Creative City Cabaret an Unforgettable Evening!

Some people thought we were completely nuts.  They said to us: why would we ever want to put politicians on a stage and have them show off their creative talents? 
Because the arts are important, that's why.  Last Saturday night proved
it.  The Creative City Cabaret was a unanimous success.  People
clapped, laughed, and had a great time.  Here are a few of the
reactions we've seen.

On Craigslist:

Reply to: pers-911620713@craigslist.org
Date: 2008-11-08, 11:59PM PST

Where
the hell were you, Vancouverites? I just got home and it was a great
evening and a totally unique format instead of the same old boring
round of speeches, backbiting and media rants we have been going
through. And about 75 people bothered to come out to have a great,
practically free evening laughing at and with the people who want to
lead the City. The room could have held 250 people. You can't say you
didn't hear about it. My elderly mother heard about it. Don't complain
if your Council stinks if you don't take this kind of opportunity to
see these people from a whole other side.

From Peter Birnie from the Vancouver Sun on Canada.com:

If the upcoming civic election were won on artistic talent, Peter Ladner would be, hands down, Vancouver's next mayor. Not to fault his chief rival, Gregor Robertson, for trying to show his guitar skills at the Creative City Cabaret on Saturday night, but Ladner had it all going on.

Stitched together by the creative minds at the arts management group Left Right Minds, the cabaret was an attempt to allow mayoral candidates and some others running for political office to show off their skills as actors, singers, dancers, etc. The evening succeeded only in fits and starts, and offered many moments of jaw-dropping awe at the deep, unsettling weirdness to be found on the campaign trail.

Take mayoral candidate Scott Yee. Please. It was early in the night and the audience had been lulled into complacency by a charmingly clumsy presentation from the COPE slate. Bad jokes behind fake beards were followed by a cute video urging everyone to "Vote Beard," before the Beard himself, Councillor David Cadman, offered a rambling and folksy string of bits from songs (only slightly off-key) culminating in an ode to the oysters that can't live in the city's sewage.

From Travis Smith from Hop Studios:

I dropped by the Roundhouse last night to attend the Creative City Cabaret, a collection of performances by candidates in the upcoming Vancouver elections.  My friends at Left Right Minds asked me to blog the event, and I was happy to help out and to see the potential city leaders in a non-political event that was to showcase some of their creativity and human side.

...

At the end of the performance, all the candidates came up and took a bow together - that was a real wonderful moment and made me feel like Vancouver was a small town, not a big city.

Was it a success?  I think so.  Truly some bad performances, and yet a kernel of heart-felt wonderfulness, and a chance to see the human side of the people who will, some of them at least, be running Vancouver.  Thanks, Left Right Minds.

From 24 Hours Magazine - Vote For Me by Ian King:

If you listen to urban guru Richard Florida, the cites that will be urban powerhouses are going to be the ones that attract creative types and keep them there. So how about combining debate and performance ahhts in one show, as at the Roundhouse on November 8? Why Not? 24 hours's Ian King liveblogged the event.

9:01 -- Where my net conection at? Gotta bug Shane and Allyson about this!

9:13 -- and the cabaret is opened by a flute 'n taiko combo that's moderately well-received by the several dozen spectators here at the Roundhouse.

9:17 -- things are finally underway, with host Ryan introducing himself as Barack Obama, a joke that fell flat. The first group from COPE, with council candidate Ellen Woodsworth and school board candidates Alvin Singh and Jane Bouey.

COPE is poking fun at itself as a 40-year-old party, stuck in the old days. There's too much truth behind that joke, because when you see a crowd of COPEsters, the first thing you notice is that it's oh so old and oh so white.

From Langara's The Voice:

An 80-year-old tap-dancing environmentalist upstaged top mayoral candidates Gregor Robertson and Peter Ladner at a civic election-themed talent show in Yaletown last weekend.

At the Roundhouse Community Centre, the Creative City Cabaret brought
candidates for the election onstage to showcase their hidden talents,
on Nov. 8.

The cabaret was the brainchild of Left Right Minds, a management and consulting company that aims to connect arts with business.

According
to Chris May, the company’s tour and production manager, they wanted to
stir up interest in the Nov. 15 election while bringing awareness to
the arts and raise money for a shared theatre space in the city.

“These people want to run this city, and we want to see them being
creative, in a situation where they aren’t comfortable,” said May.

On Youtube and the NPA:

NOTE: We
were intending to live blog the event but the wireless connections in
the theatre were not working properly and we were unable to post from
the event.  We will be posting those in the next few days.

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