i the biodiesel rush is on

April 24, 2007
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VEGGIE GOLD:
THE BIODIESEL
RUSH IS ON
DAVID RAVENSBERGEN
PROSPECTS THE
FUTURE
I
t wasn’t long ago that concern for our
habitat was considered the lonely province of patchouli-scented maidens and unkempt men in Birkenstocks. But thanks to
the efforts of resolutely normal activists like
Al Gore, climate change and sustainability
have become the definitive political issues of
the day. Corporations are scrambling to green
their image, and sectors like alternative energy are poised to become highly profitable industries. Still, confusion abounds as to which
solutions are the most effective in terms of
reducing our ecological footprint and ensuring sustainable development. Scientific data
on life-cycle emissions and carbon credits is
disorienting at best, and proponents and detractors offer polar opposite facts on the same
issues. The suits have moved in, but some
cobwebs remain to be cleared away.
Take biodiesel for example: We’ve all heard
stories of some eccentric inventor running
an old VW van on french-fry oil distilled in a
bathtub. Little did we know, that fringe curiosity is in fact a clean-burning, renewable
fuel with massive potential to reduce the environmental impact of motorized transportation. Biodiesel is safe for use in normal,
unmodified diesel engines, either in its pure
form or blended with conventional petrodiesel. Use of 20% biodiesel (B20) results in a 20%
decrease in unburned hydrocarbon emissions,
while B100 or pure biodiesel provides a 67%
reduction. All other categories of tailpipe nastiness are significantly lowered as well.
HONEYBEES ARE
DISAPPEARING FROM B.C. HIVES,
AND YOUR DAMN POLYPHONIC
RINGTONES MIGHT BE WHY P.4
WHERE TO NOW?
CONTINUED ON P. 6
WITH BOSMAN’S CLOSING, WHAT WILL
HAPPEN TO THE WORLD’S GREATEST PIECE
OF ART? DUNCAN MCHUGH GIVES
A HISTORY LESSON P.11
TRANSLINK CAMERAS:
MICHAEL LAPOINTE
RIDES THE BUS TO 1984 P.3
2
April 24, 2007
Tooth and Dagger
News
Table of Contents
Vancouver’s Best Newsweekly
News
P. 3
Eight pilot cameras on new trolley buses are
part of a new surveillance program. Michael
LaPointe asks why.
April 24, 2007
Tooth and Dagger is published bi-weekly and distributed
on Tuesdays. The next issue will be available at all stockists
on May 10, 2007.
P. 4
P.4
P. 5
If you wish to advertise with Tooth and Dagger:
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Bee Colonies Vanish
Feature
P. 6
Biodiesel
Renewable fuel with nominal changes to
existing infrastructure? Say it ain’t So! David
Ravensbergen looks deeper.
Sunday Morning Chowdown
Music
G33K!
Dancing with myself about architecture
Curtis Woloschuk reveals that his obsession
Tired of dancing by himself, Chris Eng
throws down online..
with handmade album covers is his Achilles
heel.
P. 10
P. 8
Bosman’s is Dead; Long live Bosman’s
The Legendary Bosman’s SideBar is closing,
but Duncan M. McHugh squeezes some
stories out of it before it’s gone.
Someone else is picking up the bill, so
Duncan McHugh heads to Tomato for a classy
brunch.
Thanks to all those listed above, and also: Aja Bond, Caroline
Walker, Dory Kornfeld, Jen Harvey, Jessica Rosciglione, Kalin
Harvey, Kat Siddle, Reanna Alder, and Quinn Omori.
Can’t Kick the Habit
There’s more to Billy Johnny’s footwear
obsession that just sneakers.
Bee colonies have sent Graeme Worthy the
collective Text Message: ‘So long and thanks
for all the pollen’.
P. 5
Advertising
P. 9
P. 11
Life
Solar Hot Water Party Invades Mount Pleasant
Sarah Buchanan learns how to shower using
the sun, from Vancouver Free School.
14 Days
Sean Orr’s famous wit illuminates a
fortnight’s news.
Publisher Graeme Worthy graeme@toothanddagger.com
Creative Director Will Brown will@toothanddagger.com
· News Michael LaPointe michael@toothanddagger.
com, Sean Orr seanorr@toothanddagger.com · Features
David Ravensbergen davidr@toothanddagger.com · Life
Duncan M. McHugh duncan@toothanddagger.com, Chris
Eng chriseng@toothanddagger.com, Sarah Buchanan
sarah@toothanddagger.com · Music Curtis Woloschuk
curtisw@toothanddagger.com
P. 9
Cameras on TransLink
My Parkade
P. 10
James Steidle finds out you’re never alone,
when you have a parkade.
Streethawk, Web Falcon
Graeme Worthy talks with editor Quinn
Omori about starting up online.
Cameras on TransLink
by Micheal LaPointe
Contact
Abuse should be directed at the editor. Friendly
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Stockists and Distributors please contact:
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Transit authority takes measures on public transit assaults
For our rates email:
advertising@toothanddagger.com
or call: (778)885-7741
We all get away with things at the
backs of the bus, but soon enough, passengers will think twice when they ride
in Vancouver. TransLink and the Coast
Mountain Bus Company (CMBC) are currently testing video surveillance on eight
of the city’s new trolley buses. According
to Ken Hardie, communications director
with TransLink, “by the end of this year,
200 buses should have cameras, and by
the end of 2008, about 350.”
This major investment comes as part
of a new effort to increase security presence on public transit, leaving some to
wonder what issue the cameras are addressing. Doug MacDonald, director of
communications with CMBC, explains,
“There were about Buses p. 4>>
Tooth and Dagger
April 24, 2007
3
News
14
Days
Sean Orr
Green Party
Green Party chickens out
on acclaimed Kingsway riding candidate Kevin Potvin
whose own ‘revolting confession’ about feeLing joy
on 9/11 came back to haunt
him . I guess you can’t be
honest in politics.
Vancouver 2010
Speaking of honesty, The
City fires Sustainability
Manager who disagreed
with city’s handling of the
South East False Creek housing complex/2010 athlete’s
village. After firing the entire board of variance earlier in his term, Citizen Sam
rips another throat out.
Hey, wasn’t sustainability
a cornerstone of the Olympic bid?
now here. I’m going to
guess a commemorative
portrait of Harriet Nahanee won’t be on them. Nahanee died after a stint in
prison for opposing the decision to build the Sea-ToSky highway through the
ecologically sensitive Eagleridge Bluffs.
Playoffs
While Canucks fever grips
city council, Coun. Kim Capri will vote on motions by
waving a Canucks souvenir white towel. I’m sure
that it will make the evicted residents of SRO hotels
feel all warm and fuzzy inside. After all, “We Are All
Canucks”, right?
Playoff Riots
Sea-to-Ski highway
Meanwhile, Olympicthemed license plates are
Speaking of the Canucks,
they’ve teamed up with the
City to urge fans not to riot
this year. Because the ‘94
riot had nothing to do with
paranoid, under-equipped,
under-trained, over-hyped
police, it was because we
were all pissed off that we
lost a hockey game.
Granville
Bar owners resort to Big
Brother tactics to control
Granville Street’s nightclub violence. Anyone
kicked out of one club will
have their ID scanned and
will be refused from other bars. That’s not gonna
piss drunk people off at
all. Meanwhile, council remains divided on whether to roll back bar hours to
2am. I guess England’s recent decision to allow 24hour drinking won’t be
catching on here anytime
soon.
More Fibreglass Animals
The City of Vancouver
launches its Creative City
Taskforce to show that
it’s “committed to building our future as a creative
city, open and accessible to
the broadest range of artistic expression, and to the
widest community participation”. Yeah, because Orcas, Spirit Bears and the
soon-to-hit-the-streets Eagles in the City are a fine
example. Who needs DIY
artist-run centres like
The Butchershop, Seamrippers, The Sugar Refinery, The Underwear Farm,
WRKSDVSN, the old Blim,
Gnarnia, The Church of
Pointless Hysteria, and 69
Pender anyways?
Health
Private Clinic hires doctors from out of province
to dodge medicare laws. It
turns out that if, as a doctor, you’ve never taken payment from MSP, you don’t
have to play by their rules!
Free hip-replacements for
all aging baby-boomer Supreme Court judges!
