On a trail to interesting boulders along Lynn Creek, Uncle Weed enjoys beer, bread and cheese while exploring the impact of bohemian painter Fredrick Horsman Varley on West Coast art culture. Varley, a member of the venerated Group of 7, lived in Vancouver for 10 years during which he moved from Jericho to Lynn Valley with his student/muse/mistress Vera Weatherbie, while his wife and kids lived in Kits.
Anecdotes include: WW1 battlefield painting, trips to Algonquin Park with Tom Thompson, visits from Emily Carr, collaborations with photographer John Vanderpant, exhibits at the Tate in London and his later years with a short NFB film and CBC interviews in which he proclaimed his refusal to paint people who were too beautiful.
Poet Randall Maggs discusses his book “Night Work” about the troubled soul of legendary hockey goalie Terry Sawchuk plus the nuances of story-telling, conversations with goaltenders, Sawchuk’s Ukrainian heritage and convergence of history and hockey with host Dave Thorvald Olson at the Robson Square covered outdoor rink in Vancouver following a poetry reading promoted by publisher Brick Books.
“On the Vancouver question, that is my birthplace and, though I haven’t lived there in a long while, I still think of it as home. The Canucks are my team. Over the years I have travelled back to the city often to visit my relatives and family. My grandparents lived in South Burnaby off Kingsway pretty much all their adult lives, my grandfather being a millwright and playing an important role in building many of the lumber mills in and around the city. A couple of summers ago my mother and I were having lunch on a terrace on Granville Island and my mother pointed out the remnants of one of my grandfather’s mills. Even after his retirement he’d be called back in to solve a problem that university-trained engineers couldn’t handle. He’d give mill officials fits, scrambling up long ladders long past the age of 80. I attended grade school in South Burnaby, I think Strathmillan School. After her years of following my Air Force father back and forth across the country, my mother went home to live in Surrey and White Rock where she lives at present. My son has been living out there as much as in Newfoundland for most of the past dozen years, having done an MA in Piano Performance with Jane Coop at UBC and working on his PhD in the Arts and Sustainability with John Robinson at UBC.”
In between Winter Olympics and SXSW, Uncle Weed soothes a sore throat on a couch and talks about global parties of note (including Oktoberfest, Mardi Gras, Carnival, etc.), plus extols about the Olympic Outsider podcast, True North Media House, importance and nobility of documentation, SXSW preview and recap of recent trip to Pe Ell to visit Hemp Ed and the Numbskulz.
Rolling aboard buses, trolleys, Skytrain and Seabus, Uncle Weed discusses changing routes and riding transit for escape, exploration, creativity, inspiration and adds in tourist fun plus concerns about free expression, aggressive security and love for the Seabus in a special documentary dispatch from Upper Lynn Valley to Kitsilano in Vancouver, BC, Canada.
From the vault comes the story of His Holiness the 14th Dalai Lama’s honorary Canadian citizenship ceremony at the Canucks rink in Vancouver. Along with a rousing Oh Canada!, and the official ceremony, comes a few words of humour and counsel from HHDL14 and his eloquent assistant and discussion of the Dalai Lama Centre for Peace in Vancouver.
Starting at the Great Canadian Beer Fest in Victoria, BC (Vancouver Island), Uncle Weed samples some tasty ales and listens to lovely lasses play Hip tunes and chats with barmen and revelers. Much later (post appendectomy) UW and friends attend Oktoberfest at the German Alpen House in Vancouver where he recounts trips to Munich for while a young choogler and then rambles about old men dancing and such …
At a thwarted benefit concert for Insite, the supervised injection clinic in Vancouver’s troubled downtown Eastside, Uncle Weed chronicles the massive show of force by the Vancouver Police Department who shut down the Bedouin Soundclash concert and blockaded a full block of Hastings Street – ironically because, “pedestrians or motorists may be unduly put at risk by the event”.
The volunteers continued the civil disobedience bar-b-q to feed homeless folks despite the hullabaloo by the cops and vocal demonstrators attempting to incite a confrontation. Joined by the Quebecois Correspondent, UW discusses the political situation, harm reduction strategy, and gives a shout out to former Vancouver mayor Larry Campbell (now a Canadian federal senator).
What was expected to be a free concert and BBQ in support of Insite, North America’s only injection site, turned into an unnecessary standoff. This was precipitated by the Vancouver Police Department, who stormed in to block access to the event and eventually dismantle it altogether before it even began.
