rocky 5! Incredible that so many people remember this considering that knowing this is roughly the equivalent of knowing where Police Academy 7 was filmed.
When Anthrax and their big hair hit the stage we raised the devil's horns, banged our heads and gave out the loudest metal screams we could muster. The band was pretty good but it's funny how soft eighties metal sounds compared to the metal of today. When I went for a slash, the guy next to me at the urinal asked, 'How old are you?' He quickly followed that up with the non-sequiter, 'You've got to listen to heavier shit than this. This is gay.'
Dave Mustaine from Megadeth looks just the same as he did 20 years ago and his music hasn't changed either. It was a metal nostalgia night and I felt a bit like a tourist - I'm not that into metal and I only ever owned one Megadeth album (Baz - it was Peace Sells But Who's Dying).
Baseball
I was never happier in Vancouver than when watching the mighty Vancouver Canadian 'single A' baseball team with my baseball buddy Jez (a Canberra lad no less). We saw four or five games and enjoyed every one - even the game we watched sober. Only one home run was struck in that time but it was a sweet hit over the left field fence well worth waiting for. I can't remember name of the guy who hit it though. In fact, I can't remember any of the players' names apart from Jose (and I don't even know his last name). This was mostly because you don't find too many stars on a single A baseball team - the forth highest baseball league after MLB, AAA & AA.
All season, the Canadian's between-inning entertainment coordinators persisted with the bloody tricycle race I complained about before. This was a curse and a blessing. The former because a tricycle race on grass really does suck, the latter because we got to yell "LAME!" through the whole contest as well as encourage competitors to fight (which unfortunately never happened). I swear we once got up to 20 people booing the event. In fact, I believe they should have paid us for the entertainment we
provided. We yelled 'stand up' at the short players when they batted, employed
clever plays-on-names with opposition players' surnames and provided pitch
perfect "bullshiiiiit, bulllllshiiiiit" duets when the umpires (gosh they were
crap) stuffed up.
Another highlight of a C's game was the bizarre giveaways. Most games we'd find ourselves with a voucher for a free piece of cod and a copy of Buy & Sell (Canadian version of the Trading Post). One game the scantily clad, unhealthily young, staff gave away free metre rulers. Free metre rulers!
Anyway, if you're ever in Vancouver in summer make your way out to Nat Bailey stadium. Just catch the number 10 bus, get off at Main & 28Th and walk west. Can't miss it.
Zoe's B'day
One stinking hot Saturday I attended a 30th birthday party for Jez's better half Zoe. A friend of theirs kindly provided the venue for the event. He lived in an apartment complex just south of Davie St - the Oxford St of Canada. I turned up unfashionably on time (4pm start) - so it was just Jez, Zoe and I (I was yet to meet the guy who owned the place). The band turned up 10 mins later and were due to play at 4:30. 'Band?' I hear you ask. Yes, Jez booked a band to play in a 8th floor one bedroom apartment. The band regularly played at a bar near where Jez & Zoe were living. They were called the Zoe Trio so Jez thought that they had to be booked. After they set up their stuff, and were given a beer each, the guy who owned the place turned up to find a three piece instrumental jazz band taking up half his living room. Jez and Zoe hadn't bothered to tell him that there was going to be live music - possibly because they thought he might nix the idea. He was shocked but got over it pretty quickly because the guys in the band were quite cute and he is that way inclined (if you know what I mean). Over the next couple of hours the guests turned up, the party got started and the Zoe Trio got increasingly liquored (thanks to Jez shoving beers in their hands whenever he could). They banged out what I would describe as hard elevator music (easy listening with a little bit of an edge to it). By the end of the second set everyone was dancing and the musicians cast off the shackles of the elevator genre and blasted out a great version of that song that goes 'they say it's your birthday' while Zoe, and everyone else, twirled about.
It was all kind of surreal. Drunk on a saturday afternoon, dancing in a high rise apartment and hanging out with people I'd never met before - including a guy who went to school with my mate's dad, Tezza Snow (I forgot to mention that to you Tommy - he and his wife live in Van. Can't remember his name though sorry).
We wouldn't let the band stop playing for a quite a while. And Jez had no intention of letting them sober up for their wedding gig at 8pm. He gave them shots of something or other, that made them want to play a little longer. They eventual left to the sound of rapturous applause with only fifteen minutes before they were to play a reception. That day, the Zoe Trio got a ton of free beers, an appreciative crowd like no other and a parking ticket.
So the party went on as Jez and I set the pace. At about midnight (possibly) the two of us did an interpretative synchronised dance to some song that was improved by such an activity. The next thing I remember is sitting on the couch with Jez drinking whatever we could get our hands on and listening to classic eighties glam metal (Motley Crue I think) - everyone else had either left or gone to sleep.