Bee Colonies Vanish
Your phone is probably not
to blame by Graeme Worthy
Large numbers of honeybees in many parts of the US and
increasingly in Canada have been vanishing without a trace,
and it’s beginning to raise concern among more than just
beekeepers.
Colony Collapse Disorder (CCD) is a mysterious condition
where beehives are suddenly abandoned by worker bees.
Although scattered CCD-like reports go back several decades, the past couple of months has seen an outbreak
resulting in a decrease in the US bee population in some
states by as much as 75%.
It is currently not known what causes CCD, but it made
more headlines this week when reports of a German study
indicated the phenomenon might be triggered by electromagnetic radiation from mobile phones.
While the links between mobile phones and the bees disappearance seem tenuous, bees do use magnetism as one
of their primary senses for navigation, as well as for hive
building, and their navigation can be disrupted by powerful electromagnetic fields.
But if the phones were to blame, areas dense with cellphone towers in Europe and elsewhere would likely have
seen the phenomenon first. However, CCD developed first
in the US across geographically varied states, and only later
in Europe. Also, it has only emerged on a mass scale recently, not gradually as areas took up cellular phone technology over the past two decades.
Whatever the cause, honeybees are responsible for pollinating a wide variety of fruit and vegetable crops. This
leads some to worry about what will become of these crops
if there are no bees to do this job.
>>Buses cont’d
240 assaults on drivers last year. That’s everything from a verbal assault, spitting, to
a fairly violent assault.” In early 2006, a bus
driver was severely beaten, suffering a broken lip and loss of teeth.
But does this constitute a valid reason to
install surveillance? Micheal Vonn is policy
director with the B.C. Civil Liberties Association (BCCLA). She explains that, according to the Privacy Commissioner of British
Columbia, the company must answer two
questions in order to defend their decision
to install cameras.
The first demands a justification for a camera system.
TransLink and CMBC provide two. Primarily, Hardie believes that the cameras will act
as a deterrent. As a result, he says “People
are not going to get involved with graffiti,
and they’re not going to misbehave.”
However, recent studies have shown cameras to be ineffective as a deterrent in public
space: “Cameras are only effective in very,
very limited situations, and I’m not aware
of public transit being one of them,” says
Vonn. “And against assaults, cameras have
zero effect as a deterrent.”
Secondly, Hardie argues that in extreme
cases of assault, “the video record becomes
something that’s useful in court.” But for
4
April 24, 2007
Tooth and Dagger
Micheal Vonn, this explanation “doesn’t follow logically. It’s hard to imagine that you’re
lacking witnesses on public transport. [I
don’t think] that we’ve got a major prosecutorial problem with these assaults.”
The Privacy Commissioner’s second question asks the company to state their previous attempts to address the problem. “We
take the position that cameras are not necessarily unjustified in public space,” says
Vonn. “The point is that it should be the
last recourse.” Other than occasional security checks on buses or the SkyTrain, however, the new trolley buses mark TransLink’s
first major initiative to combat assault.
So what explanation is there for the surveillance installation? Ken Hardie claims
that it was merely TransLink responding to
public demand: “The actual call to put cam-
eras on buses really came from the public
and the operators, people who have a stake
in security.”
But as for the public input, Hardie admits, “There was no specific consultation
campaign, to go out and talk about this.”
Instead, TransLink gathered public opinion,
“more in the general, ongoing monitoring
we do of the public’s sense of safety and security on the system.”
Micheal Vonn responds, “It’s possible that
they’ve received some indications from discreet members of the public, saying, ‘We
think cameras are great,’ but this doesn’t
constitute an effective public consultation.
There are people who feel otherwise.”
Furthermore, the operators have already
raised objections to the cameras. In fact,
Hardie says the drivers union “didn’t want
“Against assaults,
cameras have zero effect
as a deterrent”
cameras capturing stuff that could lead to
disciplinary action against operators.” Thus
the system is designed to capture video only
when triggered. Doug MacDonald says triggers occur “usually by a heavy-brake application, and there is also a switch that the
driver can activate.” This begs the obvious
question: how are operators going to trigger
the cameras when being assaulted?
Clearly, there is a major discrepancy in
TransLink’s account. Their justifications
seem unfounded and are unlikely to be effective in addressing any problem. The operators are wary of the idea, and it seems
strange that a public would ask for cameras
when, according to Hardie himself, “Generally speaking, people feel quite safe on the
SkyTrain and on the buses.”
Micheal Vonn speculates, “I simply think
that the means were made available. There
has been a certain amount of federal money for these types of surveillance initiatives
on public transit post-9/11. That’s at least
the first piece of the puzzle.”
Whether a legitimate reason lies behind
the cameras, or they’re merely a frivolous
expenditure, a troubling question mark remains for which no one seems to have an
answer.
Life
Sunday Morning
Chowdown
G33K!
A BRUNCH
R E VI E W
Tomato Fresh
Food Cafe
3305 Cambie Street
(At 17th Ave.)
604.874.6020
tomatofresh
foodcafe.com
Chris Eng
Duncan M. McHugh
Tomato is one of those places that’s a total lock if you’re
going for brunch with your parents. It’s classy, the servers
dress well and demonstrate exemplary hygiene, and your
folks have probably read about it in The Vancouver Sun.
Fortunately, in spite of these yuppie trappings, it’s also totally delicious.
My recent visit to Tomato was with a friend, her mom and
her aunt. While they are open-minded people, I’m sure that
my elder companions were more comfortable here than being served by hippies on the Drive. It is slightly pricier than
those eastside brunch places, but then a big part of going
out of for brunch with the older set is that they’re going to
pick up the tab, so I didn’t worry about it.
Tomato has a lot of variety in its offerings. On the ‘healthy’
side of the brunch spectrum, there’s granola with yogurt
and fruit salad, in the middle there’s waffles, omelettes and
sandwiches, then bennies and milkshakes on the ‘treatyourself-right’ end.
I had the Diner Classic, which is really just the ol’ bacon
and eggs, with hash browns and toast on the side. Tomato
does this very well. The eggs were perfectly poached; the bacon was, in truth, backbacon, which is leaner and closer to
ham than its stripped cousin; the hash browns were more
like roast potatoes and not too greasy; the toast was fresh
sourdough and came with a wedge of butter and jam.
If someone else is picking up the tab, I recommend three
additional items. Firstly, start off with some juice. Tomato’s
freshly squeezed juices will diminish the effects of a hangover much more quickly than coffee. I had the ‘Daytripper’,
which mixes strawberries, oranges and pineapple. Secondly,
if you’re one of the meat-inclined, get the turkey sausage;
it’s delicious and adds a little oomph to your meal. Thirdly, if you’re getting an egg dish and you—like me—use up
your toast to scoop up the eggs, get an extra order of toast.
You don’t want to miss out on the jam. And a little extra of
their delicious sourdough can’t be a bad thing.
And if you need a post-brunch haircut, you’re all set.
Charles the barber is set up in a little nook next to the
front door. Cuts still only 11 bucks!
Brunch served weekends and holidays, 9am-3pm
Price: $12 (including coffee and tip)
Lineup: 5-10 minutes
Vegetarian options: Plenty!
Soy milk: Yes, but it curdled. Dang!
I don’t really dance in public anymore. It’s not that I
never could—I used to skank on-stage for a ska band—or
physically can’t, it’s just that I’ve become more acutely
aware of when I’m making an ass of myself. This is also
the reason I don’t play Dance Dance Revolution. Because
in my life, any opportunity I have to not be humiliated
by 12 year olds with better rhythm than me is taken.
In private however, well, that’s another story. If the
12 year olds can’t see me and don’t know it’s me making an ass out of myself, all bets are off. And because of
this, I say bring on Dance! Online—the new massively
multiplayer online game from Acclaim. Finally, we sad
old men (i.e. past legal age) united in our fear that we’ll
throw a hip out on the advanced levels of DDR and be
left clinging desperately to the railing while elementary
students point and laugh are able to play a close simulation online and show those little bastards what’s what.
And even if they do manage to kick our asses, we’ll simply spend some hard-earned real money for in-game
Acclaim Coins and bling ourselves out. So what if our
avatar looks like Orlando Bloom only scrawnier? He’ll
be pimped out and lookin’ fine.
