Hey there, hope you had a great weekend! Mine consisted of seeing a VIFF movie (Your Mother Your Mother Your Mother rocks btw), navigating the immense line at Merci Boulangerie at Commercial Drive, and going to RIOT Sketch Comedy’s monthly show.

We had the RIOT folks on our cover a few months back, and last night’s show was their last one pre-municipal election. We will be ramping up our own municipal election coverage in the coming days before October 17, and we even have a special event featuring both a one-on-one interview with Mayor Ken Sim and a panel with industry experts to get you ready for the vote.

If you’re familiar with our coverage, you know that we haven’t been shy about calling the mayor out when we’ve felt it’s necessary. Props to him for agreeing to sit down with us. You can learn more about that event here. Hope to see you there!

— Nathan
Editor in Chief

The 30th annual Best of Vancouver issue is here! We’ve started releasing some of the results online—like our arts and entertainment and community winners—but you can get the full list and profiles of some of the winners and finalists at a Georgia Straight box near you.

Our journalism is only possible because of Straight Insiders. 

In a time when technology is taking jobs, the Straight remains what it has always been: a small team of scrappy journalists, doing our best to cover the stories that matter to the city we all love.

For just $8.25 per month—the cost of one fancy latte—you can help support the 60-year legacy of the Georgia Straight. In exchange for your hard-earned money, we've got a huge range of deals, discounts, and free tickets up for grabs—but only for Insiders. 

Right now that includes free tickets for Amy Miller's Vancouver is Funny show; free tickets to Come From Away at the Arts Club; discounts on drinks at Prophecy and Riley's; special deals at Minami and Pourhouse; and much more besides.

Sign up today to help keep Vancouver weird.

Coming on the heels of choreographer Catherine Gaudet’s astounding Les jolies choses (The Pretty Things), the company’s new work ODE channels the industrial happiness complex into a stripped-down exhortation/exploration of group-think conformity and cultural collapse.

Winner of the 2022 Grand Prix de la danse de Montréal, Catherine Gaudet has established a reputation as a choreographer with a strong, distinctive style, drawing on themes of psyche, identity, and the body. With razor-sharp commentary on social conventions, Gaudet uses micro-movements and rhythmic expressions to reveal emotions and sensations we try to hide.

Don’t miss this part pop-rock concert, part ritualistic ceremony on stage October 23 & 24 at the Vancouver Playhouse.

Even though it was a role in her home country, Vancouver actor Mackenzie Davis was very much stepping into a different world when she got to the Newfoundland and Labrador set of the new Netflix series Below. She did find some similarities to the West Coast, though. “The people are really warm and really excited to have you there and so proud of their home province, which I think is a quality of British Columbians as well,” she says.

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Youth visited the 24/7/365 Directions Drop-In Centre close to 23,000 times last year—for fresh meals, safe shelter, job and housing supports, enriching activities, and more. Their doors are open day and night, ensuring unhoused and at-risk youth always have somewhere to turn. Learn more.

ACTORS has proven a local music-scene rarity—a group that’s broken out of Vancouver, and not just for biannual cross-Canada swings with a mandatory stop in Thunder Bay. The band’s current tour has seen ACTORS play shows in cities including Manchester, Paris, Berlin, Rotterdam, and Madrid. Sometimes good things happen to good people, writes Mike Usinger in a profile of the homegrown group.

Five years ago, Penelope died—then rose as a flesh-eating monster. Now, “de-necrotizers” suppress zombie instincts, giving her a second chance among the living. But how do you exist in a world you never chose? Blending zombie lore and queer romance, Vascular Necrosis turns the apocalypse into a twistedly tender ride.

Food and drinks writer William Johnson takes us around town with details on five different Vancouver foodie events that are happening in the city soon.

MUSIC: Catch Scottish six-piece Skerryvore in its return to Canada after a four-year hiatus. (October 7 @ Hollywood Theatre)

MUSIC: Experience the Canadian premiere of cult music tastemaker Derrick Gee’s eclectic Radio Hour (October 7 @ Lindsay Family Stage)

FILM: Acclaimed composer and founding member of Devo Mark Mothersbaugh reflects on a wide-spanning career. (October 7 @ Rio Theatre)

THEATRE: Red Demon explores themes of xenophobic fears of immigration and society's struggle with intolerance. (October 8-18 @ Firehall Arts Centre)

MUSIC: Concrete Vehicles headlines the Rickshaw for a special homecoming show featuring Hillsboro, WAIT//LESS, and LöLä (October 8 @ Rickshaw Theatre)

Want to know what else is happening in Vancouver? Check out our events listings.

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