This is my new Twitter on beer!

So I just created a new Twitter account that will cover one of my main interests, craft beer. It will address such things as the local, B.C. and Northwest craft beer scenes, local brewers, local beer events, and other folks with similar beer obsessions. It can be found at @spikeinthebeer.

The first picture (and accompanying caption) from @spikeinthebeer: "At @16streetliquor got a pair of @VCBW 2012 collab Cascade Brown Ale (sale!) and their last @HoyneBeer Winter Warmer!  pic.twitter.com/bfAlC9aoGd"

If you share my interest in 'Vanbrewver', you're invited to follow this account. If you're involved in the craft beer scene, feel free to beer tweet me at the new beer handle, or email any beer leads or beer info to my new dedicated beer gmail at spikeinthebeer@gmail.com.

Beer me!

Sadly still suitable sports satire...

Eighteen years later and nothing has changed.

(Goofballs © 1994 M. Chilton)

Goofballs is one of three comics I did for the University of Victoria campus paper, the Martlet, between 1994 and 1997.

Back2Back! Vancouver Canadians are 2012 NWL Champions!

Big, heartfelt congratulations to the Vancouver Canadians for winning their second straight Northwest League championship!

As rain fell on Vancouver Sunday evening, the C's put the Boise Hawks away 12-9 in the last nail-biting game of the best-of-three final series at the Hawks tritely, yet with this result appropriately, named Memorial Stadium.

The game and title looked out of the C's reach tonight until they posted a spectacular 7-run rally in the 8th inning to put the hearty hush on the 'Hawkstown U.S.A.' faithful.

Canadians kiss the Cup!

Photo: Vancouver Canadians Twitterfeed

Too bad the C's did not have the opportunity to take it at Nat Bailey again like they did last year, but the win is still just as sweet! Nice to see the C's did not squander their huge comeback victory in Thursday's NWL Finals opener - which some are calling the greatest comeback in C's franchise history - with yesterday's late-inning heartbreaker.

Yay, Canadians! Back to back Northwest League Champs!

Has a nice ring to it.

Then again, why stop at two?

What's the deal with...me? A night of Jerry!

Crossed another 'I want to see that live' off my bucket list in grand style today. Saw Jerry Seinfeld at the Orpheum this evening and it was gold, I tell ya. GOLD!

So the Little Ticket Faerie rained luck down on us and we had fourth row for the early show! Didn't I tell ya it was gold? Here is what the view of the stage from our seats looked like:

So, the opening act is some guy I had never heard of, but apparently his claim to fame is being in the movie Just Go With It. His name is Mario Joyner and I'd never heard of him before. At all. He was worth a handful of good laughs out of his efficiently-used 20 minutes.

My favourite bit in Joyner's set was when he said the advantage of being single is that everything is where you leave it. I'm pretty sure my wife was not jazzed I pointed this out after the show because we differ enough in points of view on maintaining house for this to be an issue.

Then Jerry comes right out after Joyner leaves. No set up. No announcement. No intro music. Seinfeld just runs right out there and launches into his set moments after his friend leaves the cavernous Orpheum stage. Just the way it should be.

Now I'm not one of those numskulls who has to photograph anything and everything, moving or not. However, if it is my favourite comedian up there 15 feet from me, I'm taking a picture, so screw you. Now, in my defence, had they actually announced 'no pictures' I would have fought the urge and refrained clicking away. However, everyone around us went for it, so why the hell not.

I should mention my phone's a piece of crap with a camera that requires all sorts of tweaking to make it even come close to working in weird lighting, so I just shot and hoped for the best. The result was a couple of trippy art shots, backlit by, as Seinfeld eloquently put it, 'Superman lighting'.

Your boys should stay in their neighbourhood!

So I got those two shots off and thought about a third, but by then the funnyman already had the entire sold out room in stictches. Less than a minute, and he had everyone in the palm of his hand. An example within just that first minute or so:

"You're so into your coffee up here that you have a place called the Second Cup. They've already assumed you've had your first cup, so why not go for your second one? Well, what a coincidence, they happen to sell you your second cup right here..."

Zing! Busted. We do so love coffee it hurts.