If they do kick your ass, though, you still need to keep
dancing, otherwise your avatar gets fat and paunchy and
the whole point of this game is that it’s not mirroring
reality. Remember: it’s not literally supposed to be you
huffing and puffing away on the dance floor in sweat
pants with Dorito dust on your fingers. This is as much
a fantasy as World of Warcraft, just with less Orcs and violent assault and more being served. More getting married, too, since you can get hitched in-game. All you have
to do is compete with your heterosexual dance partner
enough and you can buy some rings and get married.
Then you can wake up in the morning, slowly remember what you did last night, and rush to the store so you
can get divorced with a Dump Potion.
All of which is starting to sound more and more like
reality, but then you pwn some n00b on the dance floor
and you earn some more points and you buy yourself
some new shoes and go out struttin’ in the chat rooms
and the ladies toss compliments your way like: “j00 r
teh sexy. a/s/l?” Trust me, things like that don’t happen
in real life.
Dance! Online
dance.acclaim.com
(Acclaim)
Free to install
NEWS:
_Under proposed Australian legislation, if you’re caught illegally downloading music, you could have your internet cut
off. Or, if you use dial-up you could have your phone cut off.
And then, when your house is on fire and you have no way
of calling the fire department, what are you going to do?
Are you going to get that Justin Timberlake single to dial
911 for you? Because it won’t! Seriously, though, if people
download entire albums over dial-up, spending three days
waiting for them to finally wheeze their way onto the desktop, I think we should just let them have them, because it’s
heart-breakingly tragic that people out there should have
to use the internet the same way we did ten years ago. Poor
bastards—I bet they have to use AltaVista, too.
_People hoping to rip HD DVD and Blu-Ray discs on their
computer using the recent cracks have had their plans
thwarted by manufacturers of the software players who
have closed the holes in the protection. Now all hi-def
DVDs will be safe, because no more security breaches can
be made in the copy protection ever. Yes, this is how technology works.
_In a double-header of casting decisions that prompt the
question “‘Good’ or ‘Hunh’?” Christina Ricci has been cast
as Trixie in the Wachowski Brothers’ upcoming Speed Racer movie and Edward Norton will be playing Bruce Banner in the next Incredible Hulk flick. I’m leaning toward
“Hunh?” right now.
_And finally, Kurt Vonnegut Jr. has died at the respectable
age of 84—so it goes.
JUST RELEASED:
Those of you who have been twiddling your thumbs since
2004 waiting for the video game adaptation of the excellent
war comic Red Star to make its debut will be happy that it’s
finally making an appearance for the PS2. Likewise, fans
of depressing French cinema (as if there’s another kind—
pffft) will be thrilled at the Criterion release of La Haine.
MC Frontalot’s new album “Secrets From the Future” may
be the best CD you hear all year, if only for the so-true-ithurts track “I Hate Your Blog”. Comic-wise, John Bolton’s
new graphic novel God Save the Queen (it’s about faeries,
not Liz II) is on shelves as is the penultimate issue of 52. But
what you’ve really been waiting with bated breath for are
Volumes 1 and 2 of The Littlest Hobo. So grab a hat and travel light on your way to the video store—that’s hobo style.
We treat your ad like gold.
(because to us, it is.)
Advertising in Tooth and Dagger
couldn’t be easier. A simple phone call or an email
gets you in touch with our smart, qualified staff.
We’ll give you a good sized space, so your
message won’t get lost on the page.
We’ll also give you a good rate, because though
we’re small, we’ve got a focused distribution that
targets the right people. 10% of people tell the
other 90% what to read, what to wear, what to
watch, and where to eat.
We’re talking to the smartest people in the city.
People just like you.
Email us: advertising@toothanddagger.com
or
Call us: (778)885-7741
Tooth and Dagger
April 24, 2007
5
photo by William Ohl
Biodiesel Basics
BIODIESEL promises a
quick fix to a golden future
by David Ravensbergen
—but can its appeal last?
Continued from Page 1
T
h e b a t h t u b s t o r y m a y h a v e s o u n d ed outrageous a decade ago, homebrewed biodiesel is becomi n g i n c r e a s i n g l y p o p u l a r a m o n g s t farmers and city slickers alike. The environmental benef its
a r e u n d e n i a b l e , a n d t h e p r o s p e c t of controlling your own means of fuel production is hard to
r e s i s t . Th i s c e r t a i n l y i s n ’ t a t r a d e you can master in an afternoon, but educational videos are
a l l o v e r Yo u Tu b e , a n d w e b s i t e s l i ke journeytoforever.org provide step-by-step instructions for
pr o d u c i n g b i o d i e s e l i n t h e c o m f o r t o f y o u r o wn home. With little more than a bottle of vegetable oil from
th e s u p e r m a r k e t , s o m e m e t h a n o l - b a s e d a n t i f r eeze and a package of lye, anyone can mix their own batch
of b i o d i e s e l a n d b e r e a d y f o r t h e r o a d .
While I’m all for DIY and self-sufficiency, the homebrew craze has unintentionally earmarked biodiesel as a hobbyist
fuel, rather than a robust energy source capable of meeting the needs of industry. For farmers who can grow their own
oil-bearing crops, self-produced fuel makes good sense. Yet for an urban motorist or commercial fleet boss, self-reliance
isn’t so easy.
Commercial biodiesel production is a slightly more complicated undertaking. Oil-rich crops like soy, canola, palm and
canola provide the “feedstock material”, which is processed in a refinery and subjected to arcane-sounding procedures
like transesterification. Most manufacturers produce the fuel according to the BQ-9000 program to ensure their biodiesel meets rigorous quality specifications. To the owner/operator of an 18-wheeler, this means guaranteed quality and
peace of mind. To the Volkswagen driver, however, credentials are an unnecessary production cost, and the bathtub
doesn’t charge.
If biodiesel is to have a measurable impact as a green fuel, economies of scale must develop to allow for widespread
production and availability. Supply chains must be solidified, linking farmers, refiners and distributors with the end users. But before that can happen, public perception has to change. Currently, most Canadians see biodiesel as little more
than a curiosity.
6
April 24, 2007
Tooth and Dagger
Dennis Rogoza, director of the BC Biofleet program, sees education as the first step towards a viable Canadian biodiesel industry. Biofleet works to
dispel the shroud of mystery and misinformation
surrounding the fuel. “[We’re] really about sharing information and becoming a resource centre for
those fleets that want to know more about biodiesel
and how it’s used in different applications,” Rogoza
explains. Those range from mining and fish farming to shipping and transportation, but Canadian companies have yet to really catch on. In hopes
of spreading the word, BC Biofleet offers one-onone consultations with fleet managers and industry
bosses, and holds public workshops. Rogoza definitely sees interest picking up, but changing entrenched reliance on fossil fuels is slow going.
Although biodiesel may not be on the tip of everyone’s tongue here in Canada, it’s a different story across the Atlantic. “Biodiesel started as a very
small enterprise in Europe over 15 years ago. Somebody built the first plant and now we have biodiesel
spread across Europe on a big scale,” says Rogoza.
He cites 1900 retail stations in Germany that currently offer biodiesel at the pump, a number that
roughly translates to one in ten of the country’s fuel
stations. France and other EU nations are also rapidly expanding their biodiesel infrastructure, and car
manufacturers are evolving to meet the increasing
demand. According to the Pacific News Service, diesel cars now account for 70% of the vehicles sold in
France and 68% in Spain. Compared to diesel’s paltry 2% share in Canada, it’s no surprise that biodiesel is so much bigger in Europe.
This gap in adoption rates could easily be attributed to a North American reluctance to accept the savvy of Europeans, but it’s not just Europe. Though
on a smaller scale, the United States also has a burgeoning biodiesel industry, especially in the more
agricultural states. Both Minnesota and Washington
State have legislated that all diesel sold within their
borders must contain at least two percent biodiesel
(B2). The city of Portland has taken it even further,
with a recent municipal law requiring a minimum
B10 blend. Even Willie Nelson is doing his part with
his line of premium biodiesel, “BioWillie”. In a PBS
interview, Nelson admits that when his wife first
told him about a Jetta running on used cooking oil,
he was a little incredulous. “I really thought she
was a little off there,” he chuckles. “I thought she’d
been in my stash a little bit.” Since then, the country music legend has come around, and BioWillie
has pumps in seven states.
