Josh Hite and Flick Harrison mentored some volunteer photographers at the Vancouver Drawdown this past weekend – if you don’t know the event, it’s the first one ever, and the photos should explain it all.

There was a Chalk Drop at community centres around the city, and various free public drawing stations to draw dancers, paint with your bike (!) and draw on the sidewalk!

Join in next year!!!

Random Acts of Chalk

I’m mentoring photographers and shooting stills at the Vancouver Drawdown event this weekend with my main man Josh Hite! If you’re interested in learning to shoot photos and capture the moment, draw on the sidewalk with a bunch of cool artists, or draw live dancers, come on down!

Check this one out from Ignite by Emily Molnar.

I used to spend a lot of time doing behind-the-scenes documentaries on feature films.  Since I was working mostly for low-budget independents, the BTS stuff often dropped off the priority list – no one actually used the footage after I handed them the tapes.

But there’s a notable exception: Barry Levy’s The 40,000, which is a full-length documentary produced with footage I shot for his feature film Spook.  It’s about the 40,000 Canadians who served in Vietnam, either by being drafted for their dual citizenship (!) or by volunteering.  Spook is the dramatized version, and The 40,000 is the doc which illuminates the film.

I was fascinated while shooting, and now I’m transported back to that time by seeing the doc.  The real vietnam vet who narrates much of the doc has had his identity obscured to protect him.

This promo is from Brief Encounters 12 and has clips from the collaborations between:

Hank Mann
Jill Barber

Tiffany Tregarthen
Dominic Fontaine

Raakhi Sinha
Andrea Young

Ziyian Kwan
David Kang

Susan Bertoia
Richard O’Sullivan

C.R. Avery
Amy Lynn Kazymerchyk

It’s a wacky, unpredictable and absurd piece – but don’t let me go on talking, you should watch it yourself…

Music Video for The Strange Magic, from their new album “Songs to Burn.”

Shot at the Railway Club and Lamplighter Pub in Vancouver. The amazing archival footage comes from Archive.org.

Check them out at:

http://www.myspace.com/theradiowaves

VANCOUVER, BC: Theatre Terrific is pleased to present its new work, The Glass Box, a voyeuristic glimpse into the secret lives of people and their passions. Fresh from its debut in Victoria, The Glass Box opens in Vancouver Feb 18 – 28.

The Glass Box follows a 54-year-old wife and mother, a 23-year-old woman living with quadriplegia and a 32-year-old man with Down Syndrome who find themselves trapped in off-beat talk show. They are given the chance to be the iconic figure of their fantasies. The icons answer dangerous questions with hilarious abandon, as Cleopatra unrolls from her carpet, Sophia Loren sways through her famous striptease and Brad Pit lands the big fish.

The trick was to capture live video projections, two dj’s, and a dancer.

And FYI, the HD fullscreen settings on Vimeo look AWESOME.

Live from a Bush of Ghosts demo from Flick Harrison.

A ghost story for the digital age Feb. 4 – 15

Presented with the PuSh International Performing Arts Festival

Co-created by Tim Carlson, Richard Wolfe, Tara Cheyenne Friedenberg, No Luck Club and Candelario Andrade | Directed by Richard Wolfe

Feb. 4 – 15, 2009, 7pm
Studio 16, Vancouver, 1555 W. 7th Ave @ Granville St.
4pm Sunday matinees Feb. 8 and 15 (no evening show)

Spirits arise from the toxic smoke of First World electronic trash dumped in the developing world. A boy lured by an internet predator, a suicidal stockbroker, a heavy metal televangelist — these are a few of the ghosts haunting a woman who melts down computer components to retrieve precious metals for pennies a day.

With music inspired by Brian Eno and David Byrne’s seminal recording My Life in the Bush of Ghosts, Theatre Conspiracy delves into the fallout of digital culture. Electronic band No Luck Club performs along with live video mixes by Candelario Andrade as dancer/actor Tara Cheyenne Friedenberg creates multiple roles to conjure a ghostworld that is a physical, visual, sonic feast for the senses.

The show puts pairs of artists together for the first time, with two weeks to create a live performance for a 3-night show at the Anza club. I did one with Take 5 and it was the most challenging creative thing I’ve ever done.

Launched in November
2005, Brief Encounters is
an ongoing performance
series designed to push
boundaries and fuse
artistic practices.

The Tomorrow Collective
is
Jennifer McLeish-Lewis,
Mara Branscombe and
Katy Harris-McLeod.

the artists:

Cris Derkson
(cellist)
+
Norman Lalonde
(hair dresser)

Stephana Arnolds
(ballet dancer)
+
Alex Usow
(graphic designer)

Timothy Wisdom
(d-jay)
+
Heather Pawsey
(opera singer)

Jen Oleksiuk
(hip-hop dancer)
+
Duane Howard
(plains grass dancer)

Vin Arora
(potter)
+
Alex Ferguson
(theatre artist)

Jay Hirabayashi
(butoh dancer)
+
Sylvia DeTar
(bagpipe player)

Dianna David
(dance artist)
+
Jacob Richmond
(playwrite)

Patricia Kim
(filmmaker)
+
Hilary Peach
(Audio Poet)

Marta Jaciubek McKeever
(musician)
+
Jessica de Haas
(fashion designer)

Todd Baiden
(chef)
+
Tanya Marquardt
(actor/dancer)

Namchi Bazar
(Indo-fusion dancer)
+
Brendan McLeod
(spoken word artist)

Skeena Reece
(ceremonialist performer)
+
Jesse Scott
(video artist)

Anne Cooper
(contemporary dancer)
+
Ndidi Onukuwulu
(singer/songwriter)

Amber Funk-Barton
(Contemporary Dancer)
+
Alf Hunter
(Chemical Engineer)

Bonnie Soon
(Taiko Drummer)
+
Emotionz
(Beat Boxer)

Cameron Latimer
(Singer / Songwriter)
+
Stephen Wichuk
(Animation Artist)

Chengxin Wei
(Contemporary / Classical
Chinese Dancer)
+
Tarun Nayar
(Tabla Player / DJ)

Josh Beamish
(Ballet / Jazz Dancer)
+
John Korsurd
(Trumpet Player)

Graham Clarke
(Comedian)
+
Jennifer Bishop
(Tap Dancer)

Vanessa Richards
(Interdisciplinary Artist)
+
Prophecy Sun
(Performance Artist)

Jackie Essombe
(African Dancer)
+
Tal Iozef
(Hip-Hop Dancer)

Flick Harrison
(Filmmaker)
+
Take 5
(Graffiti Artist)

Antoine Joseph
(Hip-Hop Dancer)
+
Yvette Narlock
(Singer / Songwwriter)

Delia Brett
(Contemporary Dancer)
+
Tamara Unroe
(Puppeteer)

Marc Generoso
(Hip-Hop Dancer)
+
Mark Brennan
(Photographer)