YEW Pays Tribute to Earth Hour as Part of Global Celebration

News from Scout supporter YEW restaurant + bar

Vancouver, BC | YEW restaurant + bar at the Four Seasons Hotel Vancouver will join 46 Four Seasons sister properties to create a chain of candlelight dinners that will circumnavigate the globe in celebration of Earth Hour. On Saturday, March 27th, a sequence of candlelight dinners will begin at Four Seasons Hotel Sydney at 8:30pm local time and move westward across the planet. Read more

Gastown’s Legendary Alibi Room Joins The Scout Community

The good people over at our favourite watering hole, Gastown’s Alibi Room, are now proud member supporters of Scout. We will be publishing their news and press releases on our front page and hosting a page for them in our list of recommended restaurants. Click ahead or jump to their Scout page here. Read more

The Heads Up: Library Showing “Carts Of Darkness” Tonight…

Carts of Darkness is screening at the main branch of the Vancouver Public Library tonight. If you haven’t heard of this awesome flick before, here’s the skinny:

In the picture-postcard community of North Vancouver, filmmaker Murray Siple follows men who have turned bottle-picking, their primary source of income, into the extreme sport of shopping cart racing. Enduring hardships from everyday life on the streets of Vancouver, this sub-culture depicts street life as much more than stereotypes portrayed in mainstream media. The film takes a deep look into the lives of the men who race carts, the adversity they face, and the appeal of cart racing despite the risk.

It’s better than The Notebook. See you there.

The Puzzleboard Carry Tray Set From Dutch Design Firm “OOOMS”

I’d be stoked to come across one of these in the a restaurant.

The Puzzleboard by OOOMS can be used in more ways than one: each board can be used on its own as a cutting board or serving plate, or put some boards together and you have super-sized your workspace. It’s ideal for cutting those long baguettes! But the best thing is that any wineglass can be fitted into the blank spot of a board. Using the boards at parties allows guests to enjoy both wine & delicacies, while still having one hand free to greet other friends.

You mean “one hand free pile it high”. Even at $20 euros per board, yes please.

Le Gavroche’s Lobster Festival Returns From Mar 12 To Apr 18

News from Scout supporter Le Gavroche

Vancouver, BC | Le Gavroche’s famous Lobster Festival is back and for the next five weeks guests can enjoy a lobster-packed three-course dinner for only $35 ($10 less than previous years). Set in a historic Victorian house with views of the Coastal Mountains and Coal Harbour, Le Gavroche is the perfect setting to enjoy everyone’s favourite crustacean. Read more

L’Altro Buca’s Fresh, Affordable Approach To Post-Olympic Dining

News from Scout supporter L’Altro Buca

Vancouver, BC | With Olympic mayhem and meals served in tents now a distant memory, those looking to revel in local fare and fresh flavours at exceptional value can take refuge at Westend favourite, L’Altro Buca. For the next few weeks, chef Andrey Durbach is highlighting the arrival of springtime ingredients with a new menu featuring twenty items under twenty-five dollars, family-style dining options, and prix fixe price breaks. Diners can choose from items such as salad of king crab served with wild prawns, avocado and tomato and basil dressing; grilled asparagus served with housemade pork cheek bacon and poached egg, finished with Parmigiano Reggiano; handmade fazzoletti pasta with osso buco ragu and gremolata; roasted Rossdown Farms chicken served with olive oil mashed potato, lemon, rosemary, confit garlic and fresh baby artichokes. Read more

Zulu Report: Really, It’s OK To Be Addicted To Pantha Du Prince

Our friends over at Kitsilano’s Zulu Records once again present their weekly Scout feature, the Zulu Report. Within, staff from the West 4th music store provide The Track, the song that is on heavy rotation that week; The Playlist, which is pretty self-explanatory; The Gig, the must see show of the week; and The Glance, a view ahead to music on the horizon. From their ears to yours, enjoy…

The Track

The tune currently on heavy rotation…

Pantha Du Prince | “Stick By My Side” from the album Black Noise (Rough Trade)

Pantha Du Prince has pulled off a remarkable feat with his beautiful sound poem of an album, Black Noise. Recorded in the Swiss Alps (and heavily inspired by those surroundings), Black Noise features forest sounds seamlessly integrated into minimal techno jams. Like Burial, The Field and the entire K7! label, Pantha Du Prince works within the “electro house” genre, but this is hardly the soulless, brainless throb that you’d expect by that tag. This is lush, blissed out, feeling music, as this track, Stick By My Side, attests. Having Panda Bear guest vocalize on this album will boost the songs appeal, but this is Pantha’s show all the way. Watch this video and be transported into the future by gazing into the deepness of humanity’s collective forest-past.