The Long Road to Canada
To Curtis Mearns of Cascadia Biofuels, it was the
success of the fuel south of the border that spurred
the initial drive here in BC. “I got involved in biodiesel when I was doing some work in the US,” Mearns
explains. “When I came back to Canada I went over
to the GVRD and said, ‘Is anyone doing anything on
this biodiesel stuff ?’”
Intrigued, the GVRD introduced Mearns to the
municipal fleet managers in and around the Lower
Mainland, which led to an agreement in 2005 that
“If we actually
went to B10 ...
we’d be compliant
with Kyoto. It
would reduce our
saw Vancouver, Richmond, Whistler, Delta, Burnaby
and North Vancouver adopt blends ranging from B5
to B20 in their engineering, parks board and other
on-road vehicles. As Rogoza explains, “the ones who
really kick-started the marketplace here in BC were
the municipal fleets.”
For companies interested in making the switch to
renewable fuels, the trailblazing efforts of the municipalities are reassuring. Continuing to use regular
diesel is the path of least resistance, and the government is going to have to lead the fight against inertia if it expects private industry to follow suit.
The BC government appears poised to take its leadership role up a notch. The recently unveiled provincial Energy Plan mandates a five percent average
use of biodiesel by 2010, surpassing a federal target
of two percent by 2012. While this may sound like
a good start, Mearns explains that the target is misleading. The key lies in the use of the word ‘average’,
which sits innocuously in the midst of the declaration. Rather than spurring change with a minimum
of B5, the average allows most companies to carry
on using regular diesel, as long as a few are doing
their part. Under the average, a single large marine
biodiesel user like BC Ferries could make up the entire five percent of the province’s total use.
“If it’s a B5 minimum...then guys like us are going to have to put in the infrastructure to make it
work,” Mearns explains. “If that minimum was in
place we’d have to have all the stations there.”
Driven to Co-Operate
Just as the rise of organic food was driven by voracious consumer appetite, biodiesel will expand if
people demand it. Rather than wait for government
approval, drivers need to take their diesel vehicles
straight to the pump to fuel up on biodiesel. Such
immediate action is a fine plan for residents of Delta or Burnaby with easy access to local bio-pumps,
but Vancouverites will quickly discover that the city
is dry. That’s exactly what Louise Schwarz and Robert Weatherbe of Vancouver-based company Recycling Alternative realized back in 2004 when they
first went looking for biodiesel. Eager to reduce the
emissions from their fleet of recycling trucks but
confronted with a lack of supply, the pair partnered
with Robb Miller of Ecofuels Canada to create the
Vancouver Biodiesel Co-Op.
“Myself and my business partner Robert Weatherbe, we run our own recycling business, and we’ve
been doing that for 15 years in the city,” explains
Schwarz. “We were the first people to join the CoOp, and we’ve been running our fleet on biodiesel for the last three years. We provided a location
and a place where the Co-Op members could centralize.” That location is 360 Industrial Avenue, the
The adoption gap:
Diesel powered cars
Gasoline powered cars
Canada: 2% Diesel
France: 70% Diesel
In Belgum, France, and Spain, diesel accounts for approximately 70% of new cars
sold. In Canada, that number is 2%.
Source: Pacific News Service
headquarters of the Recycling Alternative and the
only place in Vancouver proper where biodiesel is
available for sale. For a registration fee of $100, CoOp members are given access to a fuel tote on site
which stocks B100 year round. Since the Co-Op is
not a licensed purveyor of diesel, biodiesel is only offered in its pure, unblended form—and that’s exactly how they like it.
“The interest of Co-Op members generally is to
look at high blends. They’re not doing a conservative B5 or B20 like what you see in the commercial
sector,” says Schwarz. “Individuals who have joined
the Co-Op are people who are very interested in decreasing their ecoprint. They’re looking at upwards
of 50%, and they are blending it themselves, they
will splash blend into their own tanks.” While individual blending requires a greater degree of knowhow, it also means that the Co-Op can keep its
operations simple and effective. Selling pre-blended biodiesel would require the Co-Op to register as a
fuel distributor, and grapple with all the attendant
safety and toxicity issues.
With a full roster of 100 people, the Vancouver Biodiesel Co-Op is not accepting new members
as of this writing. Their existing infrastructure is
stretched to the limit, and new facilities will have to
be developed before more members can join up. As
Schwarz explains, the large volume of calls and inquiries she receives on a regular basis has played a
significant role in driving expansion. More and more
people are interested in switching to diesel engines,
and biodiesel is driving the shift. At the Co-Op’s upcoming AGM shortly after Earth Day, Co-Op members will decide exactly how they would like their
organization to evolve.
Coming Clean
While gaining government support and expanding
infrastructure are both key elements of promoting
biodiesel use, sustained public debate on the subject
is equally important. Those involved in the biodiesel
industry understandably focus on the fuel’s merits,
but it is essential to assess criticisms and potential
drawbacks. Biodiesel is not cold fusion. It is not a
miracle new energy source that will allow us to continue on our starry path of unbridled consumption.
Like all other forms of energy, it has conditions and
consequences.
First, there is the issue of blend use. Biodiesel has
a high “cloud point”, which means that it will begin
to gel at higher temperatures than conventional diesel. B100 is fine in the warm days of summer, but it
can cause engines to seize up as the days get colder.
Additives are available to lower the cloud point, but
the most obvious solution is to use lower blends in
cold weather. Curtis Mearns recommends the use of
footprint or
emissions profile
right across
the country
overnight”
seasonal blends to his customers. He sells B20 during the winter months, and switches to B40 for the
summer. Installing heated fuel lines in your vehicle is another option, but that would spoil the claim
that biodiesel runs on regular engines without any
expensive modifications.
Second, many critics have cited the vast amount
of land required to grow sufficient feedstock crops
for widespread biodiesel use. There are growing concerns that as biodiesel production becomes more
lucrative, land that was once used for food will be
converted to oil-bearing cash crops. According to
Dennis Rogoza, conversion of premium land from
food to fuel production is not the problem critics make it out to be. “There’s lots of marginal land
available to produce oil-based crops for renewable
fuels,” he says. Such land is currently not being used
for agricultural purposes, and is capable of supporting the growth of feedstock crops like canola. Additionally, Rogoza believes that new varieties of
existing crops and as-yet untapped source materials
have the potential to provide a higher oil yield with
less land use.
“There’s a whole second generation of feedstocks
that are going to come to the table and be made
available that have a much higher oil content,”
Rogoza says. “The economics are very strong for the
farmers, and it won’t effect the food supply at all.”
In countries like Brazil, Malaysia and Indonesia,
deforestation is an ongoing issue. Palm is the most
efficient and profitable source for biodiesel in warmer climates, and vast tracts of rainforest are being
cleared to make room for commercial palm farms.
Organizations like Friends of the Earth International decry the irony that the industrialized countries’
thirst for renewable fuels is actually speeding up the
rate of deforestation in crucial rainforest areas. This
cannot be easily dismissed. Rogoza admits that there
is no obvious solution, but claims a large effort is
underway to install sustainability criteria for palmoil production.
What’s Next
One of the great fallacies held by critics of renewable fuels is the assumption that a single fuel source
will come to replace oil. Dependence on a single
source of energy is what sparked the present crisis
in the first place, and searching for a single replacement is a doomed project. In the energy industry as
in healthy ecosystems, diversity allows for flexible
responses to fuel or food shortages. Any viable solutions to our reliance on oil will incorporate the prospect of diversity. Biodiesel is a promising fuel, but it
will be most effective when developed alongside ethanol, solar power and in concert with other emerging technologies. cont’d>>
Tooth and Dagger
April 24, 2007
7
Life
>>Biodiesel cont’d
That being said, it is important that we act now using the existing solutions we have at our disposal.
There’s been a great deal of commotion over the development of the “Hydrogen Highway” between Vancouver and Whistler, a project sponsored by both
the provincial and federal governments. Said to be
completed in time for the 2010 Olympics, the project is described on the Hydrogen Highway website
as “a showcase for hydrogen and fuel cell technology
development,” as well as “a metaphor for our route
to the future.” In other words, the 1.1 million-dollar
undertaking will have no tangible benefits in terms
of reducing greenhouse gas emissions.
