Night Music: Lowdown

Italian Day Is Back!

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Great news! Our Italian Day, taking up the entire Commercial Drive from Venables to Broadway, will be back this year on June 11th, after being derailed for a few years by the pandemic. Once again it will be a car-free festival of fun, food, and everything Italian!

Mark the day on your calendar and make sure to come down and enjoy the party.

Dinner Tonight #81

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Crispy Lemon Chicken Cutlets with Salmaglio sauce. Pretty darned tasty!

Image: Philadelphia Market Street Bank

Poem: In Progress

 

The older woman at the bar

thrusts out her breasts

exposing her defiance

of gravity

only to reveal

the clever architecture of her foundation

garments

etched in lines and grooves across her back.

Such women

with such pretensions

shouldn’t wear white sweaters

tucked tight into yellow stretch pants.

the shadows of the lines and grooves

accentuate the engineering

drawing our attention

away from the points she wants us to watch.

And once you notice the bra-lines

across her back

you ignore the synthetically pleasing roundness

of her surgically-enhanced bosom

across her front

and instead you focus

the lines and shadows that dog

her face

even through the most post-modern make-up

and you ask

probably silently

why this woman needs to hide her age

why this woman needs to pretend

she is still a sexual object.

Indeed,

why the sexual attribute has become so all-fired damn important

when sex lasts for but minutes

and friendship lasts forever.

 

 

Night Music: Champagne Problems

Image: Fall 2

Night Music: Kon Tiki

Image: Pink Carpet

100 Years Ago Today in Grandview #5

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Friday evening, 23rd February 1923, saw the opening of the new I.O.O.F. Hall at 1718 Graveley Street. The new building was described as “handsome” and “commodious”, with electric heating.

More than 250 members attended the opening banquet, and they enjoyed:

“an interesting program of vocal and instrumental music, followed by dancing to the orchestra of the East Hastings Lodge.”

The building has housed a number of organizations over the decades, and still stands proud:

Night Music: Night Fever

A Day of Joy and Sorrow 2023

Today would have been Nina Simone’s 89th birthday.  She gave us such joy and passion and most importantly a withering and uncompromising understanding of the black condition in America. This review of a Simone biography is well worth reading. She was fierce in her joy, and I love her for it.

Also, fifty-eight years ago today, the revered Malcolm X was murdered. At his funeral, Ossie Davis called him “our shining black prince”.

After years in the NOI’s leadership, Malcolm renounced the inherent racism of that organization and the alleged financial, political, and moral corruption of Elijah Mohammed. Without ever caving to white power, and maintaining his belief in the ultimate weapon of armed struggle, he sought, through Sunni Muslim beliefs, to raise the self-esteem of blacks in America.

Not long ago, in November 2021, the two men convicted of the murder were exonerated after an extensive investigation showed that their trials were “corrupt to the core”.  It may be time at last for the FBI and NYPD to own to their own part in the murder of a great leader.

Malcolm X’s Autobiography stands with Martin Luther King’s “I Have A Dream” speech, and Nelson Mandela’s speech on his release from prison as the most influential statements of civil rights in the twentieth century.

Image: Playland In The Spring

Night Music: For No One

Poem: Descent

 

The rustic lane unwinds

its way from the mountain

like a lover leaving her man

after a lingering entwining kiss;

 

a solitary clump of bluebells

reflects aquamarine raindrops

on the hood of the passing car

like mirrors round as hazelnuts in the mist;

 

and as I ignore the windowed beauty

the weekend ending burns into my soul

leaving me wondering if, once I’m gone,

she’ll remember me with a cheer or a hiss.

 

Image: Spring Blossoms

Happy 90th Yoko!

Happy birthday to one of the most creative and innovative multimedia artists of the 20th and 21st centuries. Long may she continue!

Night Music: Black Hole

CoV Volunteer Advisory Committees

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If you have ever had the desire/urge to tell City Council how much better services could be, Now is the time to make an application so that your voice might be heard. A City notice states:

“On February 14, 2023, Vancouver City Council established 15 advisory committees for the current term, and these opportunities may be of interest to you … Advisory committees are an essential part of the City’s public engagement work, and consist of volunteers who help to convey community perspectives to Council and staff while advising on City priorities, projects, and initiatives.

Applications and further information are available at www.vancouver.ca/volunteer. The deadline for applications is March 19, 2023.

Advisory committee meetings typically take place monthly, and members may be eligible for certain expense reimbursements related to attendance. Meetings are usually held in-person at City Hall, with meals provided, and there is often also a virtual attendance option. The City of Vancouver has been working to ensure effectiveness, accessibility, and equity in advisory committees, and to decolonize advisory committee practices wherever possible.

The specific committees with vacancies are as follows:

Type A (advisory to Council)

·         2SLGBTQ+ Advisory Committee

·         Arts and Culture Advisory Committee

·         Children, Youth, and Families Advisory Committee

·         Older Persons and Elders Advisory Committee (formerly Seniors’ Advisory Committee)

·         Persons with Disabilities Advisory Committee

·         Racial and Ethno-Cultural Equity Advisory Committee

·         Renters Advisory Committee

·         Transportation Advisory Committee

·         Urban Indigenous Peoples’ Advisory Committee

·         Vancouver Food Policy Council

·         Women’s Advisory Committee

Type B (advisory to staff)

·         Chinatown Historic Area Planning Committee

·         First Shaughnessy Advisory Design Panel

·         Gastown Historic Area Planning Committee

·         Street Planning Committee (formerly Civic Asset Naming Committee)”

Image: Tree House