The Electro Swing Club at The Electric Owl Social Club
I can’t dance. I just can’t. A lot of my life is lived vicariously through the artistic energies of others, so why should swing dancing be any different? When I was invited out to the Electro Swing Club’s dance party at The Electric Owl last Thursday, I jumped (jived, and wailed?) at the chance.
When I arrived at The Electric Owl that night (after my obligatory cheap pint at The Ivanhoe), I was met at the door by Miss Lydia DeCarllo. This is always a good sign. After a brief chat, we entered together and I was met at the ticket table by Valentin, my host for the evening. The party was already in full swing (sorry, couldn’t resist that one). Deanna Knight and the Hot Club of Mars were on stage and the dance floor crowded with the “swing kids” giving it their all. Most were dressed in period-specific attire and the moves they were pulling off were inspired. Unlike most of my arrivals at The Electric Owl, instead of heading straight for the bar for a sleeve of Pilsner, I stood and watched, taking in the scene, for a good five or ten minutes before making my way to the back bar.
After the band finished their amazing set, there was a fashion show. As soon as I saw the dresses parading across the stage, there was no doubt in my mind that the gang from Scout Boutique were rocking the house. Something I have always appreciated about the clothing at Scout and the girls from Morrismore Models who parade it across the stage is the accessibility of it. The dresses may not cater to everyone’s personal style, but the variety of sizes certainly makes the dresses available to every woman, not just those who possess the magazine-perfect Size 2.
When the fashion show ended, a second swing band took the stage. Company B was the perfect band to fill the dance floor again. They were the Andrews Sisters reborn. Matching outfits and perfect harmonies turned the Electric Owl into a USO party. The mood was upbeat, the crowd truly electric (I’m on a mission to see how many truly awful puns I can reasonably squeeze into this piece.).
The closer that night was a three-performance, burlesque set. Scarlet Delirium, Lydia DeCarllo, and Burgundy Brixx took the stage like only they know how. I had never seen Scarlet Delirium perform before. She looked like a living doll. Miss DeCarllo was her usual cheeky self, in every way she could be. Any day you can see her impish grin and wonderfully cute bum at the same time is a really good day. As for Burgundy Brixx, the woman is a true professional and I almost feel bad to use the term “effortless” because I happen to know just how much effort she actually applies to her trade.
All in all it was certainly one of the best events I have been to in a while. I’d seen the poster for the show leaving the Night Owl Review but, had it not been for an email from Valentin, I probably wouldn’t have gone. So I will have to remember to thank him for that at the very least.
After I left The Electric Owl, I stopped in at The Keefer to catch Villainy Loveless, Little Miss Risk, and Cherry OnTop perform the last (12am) set. After missing my bus, I considered my options. I didn’t want to call for a ride and I didn’t want to pay the $40 for a taxi home. So, out of options, I decided to Occupy Vancouver. Yeah, I did. But that, my friends, is another story of this wonderful city of ours.
The Haus of Boudoir Autumn Gala
I sent my lawyer the first draft of my review of the party thrown by Lola Frost and Little Miss Risk. This is what he sent back…
The Week That Was Part 1: The “Ladies of Main St. Tour”
It was a Twitter message from the bowels of the Brewery Creek Liquor Store that sent me off down Main St. last Sunday: “If you ever want to feel better about your problems, looks or life in general, hang around my liquor store Sun AM.” A cry for help like that is hard to ignore, even for the Captain of the SS Californian.
Most of my recent weekend sojourns to Main St. start the same way: harassing and confounding the talented and lovely Miss Lydia DeCarllo at Scout Boutique at Main and 8th. My reason for going was to check out visit with Miss DeCarllo. Your reason for going? Checking out the Pin-Up fashions and accessories that pack the store. To this end, I suggest attending a fashion show they have coming up on Thursday, October 20, at 8pm. Come to see ME! Stay for the clothes.
