The annual issue of the Georgia Straight, “Best of Vancouver”, is now available in stores street corner boxes. This free weekly newspaper takes a poll every year where readers can voice their choices for the best spots in town for any kind of activity or lack thereof. I have yet to get a print copy to see if there’s a side column about blogs but I’m reading the online results right now.

Here are a couple of the ‘winners’.

City Life:

Media/Arts/Culture:

Style:

Travel:

Mind/Body/Soul:

Sports and Recreation:

Lifestyle:

Food and Drink:

These are just a few of the results, pick up a copy of the Georgia Straight for more results or check it out online.

Update: Just picked up my copy and there are columns about things that don’t fit into the actual award categories. Such as: Best Way to Get Rid of Styrofoam Peanuts is by going to Vancouver Reuses, and The Most Flagrant Waste of Precious Urban Space goes to the concrete park on the corner of Mainland and Nelson in Yaletown. Also included is the Best Place to Eat Before a Canucks Game, which is Costco mmm warehouse hot dogs. Unfortunately Best Canucks Talk does not include a mention of The Crazy Canucks Podcast BUT the Best Reason to Get up in the Morning goes to Gastown’s own Workspace and the Vancouver Graffiti Flickr Group also won for Best Graffiti Gallery.

Nov. 10/06: Interview Audio is now up on RadioZoom

Since John now describes me as the official “PR Babe” of the Podcast (on top of being the co-host) I thought it my duty to make something happen when he said he REALLY wanted to see the Sparta show. A couple emails later and we were sitting in the back room of Richard’s on Richards (again) interviewing Jim Ward of Sparta [official site][myspace]

The doors were at 9:00 but we were scheduled in at 8:00pm, leaving our house at 7:45pm we walked at a very fast pace to make it down to the club on time. I called the tour manager, Ed and he confirmed that everything was going smoothly, “Rebecca from Radiozoom.net - yep, we’ve got you with Jim at 8″.

Upon our arrival, Ed came out to greet us. Entering a nearly-empty Richards was a little trippy. There were cases, cables and equipment all over the dance floor as the two opening acts were getting ready for their sets. We were lead back into the same tiny room where we met with the guys from Aberdeen City [RadioZoom Interview]. It was Jim Ward, John, me and a microphone.

From there the podcast took off. We talked about everything from the new album, Threes, to politics, hometown memories and the health benefits of carrots. The interview will be available early this week on RadioZoom.net

After about an hour, we got a few pics with Jim, thanked him and walked out into the club on a high. (more…)

Aberdeen City & The Electric Six – Richards on Richards, Vancouver – Oct. 17, 2006

I knew it wasn’t going to be a regular night at the theatre from the minute we arrived 20 minutes early. We waited for the club to open, called the band’s manager and confirmed some details – being informed that the first act, The Blue Van, were denied entry into Canada so Aberdeen City’s set was bumped up. A guy in line behind us, here from Newfoundland, overheard our conversation and asked about the podcast, John promptly gave him a business card.

When the doors opened I realized that I had forgotten my license. Genius move. Once inside we were hassled a little about the recording equipment, found our names on the list and walked over to the merch table to talk to the band’s manager. Brad Parker, the band’s lead vocalist and bassist was sitting close by so we chit chatted a little then moved someplace quieter to talk, although for the sake of the podcast, we really didn’t mind all the ambient noise the club had to offer at that point. (more…)

Click to view My Flickr Photos, click to view Zona Boy’s wickedly awesome Flickr Photos and click for the recap podcast we did on Radiozoom

So here we are and here’s the why/how/who

[72 hours ago Matthew Good put up a post on his blog [mblog] to say that he’s inviting 20 fans to his house for an acoustic show in the living room. “It will be 20 fans, two dogs, a little security, one guitar, and that’s it.”]

Friday night in Vancouver and we’re about to witness a lil slice of Vancouver, BC, Canadian music history with Matthew Good…in his house.