Dude even dropped a TimmyHo's reference into that bit, which made us lemmings roar with approval. I did not even care how lame we sounded, hooting over coffee love and TimmyHo's. The Sein made it gold.

So I was going to shoot more of my longtime comedic idol and completely gave up because I was already laughing so hard, snot was coming out of my nose. No joke, really!

My wife, who has long been a fan of the Seinfeld show, too, was in tears before too long - the both of us losing ourselves in the comedic genius in our midst. We've seen some pretty crap comics, too, so we don't hold back when the ham up there is actually funny.

Seinfeld must have noticed our loud laughter immediately, because before too long, and on several occasions, he would look right at us as he told a joke or waited for the laughter to die down after the punchline.

I know, the man would look all over the venue during his generous hour-plus set, locking eyes with many others in the audience. But he kept coming back to our gaze, and we would belly laugh and after-giggle back in kind.

It was truly a night of comedy to remember. The most I personally laughed since seeing Cosby in the 80s and he kept saying the word 'shit' over and over (in reference to his family 'not having their shit together').

Seinfeld topped that night, hands-down, and without an ounce of profanity the entire evening. That's rare these days. For that reason alone, you had to appreciate it all the more.

Next on my list - and I hope I catch them before they retire - Bob Newhart and Don Rickles...

Oh look! The Orpheum ceiling and its grand chandelier! Hilarious!

Arkellin' it!

Arkells frontman Max Kerman and guitarist Mike DeAngelis swooped in to Zulu Records on West 4th this evening to play a half-hour set before heading off to their sold-out show at the Vogue.

The two-fifths of this year's Group of the Year Juno winners (not to mention 2010 Juno New Group of the Year honourees) held the modest gathering in thrall. Max charmed the audience with his witty, adept banter as the pair impressed with its tight yet flexible vocal harmonies and bright acoustic guitar interplay.

A few songs in, Mike and Max played their band's current CBC Radio 3 spin from last year's sophomore release, Michigan Left, entitled "Kiss Cam":

They wrapped the set with the last single from their 2008 debut full length, Jackson Square. While playing "John Lennon", Max broke in on numerous occasions to explain the song's various inspirations. The result is humorously epic:

It is rare that a short-rostered acoustic performance can translate a band's live show so well. So it demonstrates just how the Arkells' constant touring has honed a confidence that electrifies the room - despite the lack of electricity.

It's easy to see why the Junos saw fit to recognize Arkells. Twice.

Nicely done, boys. Nicely done.

And as if that wasn't enough, the Arkells' Daytrotter session was just posted yesterday. You're welcome.

Have a Good 126th Friday, Vangroovy!

It's Vancouver's 126th birthday.

It's a good Friday all around.

Here's the late-great Smugglers with today's annual anthem to the old girl. I even changed my ringtone to this tune in honour of today.

I know, I'm a geek. Enjoy!

Swimming in a Great Lake of harmonies...

In a stroke of serendipity, I happened to find myself wandering on West 4th on the very same drizzly afternoon that the pride of Wainfleet, Ontario, Great Lake Swimmers, were doing an intimate in-store performance at my favourite record shop, Zulu Records.

The session was in honour of the May release of their fifth full-length, New Wild Everywhere – the lead-off single, "Easy Come Easy Go", you're probably already familiar with if you listen to CBC or the Peak.

The main set consisted of songs from the new album, which I must say is darn tight. I managed to shoot this video on my phone of their two best songs which also made up their encore. First was my absolute fave GLS song, "Your Rocky Spine":

...then Tony Dekker and company finished off with their biggest hit, "Pulling on a Line":

Unfortunately, my vantage point being so close to the speaker, the more amped-up final number did a number on my poor camera phone mic, so the audio on "Pulling on a Line" is not as good as I would have liked. Nevertheless, it is good enough to give you a general idea of how great GLS are live.

I hope you enjoy these as much as I did. Be sure to catch Great Lake Swimmers when the play the Commodore May 11.

Vancouver is 125!

...And doesn't look a day over 29!

But seriously, in honour of Vangroovy's 125th birthday, here's one I like to post every year on this day because it's just a great tune by a classic local band, followed by an ode to the city where I live which went viral this year - mostly because it's unintentionally funny, but also because it's more than a little bit endearing...in both ways, just like Vancouver!