Miss Lydia DeCarllo
My next stop was a new one. I’d been there before with my “crazy redhead friend” who described it as one of her “favourite stores in Vancouver.” On this particular Sunday, I was headed up to Lace Embrace to see Miss Tristan Risk, Little Miss Risk to some. I don’t know if the “Little” is because she’s certainly not the tallest person I’ve met or because, when she’s laced up, you could fit the elastic band from a grocery store stalk of celery around her waist with little or no effort. Both are equally plausible. I don’t get to talk with Miss Risk that often, which is a shame. We’re both history buffs, especially where it pertains to this wicked city of ours. Lace Embrace is about 1/2 a block east of Main at 16th. Stop by for a custom made corset or get fitted off the rack. Who doesn’t need a corset? Boring people. That’s who. Also, buy a calendar while you’re there. I forgot to, but will rectify that error on my next visit.
Little Miss Risk - Photo by David Denofreo
Okay, so a Pin-Up boutique and a corset atelier may be strange fare for some, but they’re both locally owned and operated shops. Sure, they’re not The Bay, but the only people who shop at The Bay are 12 year olds buying perfume for their mom and/or a tie for dad.
Crossing the street and heading back down Main towards my belov’d North Shore mountains, I arrive at the Brewery Creek Liquor Store. I’m here to pop in on Miss Villainy Loveless. I get a two-for-one deal. Not only is Miss Loveless manning the till with skill, precision, and attitude, but Shiloh Lindsey is also on site. I love Shiloh. There’s no two ways about it and no way to get out of it. I wouldn’t hesitate to list her among names like Cline, Cash, Jennings, and Lynn when it came to reasons why I like country music. We chat for a bit after a hug that may have been just long enough to be socially awkward. She smiled. I melted then bought a bottle of Baron Bohemian style Czech beer.
When I get to the till, Miss Loveless asks if I plan to just walk down Main drinking the beer. Yes. Yes I do. People in Vancouver tend to leave you be provided you don’t get too extreme, in which case they just plain ignore you. I actually first met Villainy Loveless as one half of the Switchblade Sisters performing at a Shiloh Lindsey show. Our conversation goes much “drier” on this day. The last time I saw her was the Vancouver Zombie Walk and she spent the whole day covered in sticky fake blood and lisping through gold grills. San Pellegrino was required. My beer having been mysteriously opened, we had a delightfully unsticky hug and I was on my way again.
Shiloh Lindsey
Miss Villainy Loveless - Photo by David Denofreo
I made my way back down Main St. fully intending to hit up The Keefer Bar for some dim sum and a cocktail. However, as I walked past the Ivanhoe, blues music poured from its doors. Inside, the jam band was setting up and real pints of beer were only $3.75. I remember singing a couple tunes with the band and that’s about all. From this point on, things get a bit sketchy. I think I stopped at the London Pub. And I think I made it to The Keefer Bar. All this I piece together from VISA slips and quasi-reliable, secondhand witness reports.
I think I also made it to The Squarerigger as well. This last one I’m assuming as I woke up with a Rigular in my guest room.
Anyhow… Main Street: Good people, good exercise, good fun.
This is NOT a pub crawl
Okay, maybe a little. I prefer to think of it as a “leisurely cocktail walk“.
I have been blessed with many things in this life; a good cocktail bar was not one of them. Don’t get me wrong. I still love the Squarerigger Pub, my “local” (Crystal and Scott pour a mean “dirty”), and I will still go to pretty much any venue to see/hear good music but I wanted a cocktail bar, somewhere hip and cool and ridiculously overpriced. So last night, I started holding auditions.
5:30 pm – The Squarerigger Pub, 150-1425 Marine Drive, West Vancouver.
Beer. A pitcher of Sleemans Original $9.99. $13 after tax and 16% tip.
I like the Rigger. Anyone who knows me knows I spend most of my time out here. It’s a great place to watch a game and the downstairs section is just itchin’ to host your party. I recommend coming down during the day for a cup of coffee and annoying the manager, Scott, while he tries to get some work done. It’s my new favourite thing.
7:30 pm – George Ultra Lounge, 1137 Hamilton Street, Vancouver.
Aviation: Beefeater gin, maraschino liqueur and fresh lemon juice, served up and finished with violet liqueur. $11. $15 after tax and a 22% tip.