Considering that biodiesel is a fuel being successfully used by fleets all over the world, the time for
metaphorical solutions has come and gone. Mearns
is weary of government greenwashing, and longs to
see realistic action on alternative fuels. “What happens if we make it mandatory for everyone to do a
B5? Well that’s kinda cool, but if we actually went
to B10—that means everybody—we’d be compliant
with Kyoto. It would reduce our footprint or emissions profile right across the country overnight,” he
says. I like the sounds of that. What was the name of
that highway again?
Fu r t h e r r e a d i n g :
www.ghgenius.com
www.biofleet.net
www.vancouverbiodiesel.org
www.biodiesel.org
My
Parkade
by James Steidle
Before they painted it grey, the
parkade across the street was noticeable
for miles. It had a bright coat of neon
green and enough lighting to make your
car gleam as you circled the exit ramp.
That wasn’t the only thing remarkable about this sterile concrete structure.
Nobody lived or worked there. Located on the corner of Columbia and Cordova streets in the heart of one of the most
densely populated neighbourhoods in Vancouver, not a soul could call the place
home. I guess that’s what caught my attention.
This corner was not always boring. In
the 1890’s, the place was two blocks down
from the Evans, Coleman & Evans Wharf,
the main shipping point to the Klondike.
Archive records show it was occupied by
Marshall Morrison ship-builders, who no
doubt outfitted a few of these ships.
Located right by the docks, the place was
once the heart of the hard-drinking, lumberjack community of what is now the
Downtown Eastside. Second-hand loggers
supplies were sold in dilapidated shacks,
along with a blacksmith and carriage repair-shop. By the 1930’s it was a block of
stores, shops, restaurants, the Harbour
View Café, two barbers and some offices.
The path to parkade started in 1949
when the city demolished the block, replacing it with a vacant lot for parking.
The current 6-story structure was not built
until the early 1970’s.
Razing a bustling block of stores to replace it with a sterile parkade was part of
a broader trend in the post-war era. As the
automobile was the chosen form of getting around at that point in time, massive
amounts of resources now had to be devoted to the terminal capacity of the automobile. Expensive minimum parking
requirements were instituted for all new
developments, and land that had once
been used for urban purposes was converted to parking.
There was also an external element driving the construction of parkades in Vancouver-- the massive quantities of free
7
April 24, 2007
Tooth and Dagger
Pretty squab adorn this ordinary-looking wonder.
parking found in the suburbs. West Vancouver’s Park Royal-- the ground-breaking
precursor to the big-box store and modern
shopping mall when built in the 1940’s- had a sea of asphalt no downtown business could compete with.
As a result, the Downtown business
community united to lobby the city for
downtown parkades, and with that the
influential Downtown Business Association (now known as the Downtown Vancouver Association) was born. True to this
tradition, it has long since advocated for
car-based transportation options at the ex-
pense of transit, cycling, or pedestrian facilities. Today, the primary users of the
parkade are employees of the Vancouver
Police Department and Provincial Court
house on Main-- many of whom I found
out commute from within Vancouver.
I asked people around the neighbourhood what they thought of the parkade
and it was practically non-existent. It was
simply a place to park, a place as lifeless
as its concrete exterior (this is not entirely
true- pigeons do live in the brickwork).
However, some people did see it for what
it was not. I asked a man smoking a cig-
arette outside what he thought. His name
was Mike and he had been in the Salvation
Army detox centre located next door for
two months. “They should let people sleep
in there,” he said. “They don’t let you sleep
in there. Why not?
He pointed out that it was safe and dry,
and that cops were going in there all the
time. “You know? They help you out
and we’d help them out,” he said, leaning
against the wall. “We could watch their
cars while they’re gone and that sort of
thing.”
The ticket checker came by a short time
later. His job was to kick out people who
tried to sleep there or smoke crack in the
stairwell.
A few nights later some kids from the
suburbs drove into the parkade and set up
shop. They got out the cases of beer and
cranked AC/DC while yelling obscenities
for the whole neighbourhood to hear. We
watched them from the balcony.
After a few hours they shut it down and
disappeared into Gastown- the Blarney
Stone, I imagined- only to return two hours
later to get things started again. It went
late, ending finally in a tire- squealing frenzy of drunk driving, the cars disappearing
back out onto the streets and out of the city
where they came.
The possibilities of a different, more interesting life for this piece of real-estate do
not look promising. Bob Macdonald, senior parking policy engineer with the City
of Vancouver, pointed out that so long as
the courthouse and police station are located up the street, assuming these employees
will not use transit, the parkade will continue to exist.
He also pointed out that parking is provided by practically none of the historic structures in the area, which were built
long before parking was ever a modern reality. The parkade was necessary, he argued, to service the heritage area.
For now, the parkade remains a grey island in the midst of a city, a home to pigeons but not people. What was once a
place where people socialized, got their
hair cut, lived, has for the past 60 years
carried the unremarkable story of being a
parking lot, oblivious to its surroundings
and the different story it could have told.
Life
Solar Hot Water Party
invades Mount Pleasant
by Sarah Buchanan
illustrations by Reanna Alder
If you are really bent on sticking out the coming
environmental apocalypse, I strongly suggest doing one of
two things: 1. Learn to build solar panels from everyday
objects or 2. Find someone who has learned this and cling
to said person.
On March 30th I attended a workshop in Mount Pleasant concerning the first suggestion. The hands-on class
ran all day, and ended with our small group of amateurs
surrounding two completed solar hot water panels. Similar workshops are planned as part of a “Free School” initiative led by Andrew Rushmere, an education student at
SFU.
The Free School idea is simple and revolutionary: learning should be free, and workshops should be held within communities in order to share the knowledge of their
members. The next workshop is scheduled for May, and
will involve kelp harvesting from local beaches. This is
not the bad kind of kelp harvesting, either. It’s the good
kind, where all the little kelp survive. The Free School
will run workshops throughout the summer, with potential topics including: bee keeping, bike maintenance,
trombone lessons, felting and, my favorite, learning to
sing with your cat.
Below is a rough rehashing of our day, but is by no
means a step-by-step guide.
Anyone intending to make and use a solar hot water
panel should be aware that I have skipped over many details, such as the risk of Legionnaire’s disease (bacteria)
in warm water. You don’t want this disease. It’s gross and
you could die. Also, there are many small errors that can
occur, then throwing off the entire system and causing
you to look like a fool. Please research the process in detail to avoid harm and potential embarrassment.
10am: Mike Anderson, our resident solar power expert,
opens the workshop with a simple explanation.
“The sun is hot.”
We are all relieved. This makes sense, and does not require complex equations. The basic idea is that dark
things absorb heat, and metal pipes then conduct this
heat into the water flowing through them. Therefore, if
you run water pipes through a dark thermal mass heated by the sun, they will get hot, and you will bathe happily from this water. There are different ways to do this,
depending on how much hot water you need, and how
much you want to spend. For the panels we built, all materials were scavenged (i.e. old windows, wood, clay, sand,
and insulation) except for the copper tubing, which cost
thirty-five dollars.
11am: Work begins, and the sound of power tools fills the
air. I stare vacantly at a circular saw, feeling lost, but then
Roberto, a man from South America, patiently teaches
me to cut copper tubing with a less intimidating tool, a
funny little blade shaped in a circle. Roberto watches
as I do this backwards. After mastering the pipecutter, I
move on to caulking, then to screwing in nails along with
a UBC student in rubber boots. We make cob with clay
scavenged from a building site down the road, some sand
we found down another road, and straw from someone’s
garden. This will be our thermal mass, as it is dark and
retains heat well.
12pm: Over lunch, a kind woman named Marie-Sol
explains to me that in Venezuela, streetlights are run on
solar power that has been trapped throughout the day. We
both decide that this is very smart.
Can’t Kick the Habit
Billy Johnny
I don’t want to get pigeonholed here by just writing about
sneakers: there’s more for your feet than just Air Forces
and Bapstas. Fetishization in the shoe world doesn’t end
at fluorescent sneakers(though do check out the amazing work of Art Force One at art-force-one.com, a custom
sneaker pimp from France who claims to have been on the
rave tip since before the 80s were back.).
