Need For Speed: ProStreet

Finding Henry

The rain fell hard in the middle of the the night. Desert style - short and fast. It came down so hard the rain couldn't run off, it overflowed the gutters, ran down the road, then stopped. The morning looked sort of grim, so M went down to the art gallery and ran some errands. Layer the sun came out, I called up Dubmaster C to hang out and catch up. The sun put it's hat on - the afternoon was glorious. M showed up later on and we all had a entertaining afternoon.

Prior to going, I was talking with a neighbour and noticed a little dog in thebushes outside. She said it was grandma's dog. It ran around, then it was in the road - the cars stopped, and the neighbour grabbed it.

Walking home from Main, then down onto our street we walked past a house with a sign up "Lost dog, black and white - little dog". Sounded familiar! "Wonder if that's grannies dog?, bet it is!" (Spidey sense kicking in). I asked the one of the kids in the garden what the dog was like "It's blind!!!!". Ok, I that I really think this is grannies dog. She's going to be really worried, her son and grand-daughter are away ... let's check up. Walking down the road we knocked on her door ... "Hey granny neighbour, have you lost your dog? It's up the street !". She was relieved ... awww- she'd been upset all day, so we went and picked it up for. Poor little thing was blind, eyes rolled back in it's sockets. I picked it up and it was shaking... poor Henry. I carried it back to grannies and set it back in familier surroundings. Anyways, he's getting eye surgery soon.

Lonely Sun


M has hung the sun's friend up for a little while. As you can see he's unhappy his friend has gone.

Who Stole Our Sunshine?

Not a rant about the weather, but last night when we was sleeping I heard a huge crash. I lept out of bed, opened the blinds and saw some nobhead run up the side of our house and upto some girl on the street. I went downstairs, checked the neighbors place - checked ours - everything looked OK. Odd I thought, but Poirot knew something was up - but what?

Today, M noticed our sunshine dangling from the mailbox was gone. She recalled the girl saying "Have you got it?". Buggers. It was professional sunshine mob outfit. It didn't take a Sherlock Holmes to figure that one out, it was easy - just look how the wires were cut clean. Pro job with snips.

Anyways, M vented today by posting on the local Craiglist rant and raves. Click Me To Read

Striker Dances

Here's some clips of Striker go mental to some banging tunes. "2 Thumbs up!"

Spearhead

We all really enjoyed the Spearhead show. Micheal Franti is very much a great musician and a great show man. The crowd loved them and so did we. Here's a few videos from the show. Thanks Oz.

Striker Time

Striker decided to stick around for a couple of days for some bonus material. We all had a great day, first up was the Latin Festival at Trout Lake.


We strolled around the booths checking out what was onsale, made repeat visits to the food area and watched salsa dancers, singers and some people who've been looking fwd to the festival all year...

Afterwards we headed down Commercial Drive, the Italian District, to see what's going on. We checked out a few record shops before Striker realized he'd lost his debit card whilst purchasing a kool re-release of The Clash's - London Calling. Off we headed back to ours to making calls to the bank. Oh! bugger.

After hanging around the house we headed over to Queen Elizebeth Park for a stroll amongst the beautiful gardens....


... then posed for pictures with 'The Barmy Headless Army'.


Inspired, we headed down to the bay for a walk along the sea-wall. Around this point I realized that Oz was putting on SpearHead at the Malkim Bowl in Stanley Park. A quick phone call ...


... and we was in for the show. Time to spread the beach blanket out and settle in for sounds from San Francisco - which was nice.

Intrepid Cyclists

Our friends came up to Vancouver as part of a 1200 strong cyclists tour from Seattle->Vancouver. . Spread over 2 days, these peddle power warriors rolled into town last night. After a washup, fresh'n up we headed out for dinner and a catchup. Good times at The Main. Great to see you all.

Chicago Style, Ms Basque & Zoomy

Striker in the basement, "Suit You Sir" suite.

BBQ For The Neighbors


Following up with neighbor appreciation, we invited the most immediate families around for a BBQ yesterday. The idea of this blossomed when the kids came around last week raving about the BBQ smell. "Can we have some?" - "You've already eaten dinner" - "Come around next week and bring your families". So, yesterday everyone came around and a really nice time. M rustled up some hot-dogs for the meat eaters and I had the "veggie option tofu pups". Grandma next door baked a chocolate cake -- mmm - some left in the fridge if anyone wants any.