Essentially a Mike’s Hard Lemonade made with Gin. It is simple but good. It was also my server’s favourite.
I have no idea what an Ultra lounge is but whatever it is, I have a sneaking suspicion that George is it. The lighting is at the perfect setting for apres-business or pre-sex. Take your pick. The staff are all beautiful (women and men) and clad in black. It’s definitely Yaletown in here. As I continue to sip my cocktail (apparently in places like this, sipping is appropriate – not a lot of beerpong going on in here), it actually gets better. My heartburn doesn’t but that’s not the cocktail’s fault. The lovely Alexandra brings me my bill and I am off. I am coming back to be sure. George also gets an extra point because it is a chip shot away from my lawyer’s office. Always handy.
8:10pm – The Morrissey Pub, 1227 Granville Street, Vancouver.
Classic “dirty” martini. $12.05.
1516 beer. $5.50 (after tax)
$25 after tax and a 31% tip (and a free beer).
This one was a bit of a cheater. I’ve been here before and really quite like it. It really isn’t a cocktail place either. But that doesn’t stop them from serving some of the best martinis I’ve ever had. According to the bartender, they are more of a “beer and scotch” type place. And they’re pure rock and roll. You’re going to find more lip piercings and plaid in here than you would suits and Italian shoes. The stereo sounds like my iPod and the bartender is a slightly shorter, bearded version of Graham Myrfield in appearance and attitude. This is a good thing. I get the impression that a lot of the customers have forgotten more about Vancouver’s music scene than I’ll ever know and I have to stifle a sigh as the two lovely young ladies beside me drink Jameson’s with beer chasers… Honey, I’m home!
9:45ish pm – The Keefer Bar, 135 Keefer Street, Vancouver.
I don’t know. I just said “Dealer’s Choice” and got this: Famous Grouse scotch, sweet vermouth, artichoke vermouth, maraschino liqueur, with Peychauds and Angustura bitters. $12.50 after tax. $15 with 20% tip.
Now THIS is a cocktail. Plus service with a smile.
Now, for starters, the Keefer Bar is small. It’s cozy and great, but it’s small. If you plan on going there, go early. I meant to be there around 9:30 but the bartender at the Morrissey Pub queered the deal by comping me a beer. So I pour myself in at around 9:45ish and the place is packed. The burlesque show starts at 10. There is one empty stool at the bar. I asked if it’s being used and the woman kindly responds that she’s pretty sure it is but she’s not sure by who.
The MC takes to the stage. She cracks wise and plays some tunes to get the crowd primed. Lola Frost does her routine to Mancini’s “Pink Panther”. It’s killer. I think this is the third time I’ve seen Lola perform. The other two times, she was dancing with Villainy Loveless (as “The Switchblade Sisters”) as part of Shiloh Lindsey’s stage show. There was a routine with a wind-up doll that made me happy in all the right places. Good times. Great hootch and pasties? How can you go wrong? After the set, the woman I spoke to about the stool earlier comes over and tells me the stool is free. I thank her but tell her I’m quite enjoying being in everyone’s way. It was standing room only and the ladies on stage deserved it. So did the Wee Keefer for that matter. I chase my nameless-but-awesome cocktail with a Blue Buck lager and hit the streets once more.
11:05pm – Bus.
11:20pm – The Squarerigger Pub, 150-1425 Marine Drive, West Vancouver.
Beer. Sleemans Original. $6.15 with tax and 15% tip.
So I’m back at The Rigger for about five minutes when the wild & wonderful Miss Lori Roberge comes rumbling in. After surviving her harrowing drive across North America, she has returned to Vancouver only to have someone swipe her glasses. So if you know someone who frequents Darby’s Pub (2001 Macdonald Street, Vancouver) who suddenly has a new pair of glasses that look like these:
Kick some ass WITHOUT breaking the frames and let me know.
All in all it was a fun night. I’ll let y’all know when the next round of auditions is being held and we can go for a “leisurely cocktail walk” together.
