by Miné Salkin | Sep 22, 2009 | news
The winner of the $20,000 prize for best Canadian album has gone to Fucked Up for their 2008 work The Chemistry of Modern Life. The highly controversial group, originally from Toronto, plays high-energy punk rock with virtosity and lyrical intellect.
Fucked Up, image courtesy of Matador Records
The lead singer, Damian Abraham, has even worked with Jello Biafra, singer of the Dead Kennedys who is a generational beacon for the new-wave punk era of the 1980’s.
The punk quintet beat out other more well-known Canadian acts such as the pop wonder Metric, refugee hip-hop artist K’Naan, soulful rockers Great Lake Swimmers and pop experimentalist Chad Vangaalen.
However, you’ve got to admit that punk music has always had a bit of a select audience. Not everyone enjoys the rampant, almost machine-like speed of their delivery — much less appreciate its oft political or social messages. Punk music, at its best, comes from the downtrodden, the least socioeconomically empowered. So what does this say about Canadian music lovers when a punk band has won such a prestigious, popularizing award?
Personally, I’m a fan of anything punk. In fourth grade, I listened to Green Day‘s Dookie nearly every day, and have always loved the intellectual, leftist teachings of Bad Religion.
by Miné Salkin | Sep 17, 2009 | news
Hello all,
The tail end of the summer offered little promise as I was spending all of my time in front of the computer, but getting very little done. It had something to do with True Blood, Rod Serling from the Twilight Zone (original), Mad Men and Big Love. I’m not ashamed anymore.
On September 20th, I’ll be covering the Arctic Monkeys show at the Malkin Bowl in beautiful Stanley Park. A tidy review should quickly ensue.
Friday October 2nd will see us some beautiful (and rather bizarre) images of our good friend Deadmau5, an award-nominated DJ currently enjoying fame on the radio waves with his song “Move for Me” which was made in collaboration with Kaskade, another premium spin doktor. Can you say big mouse outfit?
Deadmau5 photo: courtesy of MySpace
Polaris prize-nominee Chad Vangaalen is gracing the Biltmore Cabaret on October 2, and I promise to capture the haunting expression he’ll have when he sings “Molten Light,” god willing he will play that eerie tune.
I’m also working on getting some face time with Matthew Good, so I’ll keep you posted on any developments that way. He’s playing at the ritzy Centre for Performing Arts, with opening band Mother Mother, who you should all know and love by now…
by Miné Salkin | May 22, 2009 | news
Canadian consumers will have a minimum 21-day, interest-free grace period on all credit card purchases after the federal government introduced new legislation on Thursday.
This applies when a customer pays the outstanding balance in full.
The new regulations also require credit card companies to let customers know how long it will take to pay off their debt if they only make the minimum monthly payments.
Finance Minister Jim Flaherty said the public’s financial literacy will be increased and admitted the changes were met with some resistance by financial institutions.
“It is a major change. It will cost financial institutions tens of millions of dollars,” Flaherty said.
The regulations also force companies to require express consent for credit limit increases.
Dave Sallay, a 20-year-old warehouse employee, said these rules could have helped him avoid the “huge” credit debt he owes.
“Visa raised my limit from my original $500 to $2,400 without my consent,” he said. “I didn’t want it increased, and if I spent more than my limit they would just let it roll over.”
Sarah Stenabaugh is a graduate student who said she was given a credit card too early.
At 19, she signed up during a promotion that gave her $100 for groceries. After a few months of not watching her spending, Stenabaugh was paying nearly 20 per cent interest on a balance of $5,000 alongside insurance add-ons she claims she didn’t ask for.
“They need to regulate who they give credit cards to,” Stenabaugh said. “They hit up the kids right when they get to university who don’t understand how a credit debt could affect them for years after.”
by Miné Salkin | May 21, 2009 | news
For Metro Vancouver
Trisha Baptie, a former sex-trade worker, speaks on human trafficking Friday night at the International Film Centre on Seymour Street.
Buying sex is not a sport, says a group of activists campaigning to get Ottawa to change the country’s sex laws before the 2010 Olympics, to keep more women from being lured into prostitution.
Michelle Miller, executive director of Resist Exploitation, Embrace Dignity, said Parliament should enact the same laws recently instituted in Sweden that decriminalize the selling of sex and criminalize the buying of sex.
“No one looks at the buyers,” she said. “Women are bought and sold but we want to expose that men have contributed to the demand.”
Miller said the increase in men away from their social networks would raise the demand for paid sex in Vancouver during the Games.
“We’ve seen this at the World Cup, the Superbowl, so it’s known. Men who travel enjoy the degree of anonymity and are more likely to buy sex,” she said.
Trisha Baptie is a former sex-trade worker who took to the streets when she was 13 years old.
“It’s human slavery. There are women in brothels in Vancouver right now, and more will come before the Games,” she said.
by Miné Salkin | May 15, 2009 | news
For Metro Vancouver
The East Broadway apartment building damaged in Thursday’s fire.
A fire at an East Vancouver apartment building that left one person in serious condition and 70 others homeless was likely started by a cigarette, according to firefighters.
“It started as a mattress fire,” Capt. Gabe Roder said. “It was cigarette-related.”
The building’s tenants — many of whom are elderly, uninsured and have medical conditions — will not be allowed to return to their homes for at least two weeks.
The City of Vancouver is paying for them to stay in hotels for three days.
Firefighters reported two fire alarms went off on Thursday at approximately 2:30 a.m. as fire ripped through a north-facing suite on the fourth floor.
Elie Arshak, a retired computer programmer, has lived in the apartment for nine years.
“We heard the alarms, and then we all had to evacuate,” he said. “The smoke was very thick and it was hard to breathe.”
“There’s heavy smoke damage on the fourth floor, and the lower floors have suffered extensive water damage,” said Verne Dion, principal of Barclay Restorations.
Lila moved into the building last month after her last residence in New Westminster also had a fire.
“This is my second fire in the last six months,” she said.
by Miné Salkin | May 7, 2009 | news, Uncategorized
Almost 60% in B.C. say they can’t give clients due attention
For Metro Vancouver
Nearly two-thirds — 60 per cent — of front-line social workers in British Columbia said they “rarely” or “never” give adequate attention to children and families due to unmanageable caseloads and high stress levels, according to a report released yesterday.
A study by the Pivot Legal Society involving 109 current and former employees of the Ministry of Children and Family Development (MCFD) suggests that B.C.’s child protection programs are compromised by a lack of government funding.
“Social workers felt that they didn’t have the ability to do what they needed to do with families and fulfil their reporting responsibilities,” said Darcie Bennett, researcher for Pivot.
Employees also reported that “burnout” took a toll on their emotional health as a result of the lack of resources and time, affecting their own relationships with their families and physical health.
Pivot lawyer Lobat Sadrehashemi said the study’s results are “alarming.”
“The overarching principle is to protect the interests of children, and here we have more than half of social workers pointing to a lack of resources and preventative measures.”
Paul Jenkinson, a spokesperson for the B.C. Association of Social Workers, said these problems have been known since the mid-1990s.
“It’s disturbing that it continues,” he said. “Seventy per cent (of welfare clients) are children who are born into poverty and have no political power.”
