The Scene

Under a radiant blue sky, Vancouverites got their inner hippie freak on yesterday at Jericho Beach for the kick-off to the 33rd Annual Vancouver Folk Festival. VO brings you some of the highlights of this west coast tradition.

The Folk Fest is "fun!" says five and a half year old Aliya. She and Tim show off their moves for VO in the late afternoon sun.

Joe Kwon of The Avett Brothers gets caught up in the moment.

Shake what your mama gave you!

I have so many memories of the Folk Festival, but the one that stands out most for me is the moment I realized that there was nowhere in the world I wanted to live more than Vancouver. I was looking out at the water and the mountains and I literally heard the call.

I’m sure a lot of people have had similar experiences on beautiful sunny days here at the beach – really, who wouldn’t? – but I’m glad I followed through and actually made the move from California.  I often respond, when asked the inevitable question, that I moved to Vancouver because of the Folk Fest. But, really, it’s because of what the Folk Fest represents to me.  More than the natural beauty or the abundance of talent, it all comes down to the sense of community I experience at the Festival, the same sense that carries with me living in this city throughout the year.

None of us in The Vancouver Observer office can  afford to run out and buy the iPad, the latest technological wunder-gadget. But that won’t stop us from dreaming up ways to get our hands on this delicious addition to Apple’s repertoire. We just can’t help ourselves. Our lust is that of a kid screaming for a chocolate-covered ice cream treat in the dead heat of summer.

Linda Solomon, publisher of the VO, feels her temperature rise when she thinks about the iPad.   

“Even since I read yesterday, on tippett.org, that Michael Tippet thinks ebooks have made reading a better experience and that iPad has gone even further than ebooks, I've felt feverish about it.”

“I would sell Pookie [my dog] but my children wouldn’t let me.”

VO staff are willing to sacrifice their political values, morals, and even their family to the altar of the iPad gods.

  The School of Communication at Simon Fraser University and coordinating partners OpenMedia.ca are excited to announce the official date of Media Democracy Day (MDD) Vancouver 2010. This year’s event will take place November 6 at the Vancouver Public Library’s (VPL) Central Library. 

Since 2001, Media Democracy Day has united and engaged Vancouver-based citizens, cultural producers, the media, academics, activists, students, and community leaders in a dynamic discussion of the state of our Canadian media system.  

“To assume that we are passive receivers of media messages vastly underestimates audiences and citizens” said this year’s coordinator Tyler Morgenstern.  “Media Democracy Day seeks to involve us all in the discussion of how media is shaping and influencing the way we see the world,” he added.  

MDD Vancouver 2010 will feature keynote speakers, interactive panels, and hands-on workshops focused on critical analysis of media policy, citizen and alternative media production, and the transformation of the media system to make it more diverse and representative of audiences and communities.