Inside Vancouver

Top 5 Alternative and Weird Holiday Shows in Vancouver

by Remy Scalza in Entertainment on December 13, 2012

Ryan Beil in the Arts Club Theatre Company’s production of The Santaland Diaries. Photo by David Cooper

With Christmas just days away, there’s no shortage of holiday shows and musicals in Vancouver, from performances of the classic Nutcracker to Christmas concerts with the Vancouver Symphony Orchestra and stagings of White Christmas.

But for holiday lovers seeking some alternative seasonal charms, Vancouver has plenty to offer, as well. Here’s a look at five less-than-traditional, slightly skewed Christmas shows gracing Vancouver stages this month:

The Christmas Carol Project: Take Dickens’ timeless holiday fable and set it to live blues, folk and Celtic music and you get the Christmas Carol Project. Who knew the Ghost of Christmas Past could boogie down? The Cultch; Dec. 16-18 Continue reading:
Top 5 Alternative and Weird Holiday Shows in Vancouver

Top 5 Rock and Alternative Holiday Music Concerts in Vancouver

by Remy Scalza in Events on December 14, 2011

Anybody see The Office Christmas episode last week? There’s one part where Dwight unplugs an iPod playing Christmas carols and starts rocking out to the Trans Siberian Orchestra’s Carol of the Bells (one of the few heavy metal Christmas songs).

That made me realize that my previous post on the Top 5 Holiday Music Events in Vancouver wasn’t very inclusive. I missed a whole range of rock and alternative holiday concerts in the city. So here goes a new Top 5 list geared more toward the hard-rockin’ holiday lover, with lots of help from a great Vancouver Sun article by Francois Marchand (Note: Many of these concerts support good causes, including local food banks).

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Top 5 Rock and Alternative Holiday Music Concerts in Vancouver

Weirdest Theatre Festival in Vancouver: The Fringe Sept 8-18

by Remy Scalza in Events on September 5, 2011

http://www.flickr.com/photos/dustinq/1349191137/

What would happen if a theatre festival allowed anyone – from unknown amateurs to established pros –to perform? That’s exactly the question that Vancouver’s oddest Thespian happening, the annual Fringe Festival, seeks to answer.

Over the course of the 11-day festival, 89 different troupes will deliver more than 700 individual performances. Offerings, which are staged at seven main venues scattered around the waterfront Granville Island neighborhood, range from more-or-less conventional plays to innovative pieces that explore questions of gender and sexuality to alternative works that push the limits of bizarre.

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Weirdest Theatre Festival in Vancouver: The Fringe Sept 8-18

3 Creepy, Alternative Tours of Vancouver

by Remy Scalza in Entertainment on September 3, 2011

There seems to be a trend recently in city tours. Instead of showing people around the traditional sites, an increasing number of tours are opting to explore the creepy, unmentionable, dark and spooky sides of cities.

Vancouver is no exception. Mountain View Cemetery, the city’s oldest, recently offered a tour invitingly titled “Murders in Early Vancouver and Other Accidental Deaths.” Sadly (or maybe not, depending on your perspective), this was a one-time event. But it got me thinking about other examples of alternative and creepy tours around the city. Here’s a short list. Do you know other examples? Please share by leaving a comment below:

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3 Creepy, Alternative Tours of Vancouver