Thursday, July 18 and Friday, July 19
Park program paradise
At least it’ll feel like paradise for these two days if you’re into park programs. “Going buggy” goes down on Thursday from 11 am to 2 pm at Elk/Beaver Lake and is an all-ages event looking at bugs. On Friday, there’s “Nature babies in backpacks,” from 10:30 am to 12 pm at Francis/King Regional Park, a guided walk for parents and babies where you can learn about other accessible regional park trails. Also on Friday, “Evening campfire at the beach,” which may lack a unique name but will be fun nonetheless: from 6 pm to 8 pm at Island View Beach Regional Park, this all-ages event will include a beach walk and campfire stories (bring a beach chair). No pets; head over to crd.bc.ca/parks for more info.
Thursday, July 18
Channel surfing
The artists’ talk and reception for Crossing Channels goes down at 7:30 pm on July 18 at the Art Gallery of Greater Victoria. The exhibit itself runs until November 11. This show features five artists, each of whom will have their work displayed for three weeks. For a full itinerary and more information, hop on the interwebs and head over to aggv.ca. And sorry about that headline: “channel surfing,” I really probably could have done better than that. Maybe next time.
Friday, July 19 and Saturday, July 20
The Phillips Backyard Weekender
Join De La Soul, Buck 65, Sonreal, The Cat Empire, and others as they play in a giant vat filled with Phillips beer, struggling for their lives. No? Well, geez, that’s boring. 5:30 pm, head over to ticketweb.ca for tickets.
Friday, July 19 to Sunday, July 28
Abstractions
The opening reception for Blue—Azul is at 7 pm on July 19 at Dales Gallery and, judging by all the nice colours I see in the ad for this exhibit of “west coast contemporary abstract expressionism,” it’s going to be great. The event, that is, not the opening reception! Well, I’m sure that’ll be great, too. Or, I don’t know, I’d guess it will be. No, no, I’m sure it will be.
Saturday, July 20
Not, I repeat NOT, a 3D paint in
Oh man, corporate sponsorships and multidimensional trickiness got mixed up yet again when I read “26th annual 3D Art Gallery Paint-In,” and I thought, wow, that sounds like a lot of fun. Maybe I’ll pack up the family and get down there. You know, if the kids can stop screaming and running around naked and generally being barbarians for more than three goddamn minutes. But then I read it again: “TD,” not “3D.” I’m assuming the bank, but I can’t bear to read on to find out. Anyway, it’ll still be 3D, in a manner of speaking, right? I mean, life is 3D, no? Anyway, just go down and check it out at the Art Gallery of Greater Victoria, 11 am to 4:30 pm on Moss Street; 10 am to 6 pm at the gallery; and 5-9 pm there will be music by Kumbia. Find out more at aggv.ca, where you can also find out about the many different exhibits they have happening in July and August.
Monday, July 22
Merengue master accordionist
Well, that says it all. Joaquin Diaz will be hitting the Butchart Gardens at 8 pm on July 22, and if you’re at all like me you live here but have only been to the gardens once or twice in your life. You know, it’s cool out there. I was there recently. I love the parking lot, and the way it’s kinda like boarding a ferry when you drive through, with the little booth and the lanes and the turns and the slight feeling of butterflies and loss of gravity as you try to navigate through it all to find a space to park. Sometimes men and women with those glowing sticks point at you to help you out. But what way are they aiming those things? Man, hard to tell when they’re moving them like that. Them flowers are purty, too.
Thursday, July 25
Breakwater rock
Inlet Sound will be bringing their show to Lucky Bar and, if you go, let us know if they really sound as positively west coast as that name implies. I imagine, like, Jon and Roy but even more subdued. Just the sound of waves crashing while the band takes a nap on the stage. I mean, ugh, I hope it’s not that. That would be so boring. I bet they’re more exciting than that.
Saturday, July 27
Purple haze
Lavenderfest is a fundraiser for the Canadian Cancer Society and up until this very moment I didn’t realize it was actually somehow related to lavender. But, look at that: held at Damali farms in Cobble Hill, which specializes in lavender and wine, according to their very lavender-y website. I don’t even know what to do with lavender myself, but I suspect I could learn a lot at this, all while supporting an obviously worthwhile cause. Go to damali.ca for more information on this event, which only costs you $5 to get in, and $2 if you’re under 12!
Sunday, July 28
60 years of revolution
Fiesta Cubana will celebrate the 60th anniversary of the Cuban Revolution from 4-8 pm at the Mitraneketan housing co-op, located at 1241 Balmoral. Dinner at 5 pm, music, stuff to keep the little ones occupied, and much more. Note: if it rains, the event will be moved to the BCGEU Hall, at 2994 Douglas. $15, kids are free; all proceeds go to the Cuban Association for the Blind. Check victoriafriendsofcuba.wordpress.com for more info.
Tuesday, July 30 to Sunday, August 25
Three of Wingfield
We’re just as confused as you’re about to be, so bear with us here. Head over to the Belfry for not one, not even two, but three related plays happening between them there above dates. Letter from Wingfield Farm, Wingfield’s Progress, and Wingfield’s Folly. That’s a lot of Wingfielding! Tickets are $25 to $40 and available at tickets.belfry.bc.ca.
Friday, August 2
Entercatement
People like to say “edutainment,” but I vote that we use “entercatement” as the portmanteau of choice when talking about people like hip-hopper Talib Kweli, who will be playing Club 90ne9 along with Georgia Murray and DJ DWhiz on this most hot night. Hot in a entercatementional sense, that is!
Tuesday, August 13
Go to Gogo
Okay, hands up if you know anything about David Gogo. Alright, let’s change that: head down to the always-amazing Alix Goolden Hall on August 13 to see what he’s all about. Here’s a story: one time, when I was a younger man, I tried to hitchhike across Canada. Oh, it totally sucked. Got stuck in the middle of BC somewhere for days. It was miserable. Kerouac is amazing, my ass. I slept on bags of fertilizer outside a train station in Kamloops or Kelowna or whichever one has a huge hill in it. A huge hill which is horrible to walk up with a big bag of stuff when you’re pretending to be a carefree nomad wanderer early-’20s goof, but anyway, a relative of David Gogo’s picked us up and drove us for a while. That was nice, and I feel like I’ll never forget that.