Archive for Vancouver Observer Articles

A Week of Writing – April 1 to 8

6 April, 2012 / Jason Hall / No comments

It’s been a busy week and in addition to all else, here’s what I’ve written:

Province’s new mandatory pedestrian helmet law takes effect tomorrow is an April Fool’s article on the Vancouver Observer online magazine I write for. The article’s a fun romp. My friend, Ulrike, and I cruised downtown beauty salons looking for a photo op for the story. We found it. Much fun all round, although  comments on the VO site indicate some people have very little experience with April Fools’ pranks.

Integrating Fleet Technology Boosts Revenue on the Webtech Wireless blog is a post based on an interview I did with Troyer Ventures’ CEO and owner. Initially, I interviewed Steve Troyer to put his company forward for this year’s BCTIA award, but the material’s so good I’ve repurposed it as a blog post and a case study for Webtech Wireless.

Disabilities And The Federal Budget on Disability Claim Denied site provides commentary on the 2012 federal budget for those with long-term disabilities. I write a weekly blog on long-term disabilities and soon will also writing for them on ICBC claims. Lots of research goes into these little posts.

History of GPS Devices is a fun spoof on GPS and other wireless technologies. I wondered how AVL (automated vehicle location) and GPS (global positioning system) technologies might have helped explorers in centuries past. It’s just fun based on my work in the industry and my love of history.

Planning a Serial Article

1 March, 2012 / Jason Hall / No comments

Vancouver Observer Tour EiffelIn the last month, I’ve written 3/4 of a four-part series on bicycle sharing programs for the Vancouver Observer. The focus is on bringing a bicycle sharing program to Vancouver, but my source material is from my colourful experiences using Paris’ fabulous Velib’ bicycle sharing.

It wasn’t long before I realized I had way too much material for a single
article, so I had to find a way to break it up, but create enough interest
to (hopefully) maintain interest. Here’s what I did.

Article Description
Part I: What Vancouver can learn from Paris
on bikes: City of Light transport (Jan 29th, 2012 )		 I describe my delightful exposure to Paris and ask, “Why doesn’t
Vancouver have a bicycle sharing program?”. I really do ask, in fact, I interview City councillor, Raymond Louie and get the dirt on the province’s helmet laws that have been jack knifing plans to institute a BSP in Vancouver to date.
Part II: Going with the Flow in Bicycle-Sharing
Paris (Feb 6th, 2012)		 Having experienced the logistical and linguistic challenges
of actually usingthe Velib’ in Paris, I offer some technical tips
for any intrepid souls visiting Paris. It’s a technical article with some helpful advice about how the French flowbetter than we Anglo-Saxons.
Part III: Unforgettable Bicycle Trips Around
Paris (Feb 17th, 2012)		 With the technical information behind us, a description of
cycling in a foreign city wouldn’t be complete without describing what it feels like to cycle the most romantic city on earth. I rhapsodize Paris as seen from my trusty Velib’ bicycle.
Part IV:Bicycle Sharing: Bringing it Home to Vancouver (TBA) Now it’s time to take it home. I’ve invited readers to submit
their favourite stories of cycling in Vancouver. What would be as exciting for someone visiting Vancouver as it was for me in Paris. Let’s take the visitors out of Stanley Park and show them some of the hidden cycling treasures of Vancouver. I’ve collected about six great routes from friends and friends of friends and more are coming in. I’ll compile this collaborative piece in the next couple of weeks and send it to the presses. Stay tuned.

Balkan Music: Re-Thinking Dissonance

1 September, 2011 / Jason Hall / No comments

This article was published in July on the Vancouver Observer website. In it, I explore the idea as dissonance as valuable in its own right (not all dissonances have to be resolved) through the medium of the rich and exotic world of Balkan music. Below, I’ve included a short excerpt, all the images, and a link to the complete article.

“In her book, Dancing in the Streets: A History of Collective Joy, author and cultural historian Barbara Ehrenreich contrasts the “epidemic of melancholia” that pervades much of the modern world with the “phenomenon of communal, shared ecstatic ritual” that existed in our own culture even until the 17th century.

“Western tonal music is based on the dichotomy of dissonance and consonance where unstable dissonances seek their resolutions to consonant sonorities”, states Kalin Kirilov, the camp’s expert on Bulgarian harmony. “If you compare music to energy”, he continues, “the dissonances carry a more powerful charge in comparison to the consonances.”

Read the full article on the VO site. It’s been renamed The Balkan Music and Dance Workshops: re-thinking dissonance originally published 29 July, 2011.

Pedal power and the builders of musical instruments in Vancouver

1 June, 2011 / Jason Hall / No comments

Last December, I developed an interest in Vancouver’s hidden music makers—the builders of musical instruments. I wrote a double-barrelled story about natural fibre horn maker, David Gowman, and harpsichord maker, Craig Tomlinson.  Now, let me tell you about the Furnaphone, and why “anything’s a potential instrument.”