The Playlist

Click the links for some audible flavour…

A SUNNY DAY IN GLASGOW Nitetime EP (Mijos Os Discos)
Philly dream-poppers follow up last year’s stunner album with an EP of new songs and surprisingly solid remixes, providing further proof of the supremacy of their hazed-out musical vision.

THE MAGNETIC FIELDS Realism (Merge)
NY’s wry purveyors of intelligent pop magic turn folky and old-timey on an album of thirteen new classics.

THE BRIAN JONESTOWN MASSACRE Who Killed Sgt. Pepper? (A)
Anton Newcombe detoxes in Iceland and enlists a fresh cast to back him up on his freshest album in years.

MASSIVE ATTACK Heligo Land (EMI)
Bristol, England’s Massive Attack brooding trip hop-i-delica is tailor-made for Vancouver’s gray and overcast post-Olympics hangover.

NOUVELLE VAGUE 3 (Peacefrog)
3 is an all star affair, with Martin Gore (Depeche Mode), Ian McCulloch and others joining Nouvelle Vague in creating striking new versions of classic 80’s hits.

STRANGE BOYS Be Brave (In The Red)
Demented, dumbo garage rock that wraps around your head in a choke-hold and doesn’t let go until you cry ‘Uncle’.

SPOON RIVER Kingdom Of The Burned (Northern Electric)
Vancouver by way of Montreal husband and wife super folky rock group that broods like Cohen and rocks like Neil. Homegrown is the way to be, people.

A SILVER MOUNT ZION Kollaps Tradixionales (Constellation)
ASM are the voice of artistic political dissent, creating Ernst-esque sound tapestries that haunt and inspire in equal measure.

SMITH WESTERNS s/t (HOZAC)
The Smith Westerns are guaranteed to be posters boys for the sound of scrappy pop circa 2010, as their self-titled debut proves. Hooks and sound-gunk to keep you pacified.

POSTDATA s/t (EMI)
Raw missives from Wintersleep frontman Paul Murphy as he confronts the fragility of life and inevitability of pain and suffering. Heavy but necessary.

The Gig

The Big Pink w/ A Place To Bury Strangers at Venue Sat March 13

This show is going to be massive. And by massive I mean you can expect infinitely elongated waves of reverb and distortion, like multi-coloured waves of sound washing over you. I mean…what a team up! The Big Pink, England’s latest shoegaze revival act, who are no slouches with the pop hooks, and NY’s fine A Place To Bury Strangers, who like their shows to be LOUD and their visuals to be wildly psychedelic. It’s rare that a headlining band and support act sync up so nicely, so this show will be a rare treat. It’s time for us locals to venture back onto Granville street and reclaim the city from the stuffed animal mascots and mouth-breathing hockey nuts who descended upon it during that whole Olympics thing. This Saturday’s show seems like an ideal chance to do just that.

The Glance

Fine local shows on the immediate horizon…

Tue MAR 09

THE APPLESEED CAST – BILTMORE

Wed MAR 10

THE COOL KIDS – VENUE (VENUE CHANGE)
FAKE BLOOD – FORTUNE SOUND CLUB

Fri MAR 12

GOMEZ – ORPHEUM
RICKARD BERGLOF – THE FALL
JACK BEATS & AC SLATER – CELEBRITIES
EFTERKLANG – BILTMORE

Sat MAR 13

THE BIG PINK – VENUE
PEZZNER – J LOUNGE
TRUS’ ME – COBALT
WARREL DAME – RED ROOM
MIKE DOUGHTY – BILTMORE

Sun MAR 14

DIPLO & PAUL DEVRO – VENUE

Fri MAR 19

JOHN DIGWEED – CELEBRITIES

Next Page »