EDUCATIONAL EVENTS
Thursday, January 17
“Rich in Food”: Revitalizing
Traditional Food on the
Northwest Coast
If you think our food supply on Vancouver Island is secure, guess again — we truck most of our stuff in from elsewhere. And if that transportation infrastructure falls apart, what then? All those seagulls are starting to look mighty tasty, aren’t they? So maybe we should start thinking a little differently about where we get our food. If you’re pickin’ up what I’m puttin’ down, come check out this event, where the authors of Where People Feast: An Indigenous People’s Cookbook will let us know all about traditional First Nations cuisine on the Northwest Coast. There will be tips on food preparation along with various tasty morsels to round out the evening.
For more info, email reception@royalbcmuseum.bc.ca or call (250) 356-7226.
Royal B.C. Museum (675 Belleville St.), 7–9 p.m. $35 plus HST for members, $40 plus HST for non-members.
Saturday, January 19
Amnesty International Film
Festival
Here’s a film festival that’s guaranteed to be entertaining, but it’s very likely you’ll also get pissed off in the process of watching each movie’s story unfold. But that’s a good thing; we need to get pissed off in order to want to make some kind of social change. The documentaries being screened will include a wide range of stories, from the experiences of Chinese dissident Ai Weiwei and impoverished women in Kenya to issues in our own backyard, including the tribulations of a Canadian First Nations family and the truth about how our media obscures the real story behind conflicts in places like Afghanistan and Iraq. There will also be guest speakers, live music and information tables. Whether you’re a film buff, an activist or both, this is a festival you won’t want to miss.
For more info, visit amnestyinvictoria.ca or email amnestyvictoria27@hotmail.ca.
Victoria Event Centre (1415 Broad St.), 2–10 p.m. Suggested donation: $10 each session.
Sunday, January 20
Oh Deer!
Want to know more about the secret lives of deer? Well, there’s a ton of them on the UVic campus, so you could simply ask one, but they’d probably just say, “Snorf! Snorf!” (which means “leave me alone, human!”). But if you really want to make an experience out of deer-learnin’, why not hop on the bus out to Metchosin and go on a guided walk where you can learn all about the lives of deer (or “stick ponies” as I like to call them). I can tell you something about deer: they like to eat Christmas trees. My family threw one out on the lawn and we watched a deer come along and eat it. Besides eating Christmas trees, deer do other things . . . come out to Metchosin and find out what!
For more info, email crdparks@crd.bc.ca or call (250) 478-3344.
Witty’s Lagoon Regional Park (meet at the Nature Centre in the parking lot, off Metchosin Rd. on Pears Rd.), 1–2:30 p.m. Free.
MUSIC
Thursday, January 17
Throwback Thursday: Vintage Night
Celebrate the not-too-distant past through rose-coloured lenses at Vintage Night at the Upstairs Cabaret, with live entertainment from acts including Wknd Warriors, Teaganbear and DJ Dunkaru. There will be cheap drinks (wooo!) and prizes for best outfit. Now, when they say “vintage,” they mean the styles of the ‘60s, ‘70s and ‘80s, which will all be partying together peacefully in the year 2013. No one would think of it now, but if it were actually people from the past travelling in time to this show, each decade would laugh at the fashion and hairstyles of the one previous, as well as awe them with their technology. Of course, we in the 21st century would have the last laugh — imagine showing any of those other decades an iPad. They’d most likely poop in their pants with fright.
For more info, email
psychosphereproductions@gmail.com or call (250) 891-5450.
Upstairs Cabaret (15 Bastion Square), 10 p.m. $5 advance (first 100 tickets)/$8 advance (next 200 tickets).
Friday, January 18
Annie Lou CD Release
Here’s a show sure to be of interest to all the folkies out there. Annie Lou (a.k.a. Juno-nominated singer-songwriter Anne Louise Genest) will be playing a CD-release show for her new album, Grandma’s Rules for Drinking, at Norway House — a venue I always feel instantly teleports me into a small-town coffee house. Genest spent 20 years living up in the wilds of the Yukon, and I’d imagine anyone who’s ever done that would naturally have a huge discography of folk music ready to spew out as soon as they touched an acoustic guitar. And this would happen even if they weren’t musicians; living in the Yukon would literally reprogram your DNA to make you into a guitar-strummin’ folkie. Well, that or a guy (or gal!) who owns a dirt-encrusted pickup truck and a bunch of big, bitey dogs and likes to shoot at things.
For more info, email hellostrangerproductions@gmail.com or call (250) 886-7108.
Norway House (1110 Hillside Ave.), doors at 7:30, show at 8 p.m. $18 advance/$20 door. All ages, unless organizers secure a liquor licence.
Friday, January 18
Daft Punk Tribute Night
Remember the music from the second Tron movie? Did ya dig it? Well, if you did, here’s a chance to relive that experience at Lucky Bar. There will be a number of tribute acts playing, and there will also be some visual goodies to accompany the music. Here’s an important tip if you go: if you see the older-looking, bearded, “The Dude” Jeff Bridges, he’s okay, but if you see the weirdly smiling young Jeff Bridges, avoid him at all costs. If you’re so excited for this show that you can’t stand it, play some Daft Punk music on your stereo with your friends while running around on the lawn and throwing Frisbees at each other very hard.
For more info, email info@surgeahead.ca.
Lucky Bar (517 Yates St.), 10 p.m. $12.
Thursday, January 24 – Saturday, January 26,
007 and Other Spies
You know, not to put down all those centuries’ worth of beautiful European classical music, but I bet a lot of people who go to see a symphony really just want to hear them play music from Star Wars, Indiana Jones and Back to the Future. Musical junk food? I suppose so, but it’s highly compelling nonetheless. And here’s another concert to lure the classical music non-aficionados — the Victoria Symphony will be playing musical themes from all the popular spy movies, including the James Bond, Mission Impossible and Pink Panther (not the cartoon cat on the bags of fibreglass insulation, but the actual guy) films. I hope they have one person in the orchestra whose job it is to make all the sound effects from the classic James Bond game Goldeneye for the Nintendo 64. Bond music and explosion sound effects go together like rum and eggnog, which you’re probably missing terribly now that we’re so far into January.
For more info, visit rmts.bc.ca or call (250) 386-6121.
Royal Theatre (805 Broughton St.), 2 p.m. on the 24th and 8 p.m. on the 25th and 26th. Tickets range in price: $18, $22, $28 for students; $33, $43, $53 for seniors; $35, $45, $55 for adults.
