BeatRoute Magazine B.C. print e-edition - May 2016

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THE HEATLEY a place for the people Somewhere on the terrace of a little Parisian café, a stunning brownhaired couple laughs demurely over tiny steaks of seared tuna. The sun trickles down on them, it’s 1:30 p.m. and lunch is just winding down. With the arrival of an early summer in Vancouver, as well as the opening of lunch service at Hastings Sunrise’s Bistro Wagon Rouge, this vignette is one you can spin into reality. On a ridiculously warm Wednesday in April, we visited the blue-collar French spot to see what it was like living midday en francais. Your first step journeying into a Parisian café lifestyle starts with seating choice, so if you can, try to nab a spot by the window so the sun can drench you and passersby can ogle at your classic beauty as they go on their way. The sun is hot and dehydration is serious, so order yourself the house’s signature cocktail — a mix of gin and photo: Michael Brennon The Heatley is truly a DIY effort, down to the very last chair. BISTRO WAGON ROUGE a European daydream It’s not uncommon to see the transition made from the music industry to the restaurant/bar industry. They are both integral parts of the entertainment world and the pairing of music to dining is unequivocally important. If you’ve ever thought about opening up your own bar, you’ve probably have had a few conversations with your buddies over what your menu, ambience, and theme should be. But what would it actually take? Michael Brennon has the answer. Brennon is the owner and creative mind behind Strathcona’s The Heatley, a restaurant and bar located on Hastings and, you guessed it, Heatley. Originally finding his roots in rock music, jack-of-all-trades Brennon has done what most of us only talk about over coffee. Moving from tour life to kitchen life in Toronto, he lent his culinary talents to a number of projects before making his way lavender lemonade known affectionately as The Wagon Rouge to keep yourself from getting parched. In Europe, there’s no drinking without eating, which means it’s pâté time. House-made with chicken liver and pork fat, Bistro Wagon Rouge’s version is served alongside crostinis, pickled vegetables and French mustard. This is the point in the meal where you revel in the blissful act of eating pâté smack dab in the middle of the day. This is what makes life worth living. Going to a French restaurant without ordering salade niçoise or moule et frites is basically a criminal act, so try to keep your wits about you. Five gorgeous steaks of tuna will arrive on a bed of potatoes and greens, a perfectly boiled egg on either side of the dish, and everything is covered in tapenade dressing. Bistro Wagon Rouge’s take on salad niçoise is fresh and light. It’s rumoured that lightly seasoned veg and lean protein are to the West Coast. Between a few notable positions (one of which being sous chef at The Alibi Room), Brennon worked as a mental health practitioner and helped with housing and clinical day programs for the disabled. Somewhere in this journey, he also became a wood worker and handyman — conceptual rivers that all flowed into what became the idea for The Heatley. Before Brennon got his hands on the restaurant, the space was divided into a hardware store and a paint shop. He drew up plans, knocked the wall down, and set to work building his vision from the ground up. “Once I got started building, I realized that I couldn’t really go out and start buying stuff, because it just wouldn’t fit,” Brennon says. So, he handcrafted all the furniture in the establishment, from stool to bar top. This is the attitude that exemplifies someone committed to his own creation. And what give the French their natural glow, so check yourself for a je ne sais quoi in the mirror when you’re finished. Right when you think the afternoon couldn’t get better, you’re staring a plate of mussels in tomato and white wine broth right in the face. You forget ketchup even exists as you lovingly dip your fries in mayo. Croutons sprinkled on top of the dish absorb the broth beautifully, with every muscle you are reminded why you love the sea. Campbell’s single serving soup cups eaten in the murky depths of a dreary staff room just won’t cut it anymore. You only have one life to live. Let that life be full of luxury at noon. Don’t forget to ask your server for a digestif at the end. Sip it thoughtfully because dreams do come true. Bistro Wagon Rouge is open for lunch Wednesday through Friday from 11AM to 2:30PM by Fraser Marshall-Glew although it truly is by his own blood sweat and tears that we are able to enjoy such a place, it is all for the people. The Heatley’s neighbourly vibe is reflected