I don't think Zoe could have had a better, or more memorable, birthday party. I'm never going to forget it (unless I get old and senile or something).
Crap I'm going to have to write at least another Vancouver email - too many highlights. I've also only got one minute of Internet time so I can't edit what I've written - please excuse typos etc.
Anyway, I'm sure everyone would be happy to hear that I've started writing my novel. It's about a young man's experiences working in the public service (pure fiction of course). The book is currently 1500 words long so I expect to complete it in 2008, by which time it would have morphed into a novel about a not-so-young man's experiences living in hostels. Keep an eye out for it on my book shelf in 'piled A4' form.
I hope everyone is doing well.
The Cambie Drinking Game
As you may remember, the first place I stayed was the Cambie Gastown hostel (the Firetrap). Beneath these lodgings is the Cambie Bar & Grill where one could find me having a quiet after work beer with Scooter & D*ck most weeknights. These quiet beers would often turn into a few loud beers later in the evening.
For the most part the Cambie is a pretty ordinary bar. We were there for the cheap booze ($3.25 pints), the 'burger & brew' deal ($5.50) and because there wasn't much else in the way of decent pubs in the area. If we wanted to go elsewhere we had to choose between the dive bars of Hastings St (where we would risk a stabbing) or the tourist bars of Gastown (where we would risk bankruptcy). The punk pub up the road (Pub 340) was okay but the clientele a little moody. We went there fairly often but we rarely stuck around for long.
The last evenings spent in the Cambie were better than usual because we created an excellent Cambie drinking game. The game relied on the fact there is a small step between the bar & restaurant sections that tended to trip about half the people heading into the restaurant. Scooter, D*ck and I would take the table next to the step and make the most of others' misfortunes by playing a game with the following rules: if a patron stumbled after kicking the step, we had to skol two fingers of beer; if an employee succumbed, we skoled 4 fingers; and if anyone hit the step so hard they crashed to the ground, we finished our drinks (unfortunately we never got to see anyone make it to the floor but that last rule is pretty cool nonetheless). You'd be amazed how long the Cambie Drinking Game could amuse three Aussies - then again maybe you wouldn't.
Megadeth/Anthrax
One of the perks of handing out free newspapers on street corners was that my employer, Nasco, shared an office with House of Blues - a large concert promoter which, despite its name, puts on all kinds of gigs. Nasco got some extra tickets for shows to pass onto its employees for free. I was offered entry to a few concerts but none of them interested me... until one day my supervisor said, 'How many tickets would you like for the (eighties metal legends) Megadeth concert?' 'THREE!' I replied knowing that Scooter & Dick would be up for it. Turns out that not only were Megadeth to play but also Anthrax and Fear Factory!!!
I was offered more tickets before the event and, having remembered that I saw a door in the Dunsmuir with a Mortal Sin poster on it, decided to get a couple of extra tickets. The day before the gig I knocked on the door of an unknown neighbour brandishing two 'Gigantour' tickets worth about 60 bucks each. A large Russian tentatively poked his head out and didn't say a word. I said, 'Um, I have two free tickets for Megadeth if you want them'
He said, 'where did you get them?'
'I got them from work, they were giving them away. You can have them - I saw your poster...'
'For free?'
'Yes, for free'
He then went something like this, 'Megadeth, yesssssssss! Yessssssssss! You saved my life. I could not afford tickets. Rarrrrrrrrrrrrrr. Yessssssssss!
HAHAHAHAHAHA'
I walked away and as I got to the far end of the corridor I could still hear him yelling 'MEGADETH!!! Rarrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr'
Now, as you'd all know I'm not the most metal looking guy (although I'd like to point out that I did have a Megadeth t-shirt when I was 13) so I tried to metal up my image somewhat for the night by wearing black jeans, eighties t-shirt and my Levitt Safety cap placed backwards & loosely on top of the curls.
The lads smuggled in a mickey (half bottle) of Canadian Club each (quite an achievement considering the customs-like search they gave everyone at the door) and we sat down waiting for the mighty Anthrax to take the stage (we were too late for Fear Factory but, you know, who cares...).
The concert was held at the Pacific Coliseum where the (ice hockey team) Canucks used to play and where, as seemingly every Vancouverite points out, Rocky 5 was filmed. Rocky 5! Incredible that so many people remember this considering that knowing this is roughly the equivalent of knowing where Police Academy 7 was filmed.
When Anthrax and their big hair hit the stage we raised the devil's horns, banged our heads and gave out the loudest metal screams we could muster. The band was pretty good but it's funny how soft eighties metal sounds compared to the metal of today. When I went for a slash, the guy next to me at the urinal asked, 'How old are you?' He quickly followed that up with the non-sequiter, 'You've got to listen to heavier shit than this. This is gay.'
