Hey there, hope you had a good (long) weekend. 

Mine consisted of visiting family and being quizzed about who I think is going to win the municipal election, being quizzed about who I think is going to win the provincial election, and being quizzed about my favourite VIFF films. 

My answers, in order: 

- This is in the paper version of the Georgia Straight.
- You don’t want to know my answer.
- This is in the online version of the Georgia Straight.

We will get the second one in some form of the Straight soon enough. 

In the meantime, our Ken Sim one-on-one goes down later today. There are only waitlist tickets remaining, but if you purchase one as a newsletter subscriber, we’ll get you in. Tickets here. See you there. 

— Nathan

Editor in chief 

It’s been about four years since the Zolas were on tour after an extended hiatus. But frontman Zachary Gray and company made a triumphant return to their hometown on the weekend at a sold-out show at the Pearl that featured everything that Vancouverites have come to love about the band.

Our journalism is only possible because of Straight Insiders. 

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Right now that includes access to all of the Arts Clubs' fall shows. Sign up today and get a pair of free tickets to Heist, Big Stuff, and Dracula: A Comedy of Terrors—but once tickets are gone, they're gone.

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On any given night, more than 170 youth in Greater Vancouver are homeless. Every one of them deserves individualized, compassionate support when they seek help. That's where Family Services of Greater Vancouver (FSGV) comes in. Throughout last year, youth came through the doors of FSGV’s Directions Drop-In Centre in downtown Vancouver nearly 23,000 times. At the Centre, youth can access an overnight shelter, a food program with free snacks and daily hot dinners, showers and laundry facilities, community-building activities, and programs and supports for housing, pre-employment, life skills, and more. 24/7/365 youth are finding reliable, steady help at the Directions Drop-In Centre. Join FSGV in supporting Vancouver’s unhoused and at-risk youth: fsgv.ca/haw 

In our recent Best of Vancouver voting, city councillor Sean Orr finished in third for Local Hero, behind only Terry Fox and David Suzuki. Not bad. We caught up with the COPE hopeful on the campaign trail to get his thoughts on how to move the city forward.

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Canadian documentary director Sean Menard had long been told that documentaries don’t get wide theatrical releases. But for his new movie about Terry Fox, he wasn’t going to take no for an answer. “We rented the Roy Thomson Hall in Toronto and invited all the distributors and had the Toronto Symphony Orchestra play,” says Menard. “They had never done that before. And it was important. I said, ‘Look how big this is—this story is deserving of it.’”

Last week, legendary English musician Sting played the first of two nights at the Queen Elizabeth Theatre, perfectly blending his lengthy solo career with his hits from a little-known band called the Police. The Queen Elizabeth Theatre felt like the right choice of venue, feeling intimate but still being able to accommodate the demand of fans wanting to see the British songwriting legend over two nights.

MUSIC: American post-rockers City of the Sun play Vancouver on a cloudy night. (October 13 @ Fox Cabaret)

MUSIC: Spellbinding Amsterdam piano group the Busch Trio tickles its way into town. (October 13 @ Vancouver Playhouse)

FILM: Kenya-Jade Pinto's The Sandbox examines how modern surveillance technology and AI are making land and sea borders impenetrable. (October 13-21 @ VIFF Centre)

MUSIC: Hazlett is an Australian indie folk artist who lives in Stockholm. You can hear it all in the tunes. (October 14 @ Commodore Ballroom)

THEATRE: Married comedy duo Matt Baram and Naomi Snieckus invite you to get into the Big Stuff. (October 14 to November 1 @ Arts Club Theatre)

LIVING: If you’re a special kind of sadist, the Cold Plunge Challenge starts this week. (October 14 to December 16 @ Kits Beach)

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

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