Enjoy, and be sure to not take your Vancouver birthday revelry too far, lest you end up in some stank VPD drunk tank...

Let's see you look that good at 125!

Junior Adanacs take the Minto Cup: a history lesson in local lacrosse champs...

Congratulations to the Junior A Coquitlam Adanacs for winning the 2010 Minto Cup! The junior Adanacs not only won their first-ever championship in front of their hometown crowd, but also did so by sweeping the defending 2009 champions, the Orangeville Northmen. How sweet it is!

Logo: B.C. Lacrosse Association

Adanacs captain Matt Beers raises Minto Cup after Saturday's sweep.

Photo: Coquitlam Adanacs Lacrosse Club

This victory is a whiff of that long-absent lacrosse supremacy that the lower mainland enjoyed from 1986-91, during which the New Westminster Salmonbellies won three Mann Cup titles, and again in 2001, when the Senior A Adanacs won its first and only championship at the Pacific Coliseum.

Writing as a longtime fan of the Victoria Shamrocks - who, by the way, just lost their chance at this year's Mann Cup to those pesky Salmonbellies last Wednesday - I've been spoiled by four Mann victories in '97 (which I actually got to see in person), '99, '03 and '06. As such, it is nice to see the lacrosse faithful around these parts get a chance to taste victory once again, even if it is not that solid gold Mann Cup.

It is, however, the first Minto championship victory for this area since the Burnaby Lakers last won the cup in 2005 - capping off a five-cup championship dynasty for the Junior A Lakers which began in 1998. Perhaps the junior Adanacs are the Lower Mainland's new lacrosse ascendancy, since one championship win usually means at least a few more before too long.

And who knows, perhaps this isn't the last lacrosse championship victory for a Lower Mainland team this year. As I said before, the Salmonbellies will meet the winner of the Brampton-Peterborough series in the Mann Cup starting September 8.

Yay junior Adanacs! And go crosscheck some Ontario butt, Salmonbellies!

P.S. - Doesn't all this B.C. lacrosse championship talk make you wonder why Vancouver has not had a pro (NLL) team since 2005!? Meanwhile, Toronto, Calgary and Edmonton's NLL teams all keep rolling along - Toronto Rock with 5 Champions Cup wins and Calgary Roughnecks with one. What an injustice.

Cycling the seawall with a new rider

Being an avid cyclist, I am always excited when someone I care for tries out two wheels for the first time - even if that person is not the one doing the pedaling.

Sydney will be a natural. I just know it. He laughs and sings to himself all the while on our journey around the seawall.

Spike and Syd take 5 under the Lions Gate Bridge.

Race you around the seawall once you get your training wheels off, kiddo!

Update: After scrounging around my mp3s, I found the classic bike riding song which goes through my head every time I saddle up...

Roots Roundup - "On My Bike"

On My Bike by Roots Roundup

Yay, Little Mountain Little League!

Congratulations to the boys of Little Mountain for winning the Canadian Little League Championship today and moving on to the Little League World Series in Williamsport, Pennsylvania!

Photo: Mark van Manen, PNG files
The Vancouver Province

Best of luck, Little Mountain! Do Vancouver proud.

Baby ladybug, you have no idea how cool you are...

This summer, we've been getting a lot of ladybugs on the window sill of our apartment. They typically hang out for a few minutes, feeding on aphids and other bug larvae found lounging on our windows.

Seeing three or four ladybugs a day is already a pretty special experience. However, yesterday I made a real find: a baby ladybug (you can tell because its wing casings have not turned red yet) with a spotting pattern near its head that looks an awful lot like a flower! Look:

Baby ladybug, you so fly...

Plus, I gave my macro enough of a workout that you can actually see the curl of its antennae!

Baby ladybug, you're so awesome. You protect our plants from aphids and keep our fly count low. Thank you for visiting our window sill, baby ladybug!

Fly on, you crazy coccinellid...

Look at that surreal sunset (aka, BC is on fire)

For those of you who have not been paying attention to the myriad of news reports, there are currently over 400 forest fires raging around beautiful British Columbia.