in its menu, which offers laid-back fare like macaroni and cheese, hot dogs, and baked s’mores. The beer is great too, and pairs perfectly with weekly music nights like bluegrass Sundays and mullet Mondays (which features a playlist of hard rock). “Truthfully, I have very little interest in readers polls or awards,” Brennon stresses. “I really just wanted the people to define the feel of this place and I do what I can to facilitate that.” A refreshing attitude in what can undoubtedly be a trend-following city. The Heatley is located at 696 East Hastings Street and is open Monday - Sunday from 11:00 a.m. - 12:30 a.m. French cuisine from the people behind The Red Wagon. by Maya-Roisin Slater 22 CITY May 2016
BUNZ TRADING ZONE money-free marketplace gets rich on community by Yasmine Shemesh What happens when money is taken out of the equation? A lot, when it comes to figuring out what you truly need. The ancient system of exchanging items is the foundation of online marketplace Bunz Trading Zone — a place where you can get a houseplant for a bottle of olive oil by finding value in things you already possess. More than anything, a sense of community is what makes up the sweet stuff of Bunz, in which, through a simple swap, generosity is donated and friendships are built. Bunz was created three years ago in Toronto, when founder Emily Bitze took to social media in search of tomato sauce. She ended up starting a Facebook group that traded things and, soon enough, there were thousands of members. As the numbers continued to climb, so did the places where Bunz opened their virtual doors — now, there are Facebook groups for zones in seven Canadian provinces, 26 Canadian cities (including Vancouver), and nine international cities like New York and Berlin. And the platform is only getting stronger. In January, Bunz launched a smartphone application that organized Toronto’s ever-expanding feed, allowing categorical searches and direct messaging. By summer, the app will launch in Vancouver. There are plenty of Bunz benefits beyond saving money, including waste reduction by the upcycling of products. HOSEHEAD RECORDS celebrating five years, eh? There’s a clip from the cult Canadian film Strange Brew where brothers Bob and Doug Mackenzie listen to a flexi-disc of a “British new wave band” that consists of nothing more than the sound of fingernails on a chalkboard. After a few seconds, they feed it to their dog, Hosehead. I imagine this same process happens with every demo that partners in record crime Patrick McEachnie and Mike Simpson have to listen to, albeit with much better results, for their punk label, Hosehead Records. “Punk 45s are the best format for listening to music,” claims McEachnie. “Maybe not for bedtime listening, but in general.” The love goes back to a bond Community, however, is perhaps the biggest. “You’re meeting people, you’re discussing things, you’re exchanging ideas,” says marketing director David Morton. On Craigslist or Kijiji, for example, you pay and leave. With Bunz, you trade a blouse for a beer and then probably share a drink with your new friend. “It’s about tapping into communities that are already there,” Morton continues. “I don’t know how many neighbours you know, but I can guarantee you if you start trading you’re going to meet a lot more of them.” Cans, subway tokens, and consumables like kombucha are the most common currency. There aren’t really boundaries for what can be traded, either, so long as it’s legal. Morton admits he’s seen weird he and Simpson have shared since grade school, with music being part of their adolescent growing pains. Train rides from the Toronto suburbs to record stores brought home the spoils of punk records like The Ramones and The Germs. It helped that Toronto was a hotbed of hardcore in the mid-2000s and, McEachnie states, “The best time for bands in Toronto; you had Fucked Up, Career Suicide, The Bayonettes, and all these bands putting out great records and it inspired us to start Hosehead.” The pair bought tape duplicators from a woman who used to record AA meetings and released their first album from Simpson’s band, First Base, in 2011. Patrick McEachnie, one half of Hosehead, is committed to putting punk rock on wax. photo: Victoria Black things being swapped, including sex toys and a 32-foot sailboat, but the best was a summer road trip for providing a covered parking space in the winter. “When you remove money, it leaves room for good will, it leaves room for connection, it leaves room for charity, it leaves room for all kinds of great things,” he says. And though bartering is an age-old practice, now is an exceedingly appropriate time for it. “The millennial generation has a different set of challenges than our parents