No, this week I want to say a little about Paul Smith, the
UK shop owner-cum-fashion designer who knows a little
something about finer footwear for men and women.
Yes, sometimes you have to put on something a little classier, whether for a wedding, wake, or job interview, and from
what I understand: euro-style square toes are fucking lame.
Military style dress shoes and fat heeled casual shoes create heel draggers and abrupt silhouettes. Shouldn’t there
be more flight in your foot?
Paul Smith Shoes solve this with a line of slim dress and
casual shoes that are goddamn expensive, but made from
quality materials that last. Remember the cobbler? Me neither, but apparently shoes are meant to be be well-worn,
long-lasting and re-soled, something that seems to have
been lost to all but a few.
The stand-out shoe in his ‘07 line is the Brogue Espadrille
Khaki, a traditional brown canvas oxford sneaker stitched
to imitate all the scallops and perforations but with a far
3:30pm: Roberto holds up
the completed copper tubing
we soldered together over the
course of the last seven hours.
We are not sure it will hold, as
many of us have never soldered
anything before in our lives. As a test, we hook the hose
to one end and Roberto’s thumb to the other, to see if it
leaks. This results in Roberto spraying water on everyone.
We are ready.
4pm: We place the copper tubing on a thin layer of cob,
with tube ends sticking out of drilled holes in the wooden
boxes. Cob goes on top of this tubing and we all get our
hands very dirty, which is fun. We write a note on an old
receipt and bury it in the cob for anyone brave enough to
dismantle the panels in the future. The contents of the
note will remain secret.
Solar electricity is slightly different from hot water, involving more complicated installation and setup. These
systems can cost anywhere from $10,000 to $50,000, depending on how much power is needed. The average
North American household with computers, lights, and
other gadgets uses too much energy to make this feasible.
The solution? “Use less stuff,” says Mike. “It’s a lifestyle
change. You won’t be able to charge your iPod on this system.”
Simple things can be done to trim down. Dryers, for example, use thousands of kilowatt hours of energy, making
the common clothesline one of the best pieces of alternative energy equipment on the market today.
Theoretically, by reducing energy consumption and using homemade parts, solar power would actually become
affordable and sensible for the average low-impact luddite. Until winter comes, that is. The obvious drawback
of solar power is its reliance on the sun, which we have
very little of for about four months straight. To compensate, some systems incorporate larger storage tanks for
hot water, using a balance of hydro and wind power for
electricity. Of course, this all depends on what is available. A house out in the country with a pond or river
could switch from solar to hydro during the winter (when
there is more water anyway), while city residents could
hook into the grid to top up their energy. When summer comes, it will be all the more exciting for everyone to
haul out their panels, throw a grill on top, and have a solar barbeque party.
For more information about Free School in Vancouver, contact Andrew Rushmere: arushmere@hotmail.com. For solar power consulting, contact Mike Anderson: fikeal@gmail.com
more casual vibe. The final touch that really makes these
things dandy is the braided outer sole and intricate floral pattern sliced elegantly out
of the rubber heel. The result is a case of
overdecoration that might look difficult
to pull off, but actually wears quite handsomely.
For a closer look at Paul Smith’s work,
try Gravity Pope (2205 W. 4th Ave.),
or take a quick glance online
at paulsmith.co.uk.
Tooth and Dagger
April 24, 2007
9
Music
Dancing with myself about architecture
Streethawk, Web falcon.
by Graeme Worthy
Original wrappers
Curtis Woloschuk
Wh i l e w a t c h i n g
Jon-Rae and the
River hold court at
The Plaza recently, I allowed nostalgia to get the better
of me. In contrast to
the righteous frenzy
the River has evolved
into, Fletcher’s first
two EPs – Now Then
and Then Again – were
decidedly sparse affairs. Featuring four-track
recordings of his Bible-bred voice and acoustic guitar, the discs came packaged in equally simple paper slipcases, handwritten by
Fletcher himself.
The whiskey-fuelled songwriter’s third
disc would be his first with a River. While
torn, frayed and rawer than your average
sushi roll, 2002’s Jon-Rae Fletcher and the River provided portents of the polished sound
found on last year’s Knows What You Need.
“Young Man Meets Old Death” showed that
the band was willing to let the Crazy Horse
guitars run wild, while the heartache of
“Fourteen Years” bore the mark of a yearning that would blossom into the sexed-up
soul churned out by today’s River. This album displayed a musical progression, but
still came enclosed in homespun packaging.
There’s an undeniable charm to DIY album
art. The irregularities, eccentricities and imperfections found in the material make it
markedly unique, even before it reaches
one’s speakers. Take Organ Trail’s Wagon
Train, for example. While newer pressings
of the EP are adorned with a tarty young
buck (of the four-legged, hoofed variety),
the copy in my possession sports a garish
colour scheme and is bound together by
stitched thread that hangs unkempt from
the casing.
Pleasing packaging is not the only commonality between the aformentioned acts.
Both bands find a muse in resettlement:
Jon-Rae having committed his Toronto relocation to song (“Eastern Migration”), and
Organ Trail nicking their name from ‘80s
edutainment computer game Oregon Trail.
True to their inspiration, the Vancouver
four-piece employs a pioneer spirit in conjuring alt-country atmospherics.
The disc opens with a rustic, singsong
sample exuding the bounty of the new
frontier. Soon, pledges of apples, grain and
cattle are overwhelmed by an ominous clatter of instruments. A dark undercurrent
persists throughout, making this an ideal
soundtrack to contract small-pox to. With
10
April 24, 2007
Tooth and Dagger
drums beating out marching orders, “Moonshine” sees a skilful interplay of guitar and
banjo (no Deliverance-style duel here) against
a droning backdrop of organ, and “Populating the New Frontier” closes out the EP with
the band conspiring on a piece that oscillates between lullaby and locomotive dynamics.
Initially, the recent Falls EP by Sparrow
House offers similar instrumental inclinations, until the looping melodies and warbles of “Heart Flood” surrender and we’re
introduced to the voice of Jared Van Fleet
on “Foxes.” While awaiting the release of
his fulltime band Voxtrot’s debut album,
the multi-instrumentalist/home-recorder
has kept busy by stapling together his own
CD packages and distributing them from his
apartment.
While Voxtrot’s frontman Ramesh Srivastava’s stock-in-trade is gregarious charisma, Van Fleet plays the role of unabashed
romantic. On the gorgeous “When I Am
Gone,” he arms himself with a finger-picked
guitar and plaintive piano line and takes
dead aim at any heart within earshot, intoning: “You are the one who could break me
with a whisper/And I’m broken so I won’t
take your time no more.” Elsewhere, tasteful flourishes of French horn and cello hint
promisingly at what Sparrow House might
accomplish on the forthcoming EP, Television Snow.
Speaking of promise(s), Dylan McKeever of
Antarctica Takes It! makes a litany of vows
on “I’m No Lover.” Houses will be burned!
Children will be eaten alive! “It’s not a matter of expression,” he assures us. “I have
come here to destroy everything you hold
dear.” Of course, given McKeever’s nebbish
voice, even an asthmatic librarian would be
inclined to respond, “What the fuck? I could
take this guy.”
With wilfully shoddy artwork composed of
handwriting, photocopies, stickers, stamps
and colour printouts, full-length The Penguin
League is a tour-de-force in spazzy dweeb
folk. Guitar, glockenspiel, accordion, cello, piano and ukulele are captured on lo-fi
recordings as warm and fuzzy as the sentiment behind the songs. On the sublime “Circuits,” McKeever charts the course of love
through the human body: “There’s highways through your bloodstream; There’s
highways to your heart.” Having successfully navigated anatomy, the band next embarks on a fantastical journey – complete
with a giant squid – on “Antarctica.”
“You stole our hearts,” McKeever assures
the most lonesome continent. I might suggest the same of each of the albums that
grace this column.
photo by Michelle Mayne
For the cost of a pitcher of beer.
Streethawk magazine was up and running.
Vancouver’s Quinn Omori, editor of
the online music magazine Streethawk, is
modest about how his adventures in publishing began: over beer one night on the
patio of the Cambie.
Get enough writers in a room, and
eventually someone will start complaining about editors, and the three founders of the magazine were doing just that.
At issue that evening was the constant
back and forth it takes to get stories published, which prompted one of them
to declare that “sometimes I feel like I
should just do it myself.”