Much like the forest fire that was burning north of Pemberton last year, the smoke from these forest fires - specifically, the fire at Williams Lake - have been blowing south and creating a perma-haze that has made for mindblowing sunsets.

Although my camera can't capture the true essence of how intense these sunsets have been, here's a few shots of this evening's sunset, made blood-red by the haze:

Pretty wild, huh? The sunsets have been like this for the last couple of evenings.

Here is the song that was going through my head as I was snapping these surreal photos...

The Pack A.D. - "B.C. is on Fire"

The Pack A.D.- BC is on Fire by The Pack A.D.

Happy birthday Vancouver!

"Rah, rah, sis-boom-bah! Well I love Vancouver, Vancouver is my hometown..!"

Happy 124th birthday to my hometown, Vancouver, B.C.!
 

I like long walks on a beach...just watch for massive jellyfish

Well, we spent the long weekend enjoying sun and relaxation over at Black Creek on the mid-Island. That's where my dad and stepmom, Hazel, have lived for well over a decade - on a beautiful private lake, no less.

A picture of the private lake taken by dad earlier this year

Anyway, the weather was so awesome, we couldn't help but take advantage of it by going down to the beach on the other side highway from where their home is and walk as far as we could while the tide was low.

Saratoga Beach is one of those funny Inside Passage beaches that appear to be inhospitable and craggy from afar. But once you're actually past the rocks at the trail head and mucky patch at the river mouth, you're treated to miles of hard-packed sand flats at low tide. Perfect for walking unhindered for miles and playing fetch with dad and Hazel's dog, Buddy.

With dad, Hazel and Buddy at Saratoga (at high tide), May 2007

So, as we get past all rocks and seaweed and mud and head out to the flats, we catch sight of these big, shiny things lying on the beach. Dozens upon dozens of them, and they are huge. At first, they look like rose-coloured splotches of marine fuel glinting in the sun, perhaps spilled by careless boaters coming to shore. Yet as we get closer, it becomes obvious that is not what they are. These have a thickness and weight to them. Closer, they look a bit more like large, clear plastic bags filled with putrid wastewater and worms.

Then we notice a couple of the other beach strollers have dogs, each one barking at these splotches on the beach. These dogs have to eventually be restrained from the goops. Some passers by stop in their tracks and just point at them and gawk. Then we come upon the first of what is just one of many clusters of these as yet unidentified things, spread out as far as the eye could see.

Keep in mind, there were probably about a hundred of these things in the immediate vicinity, and they were at least the size of a garbage can lid, if not bigger. Here's what was causing the 'sensation at Saratoga':

When Spike meets splotch, everyone gets grossed out...

These splotches on the flats were actually Pacific sea nettle jellyfish. A bloom had brought all of them to shore - presumably to become gull food or rot if they didn't make it out with the next tide. Most of them were the size of the one pictured above, about 1.5 to 2 feet in diameter each. Big enough to do some serious damage to any swimmer unlucky enough to run into one in the open water.

According to Wiki, jellyfish blooms, just like algae blooms (e.g. red tide), occur because either water temperatures have risen and the jellyfish have followed their feed into these warmer areas, or because the waters have been depleted of oxygen and the jellyfishes' predators cannot survive there. Both pointed to something amiss on these shores, now mostly laid bare by the receded tidewaters - if not for the army of beached jellyfish scattered about.

But we aren't marine biologists, so we gawk and take pictures of these dying puddles of goo, just like everyone else. We keep Buddy on a tight leash because he wanted to sniff them and maybe have a lick or two. No fetch today. Jellyfish still sting long after they're dead. It made the walk even more interesting, to say the least. Something I won't forget in a while, and not necessarily for the right reasons.

Indeed, Mother Nature is a mad scientist.

Goodbye, Kids These Days.

Every now and then, a band you absolutely love - whose music has become so interwoven with your daily life that it becomes a part of you - finally calls it quits. It's usually because a band member moves, goes to school, or has a baby. But when it happens, it's a small tragedy in your life.

Perhaps you are lucky enough to console yourself by seeing their last show. Such was the case when I went to the Kids These Days reunion/farewell show at the Railway Club. They headlined, with offshoot bands Octoberman and International Falls opening respectively.

