BeatRoute Magazine BC Edition July 2019

YVRPRIDE
Show
Your Pride
We’d like to think it’s possible to have your rainbow cake and eat it too.
With so much going on during Pride it can be tough to decide where to
spend your time and money. This year, BeatRoute’s got you covered with
his list of inclusive Pride events for all.
By LAUREN DONNELLY
Drag Carnival
Celebrities, August 1
Pop Puppyteeth hosts
this gritty carnival of drag,
performance, and comedy.
Be dazzled by performers
including Vixen von Flex
and Rubberchild, in what
promises to be an off-kilter,
yet ah-mazing event.
The Really Gay
History Tour
August 1-3, 5-7
The Really Gay History
Walking Tour starts from
downtown to Davie Street
and storyteller Glenn Tkach
will entertain while showing
sites of the city’s first gay
bars, bookstore bombings
and a secret gay village.
Tickets $32-$35 at
forbiddenvancouver.ca
Downtown
Queer Party
Celebrities Underground,
Friday, August 2
Kick off Pride with this Davie
Street dance party brought
to you by local talents DJ
Skylar Love of Lick and
Babes on Babes, and DJ
Krista of Downtown Vancouver
Lesbian/Queer Dance
Party, plus sets by DJs Adia
and ManyBothans.
Tickets $20.23 - $25.80 ticketweb.ca
Dyke March
August 3, McSpadden Park
Celebrating its 16th year, the
march starts at 11 am and
moves down Commercial
Drive to end at Grandview
Park for a festival including
local performers, artists
and queer-friendly vendors.
Pride Parade
August 4
What started as a protest
has evolved over the years
to something magnificent.
Come gaze at how far
we’ve come and to feel
the love for the community
that’s pushing the world
further towards equality
and inclusivity.
Details at vancouverpride.ca
Alternative Pride’s
Backdoor Pride Edition
Sunday, August 4,
venue TBA
Trust the folx at Alternative
Pride presented by Vancouver
Art and Leisure to
mark the end of the week
with a party of epic proportions.
Dance the night away
amid art installations and
performances.
Babes on Babes
Sunday, August 4
Fortune Sound Club
Vancouver’s queer collective
of artists, DJs and
promoters is a reliably
good time and a great
way to discover new local
talent. Multiple rooms of
queer powerhouse talent
from near and far, local
queer dancers, four bars
and karaoke –– it turns
out heaven is a place on
earth.
Tickets $20-$22
eventbrite.ca
Untoxicated
August 4, 2019 6-10 p.m.,
Davie and Thurlow
Clean, Sober and Proud’s
2019 event is a party you’ll
actually remember. Pride’s
substance free celebration
takes place at the
new Thurlow and Davie
Street Stage. A sober
dance party featuring
Drag Race alumni Bob the
Drag Queen, Alaska, Violet
Chachki and local gems
Raye Sunshine, Jaylene
Tyme and Kendall Gender.
Tickets $40 at
eventbrite.com
Late Night Snack
Friday, August 2 and
Sunday, August 4, Save
on Meats
West Hastings diner
Save on Meats teams
up with Alternative Pride
to deliver the ultimate
combo — Food specials
meet drink specials meet
drag performances. And
when the party goes all
night, consider staying
up for the inaugural Late
Night Snack Pride Brunch
on Sunday.
MANDY-LYN
DRAG CARNIVAL:
A Q&A with
Jaik Puppyteeth
Jaik Puppyteeth is hard at work in
his Chinatown studio getting ready
for Pride 2019.
The artist is best known for
queerly nostalgic creations with
acerbic humour, but like most
Vancouverites he has a million
other projects on the go as well ––
writing a regular column, masterminding
comic strips, working on a
new graphic novel and hosting the
annual Drag Carnival during Pride
Week as his surly clown alter ego,
Pop Puppyteeth. He shares his
thoughts on Pride with BeatRoute
and teases what his annual Drag
Carnival spectacle has in store for
Vancouver this year.
Drag Carnival / Celebrities Nightclub /
Thursday, August 1 /
$20: ticketweb.ca
BeatRoute: What’s Pop Puppyteeth
been up to these days?
Jaik Puppyteeth: Pop Puppyteeth
has been lying dormant, deep in
the earth like a cicada, ready to
make his annual appearance.
BR: You’ve said performing as
Pop Puppyteeth became a way
of dealing with social anxiety.
What’s Pop like?
JP: Pop is sort of a washed-up
antihero. He’s crude and selfish
and borderline talentless. I like
playing that role because putting
on a bunch of prosthetics and a
costume removes me from any
semblance of my persona, and I
can truly be the detached, raspy
curmudgeon that I am inside.
BR: This year the venue for the
Drag Carnival has moved to Celebrities,
why?
JP: The first carnival was at my
studio in Chinatown, then the VAL
Villa, then the Rickshaw, and this
year it’s going to be at Celebrities.
I feel like my carnival is a nebulous
entity that I’m always retooling and
playing around with, and it doesn’t
have a fixed home. This year I think
it’ll be funny to have such a gritty
spectacle in the heart of Davie
Village.
BR: How has Vancouver Pride
progressed over the years?
JP: I feel like there’s been a shift
of DIY queer spaces harnessing a
lot of queer energy and throwing
amazing, inclusive, accessible
events. I love the folx at Eastside
Studios/Clubhouse, so keep an eye
out for their events!
BR: Where do you think it has
room to grow?
JP: There’s always a lot of work to
be done. I feel like for every space
that opens, there are two that
close. There’s also a lot of antipathy
and infighting within the queer
community that would strengthen
us as a whole if steps were taken
to mend it.
BR: Do you have a shareable favourite
Vancouver Pride memory?
JP: Last year when I was in my Pop
Puppyteeth costume I went to an
ATM to get some money for my
merch booth, and the bank security
thought I was robbing them!
BR: Aside from Drag Carnival,
what else are you looking forward
to at Pride?
JP: There are always so many fun
events to go to. I think Untoxicated
this year looks amazing. Also Late
Night Snack at Save on Meats
is always so good. I’m happy my
event is on Thursday, so I have the
weekend to go to other stuff.
JULY 2019 BEATROUTE 43