7:30 pm: It smells like Bounce dryer sheets - which are apparently bad for you. Current count: 8 people, 2 dogs, a squeaky toy.

7:40 pm: For everyone concerned, the doggies will be staying in Canada at Grandma n’ Grampa’s house. Current count: 16 people, 2 doggies, 1 laptop, 1 guitar and a fan that is keeping me alive right now (after RUNNING here from BarCamp in Gastown).

7:50 pm: Out of about 280 emails, these 20 people are here from all over the lower mainland, 1 from Texas and 1 girl JUST flew out here from Edmonton this afternoon. Some are old friends, some were chosen at random. The line up of people is now trickling out into the hall way and into the solarium, which is full of boxes. We’re all sitting on the floor, cross legged - and Matt’s on a chair near the window. I just had a flashback to kindergarden - but it’s certainly not nap time.

8:00 pm: I never knew White Tower Pizza (which is actually very close to where we live) had such an interesting history :p.While sitting here telling stories of drunken times of yore, Matt’s warming up on the guitar (which he says he hasn’t touched since his last tour stop). We’re still waiting for one more person so the show hasn’t quite started yet. The pups are keeping us all pretty entertained.

8:10 pm: DJ Jazzy Jeff does not amuse easily. The warm up sounds like Near Fantastica notes mixed with loungey, country tunes with lyrics of “Benjiiii….”. The sun is going down behind the window so the room is getting dark. The pups are losing steam and everyone’s auto-flash is going off now when they take pics. There’s such a mix of people here - I wish I had beer. Some people have beer. I didn’t bring any:-(

8:12 pm: The REALLY nice guy who came here from Texas gave us beer

8:17 pm: Tripoli - he forgot the words, we’ll google them.

8:20 pm: Where has my head gone. Okay the dry eyes are becoming scarce and we’re only on song 1. Sun’s gone down and the sky is pink looking out West. Completely amazing.

8:27 pm: Pause. Mom and Dad are on the phone.

8:34 pm: Metal Airplanes. You Know it’s True/There’s Nothing I can do. The songs are peppered with the sound of B and C’s squeak toy, but still beautiful.

8:37 pm: ‘Did you get the glove?’ Just trying to come up with lighting arrangement and W from Maryland just arrived! There’s a whole whack load of people in the apartment now. Strange Days was just requested so it’s up next.

8:44 pm: Outside the window you can see balconies full of people at the hotel across the way - just wondering what’s going on in this empty apartment (full of boxes) with people sitting on the floor around a man with a guitar. Strange Days was amazing. The applause scared the pups who promptly barked and wrestled in the middle of the floor when they erupted.

8:54 pm: Banter banter funny witty fun banter. Stanley Park is a great place to live although the West End ain’t too shabby.Requests? Avalanche. One foot in front of the other….

9:02 pm: I believe the dude who runs the biggest Matt Good fan site, Near Fantastica [NF], is making a video of the performance. Matt just performed Avalanche and Benji made the high notes along with him.

9:05 pm: Prime Time Deliverance.

9:09 pm: We’re prank calling his brother.

9:16 pm: Sort of a Protest Song.
9:23 pm: Matt’s just asked for QUESTIONS from the commenters/readers of the blog. Please put them in the comments. He’s going to give me his camera so I can take some pics and upload them as we go

9:37 pm: The mood lighting is back and John’s taking pics that we’re trying to upload for you folks. Getting into a few more personal/emotional tunes right now. She’s in it for the money and love don’t mean a thing….

9:44 pm: Alert Status Red. Slowed down. Benji is the alpha dog.

9:48 pm: There are people here without hotels. People who took the first flight outta their city to get here for the show. W from Maryland just told us all that her bag is still at YVR going around the carousel because she didn’t have time to grab it and get here on time. THIS (plus the 50+ comments on my site, the MOST traffic my site has ever seen) is a testament to how much this guy means to not only Vancouver, but people all over the world. Now we’re into the airport stories….