Octoberman started off the evening...

It was already a bittersweet evening knowing that this gig also marked the final appearance of the original lineup of Octoberman, as frontman Marc Morrissette and drummer Rob Josephson, both of Kids These Days, were relocating to Toronto - along with White Whale Records founder/Mohawk Lodge frontman/KTD member, Ryder Havdale.

International Falls, also reuniting after a stagnant period, took the small stage after a truly emotion-rich Octoberman set. They offset the weightiness, and the added anticipation of Kids These Days' set, by nonchalanty playing around with some of their own material. Sorry, no pictures of International Falls, which I now regret. I was never as big a fan of International Falls as I was of the other two bands of the evening, but that changed more than a bit at this show. Their positive energy was infectious and put me in the right mood for the band to follow.

Then Kids These Days, who had not played together since 2006, effortlessly jammed out their desperate final notes into the dark room and took their final curtain call. The experience was all over too soon, even though the music had gone on for hours. The evening left me with nothing but good memories of audience camaraderie and solid live melodies plastered in my head...all you ever hope for at a good gig - but exactly what you hope for when it's a favourite band's final show.

Kids These Days rocked their trademark epic live show out to its final bittersweet notes.

I walked home in the brisk July late night alone. I thought of all the great gigs I've seen Kids These Days play and felt happy to be one of the handful of people who got to witness the final chapter in one of Vancouver's best bands ever. I know, that's saying a lot, but it's undeniable.

Good luck in Toronto, Marc, Rob and Ryder. I know your respective tours will bring you around to Vancouver once again, but it will never be together as Kids These Days ever again.

And that makes me sad.

Back to the Graduation? Graduation Ties? Grad Wolf?

My girlfriend graduated from UBC today, and I couldn't be prouder of her - she seriously worked herself ragged to earn that piece of parchment she received today.

But seeing my girl receive her degree was not the only show of the day. The other show began with seeing the name 'Michael J. Fox' listed as the honorary degree recipient in the ceremony program. Was it the Michael J. Fox? We hadn't heard anything about this beforehand...

Well, lo and behold, it was Burnaby's Favourite Son (aside from Joe Sakic, of course) accepting a Doctor of Laws degree in recognition for his work promoting Parkinson's awareness and his foundation's fundraising efforts to find a cure for the disease.

Stephen Toope just wouldn't stop talking - we get it, Michael J. Fox is a famous guy from Vancouver who has done some important work...

However, we didn't get to hear Michael's alternately humerous and heart wrenching speech until UBC President Stephen Toope was done with his over ten-minute spiel of an introduction. I thought this was incredibly unfair to Michael, since the very nature of his disease is the inability to stay still. I can't tell you how much I hate academic pomp!

Despite the fact I was here to support my sweetie, I could not help but feel proud when Michael received his honorary sash. It was a heartwarming moment to remember.

Then Michael finally had the spotlight to himself. It felt like a homecoming of sorts. The audience and fellow graduates were rapt, laughing heartily and applauding at the right moments, remaining respectfully silent for the rest.

Michael's acceptance speech was expedient, yet entertaining (the 'brief and casual' speech he was told to give rang in at less than four minutes). He related brief stories about his family. Then he expertly shifted his narrative to explaining how every path you take in life, expected or not, shapes not only the future, but also ourselves. As such, we should take each step in our respective journeys accordingly.

Michael J. Fox holds over 2,000 people in the palm of his hand. Stephen Toope is clearly jealous.

Anyway, Michael, I hope you know our thoughts are with you. You are a hero in our hearts, and a worthy recipient of such an honour, even if it is symbolic. Maybe your dream will come true, and the mystery of Parkinson's will be solved in your lifetime.

When we got home, all the news reports played footage of the ceremony and Michael's speech. It played over and over again, to the point that it was a pretty big deal. And to think, if my girl graduated in the afternoon ceremony instead of the morning one, we'd have missed seeing the news story of the day in person!

The day proved that, although pomp sucks, circumstance can at times be a transcendental thing...

Wally's Last Stand.