Vancouver @ Night

2AM - Flagging A Cab

2 Slices Of Pizza Please

Sly & Robbie


Oz hooked us with tickets to legendary rythmn section Sly & Robbie. 'Lads night out' tonight so Dubmaster C and I headed down

A big part of the excitement was the chance to see Horace Andy, who was on the bill. Arriving to pick up tickets we notice a sign "Due to unforseen circumstances Horace Andy will not be performing tonight". Rubbish! I think that's the 3rd reggae show with a no-show this year. Oh well.

Sly & Robbie hit the stage and bounced out some great sounds. After a while it became apparent that there was some major wholes in the set due to Horace Andy no-showing -- for about 40 mins there was pretty much a jam-session. To get things back on track, a female vocalist Cherene Anderson began singing. She was a soulful singer, not exactly my cup-of-tea .. a little tooo smooth for my liking. After the show she came around giving out flyers - good move me thinks for an up-coming performer.

Amongst The Leafy Trees Of East Vancouver....

.... amidst the advancing gentrification of the neighbourhood - in between the Ethiopian refugees who bring around food on their national holidays, and the guys who flee perseution for legal marriage in Canada, and the Chinese neighbours who smile and greet us but don't speak much beyond that - but the eyes say it all, and the kids who play freely on the street, and the little adorable girl who's a Haida tribe decendent and part of the direct lineage to some of the master carvers on the planet, who's is looked after by her Dad and grandma cuz the Mum is estranged and they barely pay the rent, and Oz who produces great music shows in town, the dude who make masks for horror films next door, and the smiley Ethopian kid who is full of life and wants to water yer garden and pet the dogs strolling down the street - you have to think - f*cking 'ell this is special.

Hare Krishna Festival


Yesterday we headed down to Stanley Park and Second Beach to check out the festival of India & Hare Krishna festival. First up was the 'wagon' parade, followed by the *free* feast -- mmm -- tasty food.


Afterwards we took a walk on the sea-wall. Ahh, it's been a while since we walked in the park.


... then it was off to North Van to pick up our friends and watch Black Mountain. But 1st, a picture of their pool...

Black Mountain

We headed into North Van to watch our fave Vancouver band - Black Mountain last night . They played a great show - we were blown away. Freaking great band.

Tony Wilson - RIP


Sad news today, Manchester legend Tony Wilson lost his battle for cancer. Manchester's ambassador, music lover, factory records owner, pioneer and cultural barometer gone.

Sad day indeed.

Evening Beach

Now the rain has finally stopped falling, it's time to head over to the beach, eat some picnics, stare at the mountains and watch the sun fall. The light is always spectacular. This time we were treated to a bunch of Canadian Geese floating in 'formation' on the sea.

Dirty Bird Baker

Here's a picture of Mt Baker, Washington State. One of the active volcanoes in the Cascade Mountains, and one of the many volcanoes on the pacific rim which form 'The Ring Of Fire'

Here's Mt Shukson behind the farm lands of Northern Washington.
M's Grandad used to climb that mountain.

Yeahhhhhh!

Big Up! to Chicago Style & Ms Basque who got married this weekend.

Festival Of Lights - China

Vancouver has the great annual event where they invite a number of countries to come ans compete in an firework competition. It's such a brilliant idea. Last night China showed us what they've got. My Chinese friend (JZ) told me it's going to be special - the firework team is doing a practice run for the forthcoming Beijing Olympics.

Some of our neighbor friends - Mr & Mrs Flemish Maritime's invited us over to their friends who have an apartment on English Bay .. right next to Stanley Park ... with a 4th floor epic view of the bay and fireworks. A nice international crowd - some programmers, some visual fx artists and a kool dude designer from Finland who I liked a lot .. good times talking C++ and the merits of minimalist furniture :) .. well more programming LED lights for a living space atmosphere.

The show was spectacular, particularly the finale which I've posted here. Stay with the clip, it really gets going.. Enjoy.