Welcome to the Vancouver Lexicon. Its purpose is to pin down the patois of the City of Vancouver by recording its toponyms, nicknames, slang terms, personalities, places, and other Van-centric things. Full A-Z here.

Nite Dreems | television | Years before other music video shows like MTV, Much Music, and Friday Night Videos, for Metro Vancouver teens there was Nite Dreems. (Above is episode 12 from March, 1980.) Once described as “radio with pictures”, Nite Dreems was a local cablevision (Cable 10) early “rock” video show with a large cult following from the late 1970s to the early 1980s. It was produced by Don Fraser and hosted by local DJs John Tanner and JB Shayne (aka Raoul Casablanca) with Deborah Jarvi and Susanne Tabata. The live show combined music, interviews, music news, film reviews, “bizarrerie”, and (what was then the leading edge of entertainment technology) videos. It became the program to watch to discover the new, local and international music of that era, featuring bands like The Specials, Boomtown Rats, Gary Numan, the Payola$, The Clash, Patty Smith, and Young Canadians (to name but a few). Like all cable access television, Nite Dreems was produced with volunteer labour; Cable 10 provided the equipment and studio but no budget and record companies provided the videos, records, giveaways, and the interview subjects. It aired live at 11pm every Sunday on Vancouver Cablevision with each episode re-airing at 2:30pm every Saturday on Cable 10, and at 10pm the following Sunday on Northshore Cablevision. It was Cable 10’s most-watched program.

Usage: “When Nite Dreems didn’t have the video for a song, they improvised one by showing a tight-shot of John Tanner’s hands “dancing” to the music.”