by Miné Salkin | Apr 21, 2009 | news
Thousands light up joints to celebrate cannabis culture at 4/20 event
for Metro Vancouver
A girl holds a lit joint in celebration of 4/20 outside the Vancouver Art Gallery yesterday. The joint weighs about seven grams. The annual event attracted several thousand marijuana enthusiasts
A crowd of more than 5,000 people lit joints and got high outside the Vancouver Art Gallery yesterday to celebrate 4/20, the annual cannabis culture gala.
The impenetrable mass of people at the event counted down to 4:20 p.m., and then proceeded to spark up joints, pipes and bongs. The sky filled with a massive plume of smoke.
From teenagers to the middle-aged, the festivity attracted a wide demographic of pot smokers.
Jannis, who moved to Vancouver from Germany in July after graduating from culinary school, rolled up a hash joint and drank imported beer on the steps of the VAG.
“I’ve never seen anything like this before,” he said, adding that he was surprised to see the size of the celebration.
“The people here really know how to enjoy themselves,” he said. “I think 4/20 is an indicator for this kind of lifestyle.”
An 18-year-old girl sitting with her friends said that they had been waiting more than two years to participate in the event.
“We came all the way from Calgary for this,” she said.
“We had to lie to our moms,” said one of her friends.
B.C. Green Party candidate Jodie Emery and her husband, Marc Emery from the B.C. Marijuana Party, were seen handing out pamphlets for the upcoming May 12 election.
“Some people have been here since 7:30 this morning,” Jodie Emery said.
“It’s a great crowd today.”
by Miné Salkin | Apr 21, 2009 | news
For Metro Vancouver
The surface of Mars
A massive crater on an uninhabited island in the Arctic is a site worthy of a science-fiction movie.
With a vegetable greenhouse and an Internet network, it is a futuristic vision for how humans could survive an expedition on Mars within this generation.
The Haughton-Mars Project (HMP) has already begun to explore this possibility by leading experiments on Devon Island, Nunavut.
Researchers from Simon Fraser University, NASA and the Canadian Space Agency have partnered up to see how biological systems could flourish on the red planet.
Dr. Stephen Braham, a quantum cosmologist, is a co-investigator exploration communications for HMP. He is designing the data for a computer program that controls the experiments from his chair at SFU.
“We’ve got two vehicles nearly there, and we’re going to test out NASA technology in the Arctic,” he said. “We’ll have nearly 100 kilometres of empty, Mars-like terrain to test our moon rovers.”
Steven Baird, 21, is a third-year student at the University of B.C.’s Mechanical Engineering program. He camped with Braham last summer at the project’s site.
Its polar-desert climate, remoteness and geological features make it the ideal place as a terrestrial testing ground for missions to Mars.
Much like a space expedition, Baird described the northern setting as “isolated and confined.”
“The HMP offers insight into the possible evolution of Mars’ landscape, as well as the possibilities and limits for life in extreme climates,” he said.
For now, HMP is making its way across the Northwest Passage in the first vehicle-expedition in the area, which is entirely made of ice.
Baird said that the team plans to stay there up for four weeks running experiments.
“You can only test your ideas so far in the lab. Having an on-Earth testing ground for humans is incredibly valuable,” he said.
Braham has camped with the team running experiments on site for the past 11 seasons. A report from the CPA said that lettuce and other vegetables have been growing there since 2002.
A friend of technology, Braham makes daily updates about HMP on Twitter at www.twitter.com/warp.
by Miné Salkin | Apr 18, 2009 | Uncategorized
for Metro Vancouver
Police don’t plan to make arrests at event celebrating cannabis culture
Smoking marijuana may be a criminal offence, but Vancouver police won’t be looking to make arrests at a pro-pot rally on Monday that is expected to attract thousands of people.
Const. Jana McGuinness said officers will be present at the event, which takes place in front of the Vancouver Art Gallery every April 20.
A contest to win a Blueberry Skunk plant, from 2007
“As long as there isn’t a public safety issue, where things would move into the streets, then the event will be able to continue,” she said.
Last year, about 6,000 people took part in the 420 gathering to celebrate marijuana culture.
Despite open pot use, no arrests were made. That many people are expected to return this year and to spark up joints at 4:20 p.m.
Jodie Emery, Green party candidate for the Vancouver-Fraserview riding, said the event is a celebration of Canadians’ “autonomy.”
The B.C. Green Party platform for the May 12 election includes the legalization of marijuana.
“Millions of dollars go into enforcing marijuana laws, and this money could be used to prevent more serious problems like violent crimes or identity theft,” she said.
Jodie Emery is married to Marc Emery, founder and president of the B.C. Marijuana Party.
He’s facing extradition to the U.S. for selling marijuana seeds to Americans online.
by Miné Salkin | Apr 16, 2009 | Uncategorized
A couple of months ago, as I was sifting through the myriad of underground bands, when I came across Search Parties. They’ re the kind of band you’d see at places like the Railway Club, the Cobalt, and the Biltmore — slightly grungy venues with an irrevocable coolness too.
Ben Kelly, Baxter Hall, Thomas Weidman, Harlan Shore, Tjom Speakman and Adrian Yee are barely legal.
Ranging from 16 to 20 years old, this band has a ferocity and lyrical maturity that is far beyond their years.
In February, the band played acoustic sets at secret bank locations in ATM rooms, just to prove how people can have fun and be creative without worrying about money and the recession. They’re hip, but also have a social conscience and are brimming with optimism.
Search Parties is best described as an ambient, western, electronically-shredded mash-up, and each delivery is different and unique. Just the way music should be.
Needless to say, they blew out my camera speakers. Sorry for the crackles.
Search Parties MySpace
by Miné Salkin | Mar 31, 2009 | live action
It was that magical time of the year again, and luckily for us, this year’s Juno Awards were celebrated in Vancouver city.
JunoFest, a two-day music extravaganza, hosted over 100 bands at 19 venues across town, from dodgy little holes in the wall to bigger places and bigger capacity. It featured national and local talents from all over to perform a myriad of styles ranging from country, lo-fi indie pop, electronica, and even some metal.
On Saturday, I went out to the Biltmore cabaret to check out Hannah Georgas and Jon-Rae Fletcher, two very promising Vancouver musicians who know how to get the crowd excited.
Hannah Georgas’ music is delightful. Her sound is quirky, indie-folk based but also has a great rock twang to it as well. She was recently featured by CBC Radio 3‘s Breaking New Sound, where she was described as “whimsical and yet extremely serious.” While her voice is soft and brings to mind the shyness of Emily Haines, her determination and fiery look to dominate the folk pop indie scene is dangerous.
Jon-Rae Fletcher came on right after, and entreated the crowd to a more country-styled kind of folk. Raised in rural Alberta, Fletcher’s voice is eerily haunting and lonely sounding, much like the cold vastness of his home.
Enjoy the slideshow, we wish you could’ve been there…
Jon-Rae Fletcher Myspace
Hannah Georgas Myspace