Dave Mustaine from Megadeth looks just the same as he did 20 years ago and his music hasn't changed either. It was a metal nostalgia night and I felt a bit like a tourist - I'm not that into metal and I only ever owned one Megadeth album (Baz - it was Peace Sells But Who's Dying).
Baseball
I was never happier in Vancouver than when watching the mighty Vancouver Canadian 'single A' baseball team with my baseball buddy Jez (a Canberra lad no less). We saw four or five games and enjoyed every one - even the game we watched sober. Only one home run was struck in that time but it was a sweet hit over the left field fence well worth waiting for. I can't remember name of the guy who hit it though. In fact, I can't remember any of the players' names apart from Jose (and I don't even know his last name). This was mostly because you don't find too many stars on a single A baseball team - the forth highest baseball league after MLB, AAA & AA.
All season, the Canadian's between-inning entertainment coordinators persisted with the bloody tricycle race I complained about before. This was a curse and a blessing. The former because a tricycle race on grass really does suck, the latter because we got to yell "LAME!" through the whole contest as well as encourage competitors to fight (which unfortunately never happened). I swear we once got up to 20 people booing the event. In fact, I believe they should have paid us for the entertainment we
provided. We yelled 'stand up' at the short players when they batted, employed
clever plays-on-names with opposition players' surnames and provided pitch
perfect "bullshiiiiit, bulllllshiiiiit" duets when the umpires (gosh they were
crap) stuffed up.
Another highlight of a C's game was the bizarre giveaways. Most games we'd find ourselves with a voucher for a free piece of cod and a copy of Buy & Sell (Canadian version of the Trading Post). One game the scantily clad, unhealthily young, staff gave away free metre rulers. Free metre rulers!
Anyway, if you're ever in Vancouver in summer make your way out to Nat Bailey stadium. Just catch the number 10 bus, get off at Main & 28Th and walk west. Can't miss it.
Zoe's B'day
One stinking hot Saturday I attended a 30th birthday party for Jez's better half Zoe. A friend of theirs kindly provided the venue for the event. He lived in an apartment complex just south of Davie St - the Oxford St of Canada. I turned up unfashionably on time (4pm start) - so it was just Jez, Zoe and I (I was yet to meet the guy who owned the place). The band turned up 10 mins later and were due to play at 4:30. 'Band?' I hear you ask. Yes, Jez booked a band to play in a 8th floor one bedroom apartment. The band regularly played at a bar near where Jez & Zoe were living. They were called the Zoe Trio so Jez thought that they had to be booked. After they set up their stuff, and were given a beer each, the guy who owned the place turned up to find a three piece instrumental jazz band taking up half his living room. Jez and Zoe hadn't bothered to tell him that there was going to be live music - possibly because they thought he might nix the idea. He was shocked but got over it pretty quickly because the guys in the band were quite cute and he is that way inclined (if you know what I mean). Over the next couple of hours the guests turned up, the party got started and the Zoe Trio got increasingly liquored (thanks to Jez shoving beers in their hands whenever he could). They banged out what I would describe as hard elevator music (easy listening with a little bit of an edge to it). By the end of the second set everyone was dancing and the musicians cast off the shackles of the elevator genre and blasted out a great version of that song that goes 'they say it's your birthday' while Zoe, and everyone else, twirled about.
It was all kind of surreal. Drunk on a saturday afternoon, dancing in a high rise apartment and hanging out with people I'd never met before - including a guy who went to school with my mate's dad, Tezza Snow (I forgot to mention that to you Tommy - he and his wife live in Van. Can't remember his name though sorry).
We wouldn't let the band stop playing for a quite a while. And Jez had no intention of letting them sober up for their wedding gig at 8pm. He gave them shots of something or other, that made them want to play a little longer. They eventual left to the sound of rapturous applause with only fifteen minutes before they were to play a reception. That day, the Zoe Trio got a ton of free beers, an appreciative crowd like no other and a parking ticket.
So the party went on as Jez and I set the pace. At about midnight (possibly) the two of us did an interpretative synchronised dance to some song that was improved by such an activity. The next thing I remember is sitting on the couch with Jez drinking whatever we could get our hands on and listening to classic eighties glam metal (Motley Crue I think) - everyone else had either left or gone to sleep.
I don't think Zoe could have had a better, or more memorable, birthday party. I'm never going to forget it (unless I get old and senile or something).
Crap I'm going to have to write at least another Vancouver email - too many highlights. I've also only got one minute of Internet time so I can't edit what I've written - please excuse typos etc.
Anyway, I'm sure everyone would be happy to hear that I've started writing my novel. It's about a young man's experiences working in the public service (pure fiction of course). The book is currently 1500 words long so I expect to complete it in 2008, by which time it would have morphed into a novel about a not-so-young man's experiences living in hostels. Keep an eye out for it on my book shelf in 'piled A4' form.
I hope everyone is doing well.
posted by woden pete @ 12:38 AM
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