Drummer Dan keeps his carbon footprint small getting to his next gig.

Drummer Dan keeps his carbon footprint small getting to his next gig.

With Bike to Work Week, Velopoloosa, and the In the House Festival all converging this weekend, the stage is set to highlight another fascinating musical instrument maker, Daniel Lunn.

Daniel is making a name for himself as a drummer (and guitarist) around town, but for someone who plays an instrument that is legendary for its lack of portability, it’s his mode of transportation that caught my attention—by bicycle.

» Read more..

Get your Brit on – at VanDusen Gardens

23 May, 2011 / Jason Hall / No comments

I was initially drawn to VanDusen Gardens this rainy Victoria Day week-end through a friend, and fellow musician. He posted a concert on Facebook of the Little Mountain Brass Band‘s forthcoming performance at Van Dusen Gardens, although the main event was the British Classic Car Show. Hosted by Western Driver, the car shows draws classic auto enthusiasts and gawkers of many stripes from around Vancouver, BC, and several US states to the south.

For $14, I got to hear a little bit of sweet band music and see more Morgans, Triumphs, Minis, Metropolitains, Bentleys, Rovers, and MGs as well as more brollys than I may ever need to see again. In fact, with the re-appearance of the rains, it gave me an added sense of Britishness to stiff-upper-lip it with the tweed set, hobnobbing with those who’d prefer to debate shades of hunter green than, say, head to the beach.

More pictures on Vancouver Observer site.

Music Review: Ederlezi strikes gypsy heart in Strathcona

7 May, 2011 / Jason Hall / No comments

I was at a Balkan music festival and was compelled to write a review (compelled and too stoked to sleep). Below is an excerpt from the review posted on the Vancouver Observer site.

Orkestar Slivovica

Orkestar Slivovica at the Russian Hall

Tonight, I attended part one of the two-part concert week-end known as Ederlezi – Balkan Brass Festival (6-7 May at the Russian Hall). Billed as a “Roma Spring holiday”, it features no fewer than three Balkan-style brass bands: Orkestar Zirkonium from Seattle, Brass Menazeri from San Francisco, and our own Orkestar Slivovica. There were also two lovely belly dance troupes, (and assorted vendors of Balkan eats and drinks), but the stars of the show are the brass bands.

The evening began with Orkestar Slivovica, which I thought was playing a little more up tempo than the last time I heard them at the Ukrainian Hall. Perhaps, they were intimidated by the quicker and sharper performances of their American counterparts. Gradually, they eased into their signature pelvic back beat and things began to heat up. That’s the thing about this music: if you’re not willing to let go with the hips, you’re not going to enjoy it. But they let go, and so did we—especially as the Šljivovica (Balkan plum brandy) started flowing.

Hallowe’en, Vancouver Style!

28 October, 2010 / Jason Hall / No comments

I wrote this article for the Vancouver Observer. Since it’s mine, I’ve quoted it here in its entirety. BTW – Pumpkin image is a nice example of my work in Photoshop.

jasonhall.ca Vancouver PumpkinHallowe’en is a great time to recast our traditional fear of death and dying as a fun and happy time. Children eagerly await the opportunity to dress as mummies, vampires, and zombies to knock on the doors of complete strangers and demand candy.

So, while we have less to fear about sending our children out for trick or treatin’ than many American cities, we have to take care in areas that have more to do with personal safety.

Read full article…

Xwayxway (Not Stanley Park)

9 July, 2010 / Jason Hall / No comments

I wrote this article in response to the proposal to use the First Nations’ name, Xwayxway, in place of Stanley Park. My article is mostly a romp through history and the many cultural shifts and name changes these shifts have caused.

Hagia Sophia, Istanbul

“It’s been a bad couple of weeks for the old British Empire in Canada. Even the Queen’s visit seemed to be generating undue negative reaction, culminating with accusations that Michaelle Jean’s husband, Jean-Daniel Lafond, had suggested the Queen find accommodation in a local hotel (rather than Rideau Hall) whilst visiting Ottawa. Would Motel 6 do? And famously here, there was the suggestion of doing away with Lord Stanley’s eponymously named park in favour of the traditional Xwayxway. What’s next? No more tea at the Empress?

A most interesting case for name changing is Istanbul. That ancient city founded as Byzantium by the Greeks during their heyday in the 600’s BC, it took the name Constantinople when Emperor Constantine moved the capital of the Roman Empire there in 330 AD. It remained the centre of the Eastern Roman Empire (Byzantine Empire) until the Ottoman Turks sacked it in 1453, and among other renovations (such as adding minarets to the Hagia Sophia), the name Constantinople got the works and the city was renamed Istanbul.

Read entire article…