The Week That Was Part 3: One year of Sweet Soul Burlesque and Sweet Sip Thursdays at The Keefer Bar
This piece is for Mandy-Lyn, Dani, Gezza, Keenan, Free, Lauren, Cam, and Gair to name far too few. And of course, to Lola, Tristan, Crystal, Rufio, and the wealth of beautiful and truly talented people they have introduced into my life.
A twirl of a downward turned finger puts an unnamed bourbon cocktail in my hand. The room is dark, deliberately so. Small, filament-filled, test tubes hang from the ceiling, casting dim shadows into even dimmer corners. The bar staff can provide you with a mini flashlight to read the drink menu, but I prefer to use the onion shaped oil lamps that dot the bar surface. I rarely glance at the menus anymore, preferring to trust the bartender’s discretion over my own taste. Bartenders get to know me pretty quick and from night to night my taste is often dictated by the gustatory gumption of the person facing me from the other side of the bar. This is why I return to The Keefer Bar whenever I can make the trip into Chinatown from my wooded, suburban enclave. To be honest, it is one of the reasons. The other has to do with why my visits almost always fall on a Thursday.
Sweet Sip Thursdays with the ladies of Sweet Soul Burlesque.
It was Keefer bartender, Gezza McAlpine, who first turned me onto the “finger twirl” ordering system; unspoken communication being a valuable tool when The Keefer gets busy. As for burlesque, I’d like to give that one to Red Heartbreaker, but it actually belongs to Natalie Wood and Gypsy. It was Red, however, that got me out to my first burlesque show. It was at The Biltmore Cabaret and the closing party for the Vancouver International Burlesque Festival. Her troupe, Pink Flamingo Burlesque, were performing. It was quite an eye opener. I was no stranger to strippers, but this was definitely different. I managed to get out to a few more of Pink Flamingo’s shows but it never became a habit. On December 2, 2010, I walked into The Keefer for the first time and a habit (going to The Keefer. Booze was already well in play!) was born.
The very first drink I ever had at The Keefer, December 2, 2010
Last Thursday, I was down at The Keefer again to help the ladies (and gents) of Sweet Soul Burlesque celebrate one year of performing at The Keefer. To be honest, I was a little too drunk that night to relate to you all the amazing acts that hit the stage. I usually have to swing back through my twitter feed to remember such things. What I do remember are the conversations, the personal interactions. Sweet Sip Thursday is a happening. I have heard some derogatory things about the burlesque there but, for me, those comments are inconsequential to what I write here. I have met a lot of burlesque performers in the past few months. They all have they own styles, their own reasons for being there. But had it not been for the ladies of Sweet Soul performing Thursday nights I would never have met any of those people. Nor would I have met some of the people who have had the most profound effects on my life in the past 10 months. I even had a homeless man save my life in the parking lot one embarrassing evening. Had it happened on Granville Street, I would have been robbed of $4000 and frozen to death.
I once complained to Danielle Tatarin, the bar’s manager, that she needed to hire uglier staff (Danielle, herself, has made the best cocktail in the world in competition). When I made the crack about “uglier staff” it wasn’t completely shallow. Her staff are amazing. They have turned me on to new horizons of art, music, and literature, all the while serving up the best cocktails in Vancouver. I have semi-regular conversations with The Keefer’s owner (suites and bar), Cam, about how if he gets an offer for the penthouse on a Friday, I want a weekend to check my lottery tickets and make a counter offer before he signs the papers. I think he might just do it too.
A visit to The Keefer Bar on a Thursday is a night filled with handshakes, hugs, winks, and kisses. Sweet Soul Burlesque is a glitter-filled street gang and the staff at The Keefer facilitate a party like few can.
October 11, 2011 | Categories: Art, Fellatio, and Other Heady Subjects, Straight from The Bear's loud mouth (insane ramblings disguised as social commentary), [re]Discovering Vancouver | Tags: Baron S. Cameron, British Columbia, burlesque, Canada, cocktails, fashion, food, humour, keefer bar, music, sweet soul burlesque, Vancouver, writing | Leave A Comment »