In this particular shot, a man that tries to approach the concert stage is roughly showed away by a member of the force’s Crowd Control Unit, as incredulous bystanders look on.
More than 100 officers descended on the 100 block of E. Hastings Street, where hundreds of people had gathered to attend a barbeque and watch a concert by the Canadian band Bedouin Soundclash, in support of Insite, the city’s safe injection site.
Police said the structures and tents set up for the concert were taken down because the organizer, the PHS Community Services Society, which operates Insite, didn’t have a permit for the event.
More than 100 police officers helped city officials shut down a concert Thursday night in the 100 block of E. Hastings Street.(CBC)
“The city had declined a permit that was requested by the group,” Const. Jana McGuinness said Thursday night.
“The city is concerned that pedestrians or motorists may be unduly put at risk by the event.”
Mark Townsend, a PHS spokesman, said people should have the right to organize street festivities to support the safe injection site.
“It’s a demonstration. It’s what we are allowed to do. We’re allowed to put up tents, and it’s all organized,” Townsend said.
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From a new backporch high on the mountain slopes, Uncle Weed talks about his collections of t-shirts and lighters and long-ago trips to Japan – then discusses stoner culture, legal penalties, and travel observations with a Japanese cannabis enthusiast who tells his favourite strains, how he met ganja in Japan, compares Vancouver and Amsterdam, and documents the many strains of BC bud enjoyed on his visit while eating curry rice.
Part two (see Dopefiend.co.uk for Tokes on the Dopecast: Field Trip to Herby’s Secret Garden) features another visit to Herby’s secret garden of Purple Kush, Magik and OG. Along with Dopefiend, Uncle Weed enjoys stories of roaches in Mexico, tips for cooking cannabis, tales from Wreck beach, and comedienne Watermelon’s bust plus lots of growing details, tips and ganja strain comparison from this hobby garden. Uncle Weed’s al fresco supper at Vancouver’s secret-treat Art Gallery cafe before Marc Emery’s speech at Joey Shithead’s Band of Rebels gig.
Score a Clayoquot Sound poster signed by the artist! (i’ll put a photo here at some point)
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New Riders of the Purple Sage – Henry (live)
The Ferry Changes Tack – lyrics DT Olson, music B. Rees, performed by Bread
People Power – Joe Shithead Keithley’s Band of Rebels (recorded live at Plaza Club)
Don’t Keep it a Secret – Phat Sidy Smokehouse
Lighthouses – Burner Boys
Stalk of Sensimellia
Field Recordings by DT Olson:
St. Patrick’s Day 2007 Vancouver
Parade of Lost Souls 2007 Vancouver
Clayton the Seabus Busker (Tonight, Ramones)
Oh Canada at Vancouver City Hall, 2006
No Extradition for the BC3!NEW! “No Extradition” folded pamphlet PDF files — download page one and page two, then print and distribute copies everywhere! Phone (613) 957-4222, the Canadian Justice Department, and tell the Minister of Justice it would “shock your conscience” if Canadians Marc Emery, Greg Williams and Michelle Rainey were extradited to the United States, especially when a monetary fine of $200 for selling seeds, not jail time, was determined to be adequate punishment by the BC Supreme Court (R. vs. Hunter, 2000). If Canadians have broken the law in Canada, they should be given justice in Canada — and if they cannot be found guilty in Canada, they should not be extradited to any other country for those same charges.
Long weekend outing starting with a beer on Commercial Dr. and a fresh sack of stinky weed – with Herr Meister Funbov and Cousin Herb – before heading off to the Richmond Asian Night Market to sample okonomiyaki, bacon treats, bubble tea, cheap products, Chinese singing and discussing the uniting force of meat on sticks, then finishing the movable feast with a big joint with 4 kinds of kind bud at Trout Lake Park.
Yup, it's a podcast - featuring Uncle Weed on random sound-seeing adventures around Vancouver and international exploits spieling on with anecdotes and observations about communities, public policy, transportation, economics, architecture, entrepreneurship and enjoying herb, ya know ganja.
Get yer mitts on some tasty, hemp-fortified podcast hi-jinks!
Choogle'd: Ramble on to New Orleans ~ Choogle On! #102 - Just back from New Orleans, Uncle Weed shares anecdotes fro... http://ow.ly/1e3xiS10 months ago
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