Vancouver's Downtown East Side is fun place. Its got drugs, bars, death, venues.. more drugs.. a lot of homeless people.. you get the picture. I like to go down to Carnegie Community Centre right on the corner of Main and Hastings and get myself an awesome cheap lunch, then pop into the back lane to pick up free syringes. (Although they did give me a weird look one time when I asked for a box of 100 needle tips.) After that I'll pass the miasma of foraged and stolen goods people have lying on the street on my way to the local shop where I can get single cigarettes! You can buy single smokes from the drug dealers on the corner, but they're really really bad. Awful stuff.
I know a lot of people who work down there too. My neighbour spent the last decade working at a triage centre, basically managing a drop-in for the criminally insane. I've met a couple different punkers who work at In-Site (the safe injection site), and more than enough folk who work, or have worked, in the low income housing racket. I also happen to know a lot of drug addicts.
But none who live down there.
The place where I do most of my DTES hi jinx lately is a rock n' roll eatery called Lana Lou's. The girls who run this place treat us real well. Louise, or Lou (of Lana Lou's) is a good friend of mine. She plays piano and keys in our 'band that's not really a band'. We're called Dangerous Myths, and we have a cassette coming out in October. That's right, a cassette!
Danger Thrill Show had a monthly spot here last year, and we're planning on running a Circus Night every 3 months starting in November. They love us, and always take good care of us. So on a rainy wednesday night, in the bowels of junkie town, hidden behind a caravan of film trailers that were parked in front of the venue, we started the second leg of this tour.
Thing about the film trailers, is that they had all of their food, costumes, and actors loaded inside our Lana Lou's as that's where they were filming! Our show was set to start at 9 so we arrived at 7, and all of the film gear was still set up. I wasn't impressed. But somehow they actually managed to clear out before anyone really began to show up, so.. it's alright.
Although,
Vancouver can be rough. Lots of events to compete with, so getting people out on a weekday isn't easy. We emailed and called everyone in the books. It was like sales work. Which is a lot easier when you believe in what you're selling.. but it's still god damn sales.
This venue often acts like a kind of private club as a result of it being hidden away (east of Hastings, on Powell st.) So this show comprised of people we work with, relatives, friends, and a lively pack of burlesque girls who were all you could hope for!
It was a good night. Not only did the introduction of Kata Sita the fire breathing sword swallower go over well, but Melody came back to us and did this show too!
All said and done, we had a blast, and it gave us what we needed for the long overnight haul up the Coquihalla Highway to Quesnel.
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