Well, I sat down to one last serving of Wally's Burgers 'homefry goodness' today before Vancouver's original burger stand on Kingsway shut down for good tomorrow. At least we tried to sit...there was a line-up out the door when we got there. But after waiting pateintly for almost a half hour, we got our fare (I: Deluxe Wagon with extra cheese and a weiner and onion rings and a banana milkshake; she: a Wagon with cheese and fries and a vanilla milkshake) and then proceeded to feed our faces:

Just look at that line-up! They'll be waiting longer than we were...

Chomp!

Bittersweet is a word I've thrown around to describe past closings of my favourite haunts, but this time I truly felt its headiness. While savouring my spread, I found myself wishing Wally's line-ups were like this all along, instead of just leading up to its closure - perhaps it could have been saved. As a result of today's increased demand, the food was not up to snuff: the burger was greasier than usual and the fries were not as crisp as they should have been. Those were small details, though, and I didn't let it keep me from experiencing 'burger nirvana' once more.

Mmm...this one was in best burger buddy Scourge's honour.

Well, Wally's, I know you won't be back this way again, and I probably deserve it for not visiting you as often as I should have. But don't think it was because I forsook you; I just thought you'd always be around.

Spike in front of Wally's sign one last time, March 30, 2008.

So long Wally's, it's been good to know ya. Burger pigouts will not be the same without you...

Farewell.

Spike

P.S. - Any bidders for your sign?

Now wait - before I go any further...

...Let me explain.
This edition of Spikeontheblog (officially the second fully-realized and utilized version) is actually the continuation of the original Spikeontheblog, which can still be seen on my MySpace page by clicking this link.

As you can plainly see, MySpace is becoming pretty much pooched - not even the background image will come up anymore, let alone many of my own photos. Sheesh. Anyway, this here what your reading now is taking over on active Spikeontheblog duty. MySpace can continue its ramshackle ways without making my new blog posts look like David Hasselhoff's Wendy's burger...



Haha, priceless. Did you know that Germans love David Hasselhoff? Now what was I saying...

Oh yeah, so MySpace Spikeontheblog? Done. Blogger Spikeontheblog (v2.0)? Bing-go. Ding! Here ya go, fresh 'n' hot off the griddle...

Like that posting the other day wishing dear old Wally's Burgers a fond yet heartboken ode of farewell. Well, Wally's Last Stand, as I'm calling it now, will indeed be documented here on Spikeontheblog 2.0!

(insert audience gasp and standing ovation SFX)

So this blog entry officially welcomes Spikeontheblog to its new corner of the blogosphere, to blog about everything that is
"news to me".

Blogroll on, brave reader, your blog awaits...

(Those of you who hung in this long may get a kick out of my old personal sites here and here (sorry fans, GeoCities site is no more). Shh, don't tell the newbies...Ed.)

An open love letter to Wally's Burgers...

Dear Wally's Burgers,

Your milkshakes and the Deluxe Wagon (with a weiner and onion rings on it, of course) are still the best Vancouver has to offer. Sadly that will soon no longer be the case.

Vera's and Tomahawk can't console me - they've tried and failed. Their product just doesn't hold a candle to the homefry goodness you serve at good ol' Wally's. It almost goes without saying that you will be sorely missed.

We shared so many good times. If only I could have something, some sort of physical artifact, to remember you by. I wonder how much your sign will be sold for.

Anyway, Wally's, I don't know what's going to become of you and if anyone else really cares you're leaving, but I know every time I sat at one of your half dozen rarely-cleaned tables, I was at home.

Although he is miles away, I know my best burger buddy, Scourge, agrees wholeheartedly with me. I'll go make (at least) one last pilgrimage to you in Scourge's honour.

Love and fondest wishes,

Spike
xo8

Spike at Wally's, ca. February 2007

(Note: Wally's Burgers's final day of operation will be Monday, March 31. Go there while you can. Seriously. If you've never been to Vancouver's best burger stand (2703 Kingsway), now's your last chance to try it and say, "I loved Wally's, and then those heartless bastards had 'er shut down." See full story at: http://www.canada.com/vancouversun/news/story.html?id=df8420f8-3aca-4777-8bd8-63fad54fa7f0&k=70279 )