by Michelle Sproule | The main objective of this website is to scout out and promote the things that make Vancouver such a sweet place to be. We do this with an emphasis on the city’s independent spirit to foster a sense of connectedness within and between our communities, and to introduce our readers to the people who grow and cook our food, play the raddest tunes in our better venues, create our most interesting art, and design everything from what we wear to the spaces we inhabit. The Scout List is our carefully considered, first rate agenda of super awesome things that we’re either doing, wishing that we could do, or conspiring to do this week. From our calendar to yours…

ART | As part of Beat Nation: Art, Hip Hop and Aboriginal Culture, the Vancouver Art Gallery is hosting a Speaker Series this Tuesday, and – bonus – Tuesday night is also known as Free Tuesday! This talk is called The Unlikely Architectures: Contested Territories. “With the backdrop of Beat Nation this panel proposes alternative ways of mapping the urban landscape. Intern-architect and community activist Annabel Vaughan, historian Susan Roy and others explore the city as a space of overlapping histories and territories.” Note that by “free” we mean “by donation”.
Tuesday, April 3 | 7pm | Vancouver Art Gallery (750 Hornby) | Pay What You Can | Details 

WORDS | Head to Little Mountain Gallery Tuesday night when three extremely talented men take the stage. Corin Raymond will be doing the Vancouver premiere of his one man show, Bookworm; TJ Dawe will be doing the first reading of his new one man show, Medicine ; and Brendan McLeod will perform new songs and poems. I wanted to cut-and-paste the whole description of the evening here, but it was too long. Long but interesting. I’ve seen Brendan many times (he’s a genius), and I saw Corin last Friday night at St. James Hall (brilliant), but I’ve never seen TJ. He’ll be talking about an experience that involves the ingestion of the Peruvian shamanic plant medicine ayahuasca, and I’m totally ok with that. Check it out here. This will be a good night out, guaranteed.
Tuesday, April 3 | 7:30-10:30pm | Little Mountain Gallery (195 east 26th) | $15

BAYSHORE | Heritage Vancouver has a cool gig going on this Wednesday evening. They are marking the 40th anniversary of bizarre polymath Howard Hughes’ legendary visit to the Bayshore Hotel with a tour lead by writer and “Hughes-ologist” Aaron Chapman. “Chapman will separate the fact from fiction and tell stories about some of the strange things that occurred during Hughes’ stay. He will be joined by some old Bayshore staff who were there when Hughes was at the hotel. If you can’t afford the $1000 a night for the Hughes suite—this is perhaps your only chance to explore the famous hotel room, experience one of the most exclusive views in all of Vancouver and hear the incredible and little known story of the city’s strangest hotel guest.” Tickets are only $20 beans – lots of room for a post tour snack and glass of wine at Salt (see below).
Wednesday, April 4 | 5:30-7pm | The Westin Bayshore Hotel (1601 Bayshore) | $20 | Details 

COMMUNAL | Grab a seat at Salt Tasting Room’s underground long table on Wednesday night. They’ve hooked up with the folks from Clos Du Soleil winery for the first of their Salt Cellar Series evenings of the season. Grab a few pals, drink some amazing wine, pair it with some good cheese and charcuterie, and meet some talented wine makers. Get out there and socialize. Don’t staylocked in your room a la Hughes.
Wednesday, April 4 |7pm | Salt Cellar (Blood Alley) | $40 | Details 

PHOTO | Scott McFarland is showing his latest at The Monte Clark Gallery. Winter Retreating Spring Offence is showing until May 5, so don’t kill yourself trying to get there. Still, Scott McFarland! It might be an exhibition you’ll want to check out more than once, so get started.
Now – May 5 | Monte Clark Gallery | Details 

GIGGERY | The Wedding Present is at the Biltmore Thursday night. The British band is on tour to promote their hugely anticipated eighth studio LP (the first in four years) but will also be playing their 1991 album ‘Seamonsters’ in full. That be the one that made ’em famous. Uh huh.
Thursday, April 5 | 9:30pm | The Biltmore Cabaret (2755 Prince Edward) |$16 | Details 

DECO | Have you seen the Art Deco exhibition at the Museum of Vancouver yet? Pretty impressive. If you’ve been and were as besotted by the clothing and fashions of the 1920s and 1930s as I was, you might want to head back on Thursday night when guest curator Ivan Sayers will lead a tour, offering insight and details about the pieces.
Thursday, April 5 | 7pm | Museum of Vancouver (1100 Chestnut) | Details

SPRING | How awesome is it to have a city full of cherry blossoms right now? Get excited about it with other cherry blossom lovers at The Sakura Days Japan Fair at VanDusen this weekend. Wander through the gardens, gobble Japanese food and down some sake. Cruising the Sakura Days Japan Fair is like being teleported to Japan, or as close as most of us are going to get by Saturday anyway.  The gardens are packed full of cherry blossom gazers, live entertainment, arts and crafts tables and martial arts performers as well as tea ceremony stations, flower arranging, origami making booths and lots of traditional and anime-inspired costumes. It’s a freakin’ trip. But don’t take the car. Parking is scarce and cherry blossoms are happier when you ride your bike anyway.
April 7+8 | 10am-5pm | VanDusen Botanical Garden (5251 Oak) | $10 | Details

FILM | Forks Over Knives is playing at the Ridge this Thursday night. Never seen it but I’ve heard good things about this powerful film that examines the profound claim that “most, if not all, of the degenerative diseases that afflict us can be controlled, or even reversed, by rejecting animal-based and processed foods.” This screening is followed by an expert health care panel discussion and funds raised at the event will benefit InspireHealth Integrative Cancer Care Centre.
April 7 | 7pm | The Ridge | $20 | Details

EGGERY | It’s Easter, folks! ‘Easter Eggstravaganzas’ will pop up in almost every park across the city. Miss 604 has compiled a handy listing of hunts here. Purdys will have a line, but their foiled eggs are an undeniable classic. Beta5 has a sweet collection of sophisticated replica eggs filled with an assortment of chocolate-covered bits such as sun-dried cherries, marcona almonds, Fraser Valley hazelnuts, pistachios, puffed cereals and house-made pretzel bites (yes please!).

Bonus: if you’re looking to take things beyond chocolate eggs, check out what Walrus has to say.

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Michelle Sproule grew up in Kitsilano and attended Bond University in Australia and the University of Victoria before receiving her graduate degree in Library Sciences from The University of Toronto. She lives in beautiful Strathcona and enjoys wandering aimlessly through the city’s shops and streets with her best friend – a beat up, sticky, grimy, and uncooperative camera.

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