10:07 pm: Some off the record comments about old times - a lot of which were questions asked in the comments that I’m just not at liberty to disclose via a blog (or ever really). Sorry for the top-secretness but it is out of respect. I can tell you that it’s been decided that Seth McFarlane is a genius, and that Matt prefers American Dad to Family Guy. He sorely misses the Town Pump in which he attended Pearl Jam shows ‘way back when’ along with a total of 10 other people. I am now totally blinded by flashes.

10:27 pm: Answering misc. questions and talking points:

Will miss: The edgy Vancouver that no longer exists. Empire Stadium beats BC PlaceCanada should only have 2 hockey teams: the Leafs and the Canadiens — and the Habs should be able to draft QMJHL players before ANYONE else.I just told Matt I grew up in Whalley so we reminisced about Whalley Little League & Gold n Guns.

Now playing: Fated.

10:29 pm: This is the first time in a while I’ve talked with someone who grew up in Vancouver about old Vancouver things - and it’s with Matt Good. Granted he’s got a few years on me so he remembers far more eg. seeing Whitecaps games at Empire Stadium before it got turned into a parking lot, when Yaletown was overrun with hookers, rats and unique sketchy warehouses in which to jam with your West Coast hardcore band.
10:33 pm: Matt asks if he can ‘not’ play Appartitions. We’ve allowed the pass.
10:36 pm: House of Smoke and Mirrors. (Benji sings along….again)

10:43 pm: In a World Called Catastrophe. Who on earth flies at 4am? Losers.

FYI: people in the room are calling out requests so I type what I believe he’s about to play — turned out to be something else, I was too quick to publish :p

10:48 pm: No one should do Bob Dylan but Bob Dylan. There were a few bars of Watchtower. Pause in the music, talking about the new MacBook - considering a demo. Okay, we’re going to have a Mac demo.

10:52 pm: Um, the new MacBook is neat.

10:55 pm: One more song then he’s gonna call it - we’re welcomed to stay and hang out… they just noticed a person in the alley looking up and taking pictures. We’re still missing one participant so there’s talk it could be him… or if he doesn’t look demented - I think he’s getting invited up regardless.

11:00 pm: Nope, guy in alley was just ‘guy in alley’…. with a camera.

11:02 pm: Nevermind - he’s sitting beside us right now… with his camera. He’s scared, he thought we were all yelling at him in the alley to tell him to piss off - but we were trying to figure out who he was. Um…welcome alley guy!

11:04 pm: I forgot to say hi to Lisa in NZ - Matt n’ company … said hi :p

11:07 pm: To answer a question that I can answer: what do the neighbours think? They’re over here right now (well a bunch of them at least) and having a ball.

11:12 pm: John and I have to go get steak from Olympia on Denman - we’ve been told we HAVE to try it.

11:29 pm: I think that’s it for songs tonight.

11:32 pm: NearFantastica.com will have some more answers to questions along with a video (probably, most likely, via YouTube) so check out those guys in the near future.

11:33 pm: There will be another album, do not use Bounce*. We’re signing off for the night. Time to get my pics with Matt. Good night!!

Please check out our Podcast Radiozoom.net - John and I will talk about our experience so stay tuned. AND check my flickr site in the morning, I’ll have ALL our pics up. Thanks for tuning in tonight everyone, glad I got to share this with you

12:09 am: Thoughts now that we’re home…. John should have remembered his camera cable and we should have befriended Matt a long time ago - it just took us about 9 minutes to walk home from his place :p It was an experience of a lifetime: laid back, casual, full of emotions. We’re looking forward to hearing about his travels abroad and keeping in contact with such a great Vancouverite, musician, uber interesting and super cool guy who we’d just wanna geek out with.

EDIT: (Aug. 29/06) Just a note here – the podcast is up