This particular patio table quickly realized it had the right talents sitting
around it to do more than just complain.
The website’s designer Ryan Corbit jerked his head pointedly at Jordie Yow, a
computer programer, and laid a clever
trap. “It’s to bad we don’t know anyone
who can design websites and is totally
into computers.”
Things started to happen soon after
that, starting with a custom built infrastructure by Jordie Yow, “[He] just built
it”, Quinn recounts, stressing how sudden it seemed “which is probably why
it’s kind of buggy.”
Their site went up in October of 2006,
then just the skeleton of the online magazine. A cobbled together piece custom
coding, put together on a shoestring
THE HIT
of the week
“Big Shit Poppin’”
T.I.
budget. “We split a pitcher and pretty
much called it even.”
From there, the site has grown, and
now it claims an impressive roster of
young writers, and has a rather prodigious output, posting mare than 75 articles since it’s launch.
It’s still sparse-looking. Unclogged with
advertisements, or flashy toys, the biggest gimmick steethawk employ is occasionally serializing. It’s a labour of love,
and it’s all about the words.
Amongst honest and occasionally snarky live reviews and the expected album summaries, where Streethawk
shines is its features.
And now it’s making a name for itself
with pieces like Jackie Wong’s “Moving
a and Shaking through Rock and Roll”,
a recent exploration of Vancouver’s creative future in the time of condo. And
with the “Placing Labels” series by
Jordie Yow, in which he interviews a sequence of local music publishers, to find
out what goes into making a label.
Streethawk is ambitious, and it’s talented staff is what makes it more than just
a blog. It’s a magazine.
Streethawk is always there at:
streethawkmagazine.com
We’ve heard guitar rap before, but never with so much
Top Gun gusto. Produced by Mannie Fresh of Bling Bling
fame, Big Shit Poppin’ finds T.I. in Young Jeezy-esque
motivation mode. Chants of “Do It” and “Jyeah” abound.
May cause wistfulness and yearning.
Life
Bosman’s is dead; long live Bosman’s
Having grown up in the suburbs, I try not to complain about the so-called “bridge and tunnel people.” Suburban revelers need a place to party too, but it has gotten
a little out-of-hand. It’s been clear for a while that Granville is strictly the dominion of frat boys and bar stars (We
miss you, Sugar Refinery!). For the rest of us, there aren’t
that many options west of Gastown.
Unfortunately, those options are about to get even slimmer. On Friday, April 27th, Bosman’s (or rather the Side
Bar Lounge at Bosman’s Motor Hotel—most people just
call it Bosman’s) will be closing its doors. A change of ownership in the hotel meant that Heather and Gino, who rent
the space to run the bar, didn’t get their lease renewed,
and that alcohol will no longer be served on the premises.
This is tragic for a number of reasons, most of all because Bosman’s served as a last bastion of low-key-itude
on that side of town. The beer was reasonably priced, the
popcorn and peanuts were free, and the atmosphere was
no-frills. I can only recall there ever being dancing there
once, when most of the bar got up spontaneously and began shakin’ it to “Rock Lobster.” At the end of the song
though everyone froze, realized where they were, and dutifully returned to their seats.
So it wasn’t for dancing, but Bosman’s was a great place
to drink and hang out, not to worry about how tight
your pants were, and for that it will be sorely missed. Of
course, there’s one other thing that makes Bosman’s closure remarkable: the fate of its art collection, specifically
its black velvet portrait of Monica Lewinsky.
To be honest, when I heard the news about Bosman’s imminent closure, the first thing that I thought was, “What’s
going to happen to The Lewinsky?”
The Lewinsky has a storied history. The portrait, based
on an image culled from her 1995 government ID, was a
cheeky wedding present given to Provincial Court Judge
Joseph Galati. He then gave it to Heather and Gino, to celebrate their taking over management of Bosman’s.
I should note here that my repeated attempts to contact
the Honourable Judge Galati were unsuccessful. As is now
abundantly clear to me, tracking down a provincial court
judge is extremely difficult, especially when one is writing for a magazine named “Tooth and Dagger.” The pedigree and authorship of the Lewinsky masterpiece will
therefore remain beyond my grasp for this story; all I can
tell you that it appears that the name “JORGE” is written
on the bottom right corner.
The painting hung for a while, but was plagued by attempted thefts. When it was defaced with bubble gum, it
was decided to move it to the safety of the storeroom, behind the bar.
“I don’t get it,” Joanne Carpenter says of—arguably—
the world’s greatest work of art. “In its time, I thought it
was great, but now... I’d love for her to know how famous
she still was in this little dive, I mean, bar.”
Joanne has worked as a bartender at Bosman’s for 16
and a half years.
“It’s going to be hard the first day, when I realize I don’t
really have a job to go to. But, in some ways, we’re all
kind of relieved, too; it’s been hard working night shifts,
and you know how it gets in here.”
Though not too rough, Bosman’s can be a little rowdy,
especially after John Cougar Mellencamp concerts. They
hosted karaoke for a while, years ago, but stopped after
noise complaints from the hotel above. Up until a couple
of years ago—long after the ban on smoking indoors came
into effect—Bosman’s still let patrons smoke inside, but
after getting busted one too many times, smokers were
forced out to the patio.
by Duncan M. McHugh
Downtown loses its best low-key bar; what’s to become of
The Lewinsky?
“I was always the one that got caught,” says Joanne, “and
I don’t even smoke.” There are also mysterious rumours
that Bosman’s used to lock the doors at closing time and
let those inside drink til the wee hours of the morning,
but Joanne doesn’t mention it.
“Years and years ago, it was judges and lawyers and
cops; it was a hide-out,” says Joanne. “A lot of people I’ve
met, over the years, didn’t even know the place existed.
Well, I didn’t either, for years. I found out about it when I
came to visit my friend at the coffee shop [next door].”
One Bosman’s effect that Joanne mentions surprises me.
“A lot of people, I must say, have met their mate here,
which is very surprising, ‘cos you wouldn’t have thought
of this place as a pick-up.” In fact, Heather and Gino first
met at Bosman’s.
As for Bosman’s last night, Joanne expects a celebration.
“Friday, I’m sure is going to be a free-for-all, for sure. I
don’t know what kind of specials there’ll be... It’ll be so
sad.”
So what of The Lewinsky, what will happen to this storied work?
“Everything’s up for sale,” says Joanne.
That includes the autographed ReBoot poster, the Charlie Chaplin poster, the TV, even the Galaga arcade game,
although that will set you back a cool $1500; everything
else is going to the highest bidder. Needless to say, I’ve
“The painting hung for
a while, but was plagued
by attempted thefts”
put in my bid for The Lewinsky. I won’t tell you how
much I’m willing to blow on something that will probably—in all honestly—wear out its welcome after a few
days, but I will tell you that if any of you expect to walk
away with it, you better be ready to rumble.
The exceptions to the firesale are the totally out-of-place
legal volumes that line one of Bosman’s walls.
“The legal books belong to the hotel. They were donated many, many years ago to Mr. Bosman,” says Joanne.
“And these are real books. It was once quoted in The Sun
that these are fake books, but they’re not. And people, of
course, have been stealing them, so we had to hide the
rest.”
Bosman’s is beginning to show that its days are numbered. The “SideBar” patches have been ripped off of all
the bar’s chairs.
“I tell you, it’s really starting to hit home for a lot of us,”
says Joanne. “Last night, watching the hockey game, regulars who used to work across the street, they’re here. So,
you know, we’re starting to exchange phone numbers.”
Joanne says that Bosman’s has regulars in every age
group; from the old timers who have been coming for
years to the hipsters in their twenties seeking refuge from
the terrors of Granville Street. All dreading the choice
they’ll have to make after Friday.
“That’s the thing: everybody’s saying, ‘Where are [we]
going to go?’ I’m asking, ‘Where am I going to go!’” says
Joanne. “A lot of the older regulars, I think they’ll end up
going to the Quality Inn. That’s where we’re suggesting
for them to go.” Only Magazine has also weighed in on
the matter, declaring the Barclay Hotel on Robson Street
as “the new Bosman’s.” I haven’t had a chance to check it
out for myself, but I trust (and hope! And pray!) that it will
be a strong contender.
