big trouble (and in suburbia) [vancouver pt. 2]



// I had somewhat forgotten how cold the damp dismal can be as it seeps into the pores of a skin well-saturated with the dew. Montreal is swiping negative 30 celsius, but Vancouver's plus 5 cleanly slices the skin otherwise serrated by the more brutish, eastern winters.

More observations on the Wet Coast -- on the upside, Vancouver has a LOT going on, a myriad span of events, particularly in the digital arts scene (for example Jesse Scott & co.'s NTSC Collective). The sheer number is probably unsustainable. People tell me about the long slow death of the VOID experimental night -- my only advice is NOT to hang on. Cut losses. End when things are at their peak. Then move on, reconfigure. And moreover, group together and network. Isolation breeds space in which to fall. Stick together. Etc.

On the downside, much of the surrounding suburbia to Vancouver proper (Surrey, White Rock, Langley, etc), now boasts all the density and none of the planning of a city proper. No focus, no identity, no harmony. Nor, for that matter, proper public transit, a culture versed in alternatives to the automobile, anything to do, amicable living, or even integrated greenspace as massive townhomes grace the landscape like fresh vomit. One is much better off living in the city: there's more parks, better transport, better mixed housing, and this strange thing people do outside their houses, that intangible thing each suburbanite shudders deep in their petty little hearts at the thought of, huddled behind gated communities and roaring SUVs: collective culture.

Not all suburbanites are like this, of course, but the general invading, viral atmosphere of this "new new money" calling for egoistic housing development wherein each house is a palatial monument to the Owner certainly requires no further fucking introduction. The "old suburbanites" -- most still filthy rich, but also quiet and respectful escapists on their old one acre lots -- are in shock, selling property and moving out to colonize, oh, say, the Islands. The leftfield inhabitants of beach communities, the artists and refugees of Crescent Beach and hippies of White Rock, appear to be long gone ..

==== [yah / ]

WEDNESDAY -- all you can eat @ Big Trouble -- :

Yes, in the spirit of Team Trainwreck's mad reincarnation of freakazoid crate-digging, you'll be hearing acid house slamming into Kompakt records, the KLF and Technotronic on the rewind tip side-by-side Pitchtuner and Ricardo Villalobos. It will certainly be any number of things, which is to say, all conditions of possibility point toward a lot of FUN.

To repeat:

BIG TROUBLE @
the LOTUS. 455 Abbott St.
Wednesday, 22nd December, 2004




The people I am djing with look like this:




.. eeeek. Come and drink with me. I'll Dj for you in return.

// // / / / ? ? ? // // / ? ?/

posted. Tue - December 21, 2004 @ 11:06 PM           |