did,” Morton says. Bunz is, he maintains, “a drop in the bucket towards the solutions that are going to help us keep going.” Find Bunz Trading Zone Vancouver on Facebook photo: Rishahb Varshney Emily Bitze and David Morton are hoping to see a larger community connection through Bunz. McEachnie continues, “We made 100 copies and, weirdly, 50 of them went straight to Japan! After that, we knew we were on to something.” Since his move to Vancouver (while Simpson reps the east), that “something” has been a steady string of releases from Canadian bands (Sonic Avenues, Needles//Pins) and beyond (Swedish power-pop purists The Moderns). Owning a label comes with its headaches, however, and money migraines are constant. “The worst part of releasing records is how much we have to dish out before we even have the finished product in our hands,” laments McEachnie. “But when it eventually arrives you breathe and get ready to do it all again. We have to credit labels like Dirtnap, Douchemaster, Ugly Pop, and Quintessence for getting us excited about music and keeping us going for this long.” Five years isn’t long, and more excitement is around the corner for this dynamic duo, such as a special re-issue from late 1970s English punks The Scabs and an LP from Pale Lips, a garage-pop foursome from Montreal. So, grab your toques, pack the cooler, and let these hosers take your hard-earned money in return for some sweet tunes, eh? Hosehead Records celebrate their fifth anniversary at the Astoria on May 7 by Bryce Dunn CARLOTTA GURL a whole lotta gurl by David Cutting and Chase Hansen It’s Saturday night at the Junction and it is standing room only. Everyone is gathered to see “Absolutely Dragulous,” Carlotta Gurl’s drag show that celebrated its five-year anniversary in February. The music stops suddenly and changes to something iconically gay. The curtain beside the stage is thrown back and Carlotta Gurl makes her entrance, screaming at the top of her lungs, “WHAT’S UP BITCHES!” There is a strange, muffled sound as Carlotta shoves the microphone down her throat and everyone cheers. Carlotta is a salacious vixen. Within minutes of opening the show, some random man sitting in the front row has lipstick smeared across his face. Carlotta croons, “Oh yea baby, you know you love it, I’ll see you later,” moving into her first number while flipping and twirling her way into the hearts of her fans. The crowd screams — all eyes are on Carlotta. “Absolutely Dragulous” is one of two weekly shows that Carlotta hosts at the Junction. Every Wednesday night she co-stars in “The Baron Gurl Show,” a collaborative gig with co-star Isolde N Baron (The Queen of East Van) that juxtaposes class and humour. Carlotta takes great pride in her high-energy shows — once, she even broke her leg on stage, but still continued performing until the end. The show, after all, must go on. Carlotta got her start in drag shortly after to moving to Vancouver in the early 90s. She credits the queens on the scene at that time as the inspiration for her confidence. Her name, Carlotta, is an extension of her boy identity, Carl. Carlotta is capable of doing the things that Carl dreams up. The close connection between the two is something that both personalities acknowledge. “Sometimes when I am performing something I have always wanted to perform, Carlotta and Carl transcend and become one,” she says. Carlotta often invites younger local drag queens to perform at her shows. “There is always another party” is a mantra she states reverently as we talk about advice she’d give to up-and-coming queens. The key to turning out phenomenal performances is rest, she insists — something she knows about first hand when burning the candle at both ends nearly ended her career. Carlotta also believes herself to be an educator, gaining wisdom from years of collaboration with organizations, like TD bank and Tourism Vancouver, which respect her as an artist and performer. She sheds light on the fundamentals of drag, which draws upon impersonation and cross-dressing, but also creates something unique unto itself. One of its functions is to poke fun at mainstream culture. “It is important to remember that drag cannot be pigeon holed into what we see presented in the mainstream media,” she says. “Every queen is an artist and every artist is different. If you subjugate yourself to something or someone else, you will end up not liking or knowing yourself.” One thing is certain: the future of Carlotta Gurl is as bright at the lipstick she leaves on the faces of her audience members. Carlotta Gurl performs at the Junction on Wednesday nights for “The Baron Gurl Show” and Saturday nights for “Absolutely Dragulous” May 2016 CITY 23
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