As for the staff, some are headed to Dylan’s, Heather and
Gino’s restaurant at 57th and Cambie. Joanne is planning
on taking a bit of time off.
“I don’t plan on doing anything right away. I’m going
to take some time off. It’s been hard, working the late
nights.”
Still, Joanne is going to miss her job.
“There’s lots of good memories. I can’t think of any offhand. I can think of some bad memories I don’t want to
remember! You know, too much tequila.”
As we finish our interview and Joanne heads back to the
bar, she doles out some of the comforting philosophy that
bartenders are famous for.
“Everything has to come to an end.”
Tooth and Dagger
April 24, 2007
11
TOOTH and DAGGER up and coming • send your events to: listings@toothanddagger.com
FILM
Fri, April 27th
The Toxic Avenger
Sun, April 29th
The Call of Cthulhu
Possibly the best movie of all time. From
An all-new 20’s style silent film epic of the
TROMA of course. This is the story of a
H.P. Lovecraft classic. Includes wicked stop-
wimpy nerd, tormented by popular, attrac-
motion Cthulhu!
tive bastards who becomes the greatest su-
Bizarro Film-o-Rama: The Gaff (684 E.
per hero in new jersey.
Hastings St.), 8pm
Bizarro Film-o-Rama: The Gaff (684 E.
$5.00
Hastings St.), 7pm
Fri, April 27 through Wed, May 2
Saturdays
Fixed Gear Bike Meet, come to practice
Bike Polo
tricks, or just hang out.
Metropolis and Fantastic Planet
They supply the mallets. Bring your crap-
Science World Gazebo, 7pm
A double shot of seminal sci-fi. Prepare to
Mickey Rooney freaks out and kidnaps a
py steed -- it can get rough.
have your consciousness expanded.
Friday, May 11
woman so he can subject her to his “act-
Grandview Park Tennis Courts, 1pm
Pacific Cinematheque
Margaret Charles Chopper Collective
Fri, April 27th
Post-apocalyptic art freak-bike ride
Critical Mass
Second Friday of every month
Thu, May 3 through Wed, May 9
Largest monthly bike gathering in the
Science World Gazebo, 6:30pm
Inland Empire
city. So nice in the summer.
Friday, May 18
Writer-Director Anthony Newly stars as Hi-
Whether positive or negative, reviews for
Art Gallery, 6pm
Ladies’ Fixed-Gear Ride
$5.00
BJ Lang Presents: The Manipulator
MUSIC
KNOW YOUR BIKE RIDES
ing”. (7:30pm)
$9.50 Single Bill / $11.50 Double Bill
Tue, April 24th
Sat, May 5
Trans Am, Zombi and Black Taj
CocoRosie and Busdriver
Richard’s is bound to end up smelling like
Hopefully the Casady sisters leave those
Otto’s jacket as electro-prog psyche-outs
indecent unicorns from the cover of No-
eronymus Merkin, a Hollywood director hav-
David Lynch’s latest three-hour opus have
Tue, May 8th
Vancouver’s new all-lady bike ride. All
ensue but don’t end soon.
ah’s Ark at home. Nobody needs to see
ing a massive midlife crisis. Self absorbed?
uniformly labelled it “incomprehensible”
Midnight Mass
type of bikes welcome, but bring your
You be the judge. (9:15pm)
and “unadulterated Lynch.” Obviously a
Held on the 2nd and 4th Tuesday of the
fixie if you have one!
Evil Film School -Psych OUT!: Blim (197
must-see.
month. Ride at Midnight.
Third Friday of every month
E.17th), 7pm
Vancouver International Film Centre
Grandview Park, 11:45pm
Science World Gazebo, 7pm
$5 - $10
$9.50
Richard’s (1036 Richards)
$18.00
that.
Richard’s (1036 Richards)
Wed, April 25th
$18.00
The Books
Sat, May 5th
These eclectic sound-collage artists aug-
Mando Diao
ment their live show with found-footage
These Swedes bring the Scandinavian sass
videos artfully spliced. Michael LaPointe
along with some retro riffs they found lay-
says go to this show at all costs.
ing around the garage.
Richard’s (1036 Richards)
Plaza (881 Granville)
$20.00
Thu, April 26th
2MANYDJS
More danceable than Girl Talk. Be sure to
bring your coworkers along. They’ll recognize at least half the songs and feel undeniably cool.
Hey Fixie
Fri, April 27
2007 Emily Carr Institute Undergraduate Ex-
Launch: John Armstrong’s “Wages”
$13.50
hibition
Sun, May 6th
Blanket (6-758 Alexander), 6-8pm
Granville Island, 7-11pm
The man who was once Buck Cherry of The Come down to the SideBar for the final night
Modernettes unveils his second book - an ac- of the best dive in town.
The Apostle of Hustle, Memphis and
Fri, April 27
Opening: Alanna Scott
“Some monochromes & some others”
Saturday April 28
count of every way he’s ever earned a buck.
Bid up the Lewinsky, make Duncan cry (see
Hot One Inch Action.
Pulp Fiction (2422 Main Street), 7-9pm
page 11)
If nothing else, this should guarantee that
Petri Dish (2406 Main) 6-8pm
$5 and trade till you get your favs.
there’s at least one decent show to check
Sat, May 5
Gallery Gachet (88 E Cordova)
Lotus Child
out at the perpetually underwhelming
$30.00
Red Room (398 Richards)
Wed, April 25th
Freegeek:
Introduction to Computer Hardware
$15.00
cal track listing.
Richard’s (1036 Richards)
Sun, May 6th
puter anatomy, Questions you should ask ,
Tapes ‘n Tapes and Ladyhawk
things you should look for. (6pm)
After cutting a swath through the blogo-
Linux Clinic
Free and open source software can offer
$20.00
sphere, TnT get all old-fashioned with
Sat, May 5th
an honest-to-goodness North American
cious alternatives. Set your computer free.
Explosions In The Sky and Eluvium
tour. Plus: They’re taking our city’s favou-
(7pm)
This Austin quartet received the following
rite beardos along for the ride.
acceptance letter from their label: “This
Plaza (881 Granville)
$16.00
community-oriented, nutritious and deli-
Spartacus Books (319 W. Hastings) 6p.m
Free
Fri, April 27
Bosman’s SideBar Closing
Bosman’s SideBar, 8pm
A big art button trading event, buy a bag or
WORKSHOPS
How to work with electronics, basic com-
Guaranteed to be first on any alphabeti-
BAR CLOSING
BOOKS
ART
Emily Carr Grad Show
New Music West.
!!!
Tuesdays
Fri, April 27
Opening:Elizabeth McIntosh
“Fire At Full Moon”
Caprice (965 Granville)
Fri, May 4th
Can Hieronymus Merkin Ever
Forget Mercy Humppe and Find
True Happiness
COMMUNITY
you are!.
Learn to fix your bike
Tue, May 1st
Seamrippers Craft Social
Whether you are a novice or a pro, grab your
hand craft project and come and join us for a
beer or cup of tea.
introduction to bicycle mechanics course.
Rizome (317 E. Broadway), 6-9pm
bring your bike and a snack.
Free!
Our Community Bikes (3283 Main) 6p.m
Thu, May 3rd
$40, register early if possible.
hand craft project and come and join us for a
Letter Writing Club
beer or cup of tea.
Sat, May 5th
Everyone welcome! Paper, pens, enve-
Brickhouse, 6-9
Seamrippers Embroidery Workshop
lopes, typewriters, dictionaries, tea, cook-
Free!
You will be amazed at how easy it can be to
ies and encouragement provided. Address-
TBA, Call 604-689-SEAM
$5
Thu, May 4th
es required.
Regional Assembly of Text, 7pm
3934 Main
Free!!
Mon, May 7th
Seamrippers Craft Social
Whether you are a novice or a pro, grab your
create beautiful stitched designs. The work-
Sat, April 28th
totally fucking destroys.”
Seamrippers Doll Making
Croatian Cultural Centre (3250 Commer-
There are a few special people out there who
cial)
are attracted to the process of making soft
$18.00 All Ages - Early Show
little beings. Come out come out where ever
shop will cover several basic stitches and explain techniques for creating you own designs.
TBA, Call 604-689-SEAM
$5
TOOTH AND DAGGER
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