Arts & Culture – Page 134

Barbershop memories

Christopher Best’s recent book, My Greek Barber’s Diary, is a biography of George Chronopoulos, told in the barber’s own words. In recent years, Best has been writing about history and people. Not celebrities but regular citizens who have made Canada a thriving multicultural country. His goal as a writer and as a publisher is to preserve precious memories.

Best will talk about My Greek Barber’s Diary at the Isaac Waldman Jewish Public Library on March 2.

The book follows Chronopoulos’ life from his childhood in Greece, through wars, hardships and immigration to Canada, to the modern day. Through the years, he has tried his hands at various business ventures, from restaurants to real estate, but he always comes back to being a barber. His hair salon has always been a hub of friendships and conversations, confidences and laughter.

Chronopoulos’ bright, ebullient personality, his courage and insatiable curiosity to try new things, to learn new skills, attracted the young entrepreneurial crowd of the 1960s, ’70s and ’80s. Many of Vancouver’s industry leaders started out during those years, and many of them became Chronopoulos’ personal friends and golf buddies.

My Greek Barber’s Diary is a series of more or less chronological stories as remembered by Chronopoulos. A large part of the book is dedicated to the barber’s extended family and their adventures. He sponsored many of his relatives into Canada and helped many others with their first jobs or first homes. A man of big heart, he also was one of the founders of the Gold Plate Dinner charity event in Vancouver in 1977, which was later picked up by the Hellenic communities all across Canada. Today, the events are considered the most important fundraiser in the Canadian Greek community.

Chronopoulos talks in the book about the many people he got to know from different cultural and ethnic backgrounds. Among his many Jewish clients and friends are business tycoons and philanthropists Joe Segal, Bob Golden, Syd Belzberg and Max Fugman. Everyone first came to his shop because of Chronopoulos’ well-known talent for styling men’s hair, but they stayed for their barber’s charisma and the joy of his friendship. The book includes tributes to Chronopoulos, friends sharing their memories of good times and bad times together, of triumphs and losses.

As did the others, author Best first met his subject at the barbershop. “We started talking,” Best recalled of that haircut a couple of years ago. “George asked me what I do, and I said I’m a writer. He said he always wanted to write a book – his life story. Afterwards, we met many times, and George told me about his life and about the people he knew.”

It took Best a year to record and transcribe Chronopoulos’ memoirs, and about six months to edit the book, which he published in 2015.

My Greek Barber’s Diary is not Best’s first book. The writer owns his own publishing company, Warfleet Press, and, since 2007, has published eight books, all of them on local history, including one about Canadian Airlines.

His first publication was By Jove What a Band, about Arthur Delamont and the Vancouver Boys Band. Before becoming a writer and publisher, Best was a musician and a music teacher and, in the 1960s, he was a member of Vancouver Boys Band. He recorded his memories and those of others about the band and its legendary leader, Delamont, who became a member of the Order of Canada in 1980 and even had a park in Vancouver named in his honor. It took three decades and the founding of Warfleet Press before the memoirs became a published book in 2007. Best writes about By Jove What a Band: “It is a story about the band which never grew old. The band that won over 200 trophies and awards during its unprecedented 50-year history. The band that made 15 European tours and attended five world fairs. The band that dined with royalty but never lost the common touch.”

Best’s talk on My Greek Barber’s Diary at Waldman Library on March 2 starts at 7:30 p.m.

Olga Livshin is a Vancouver freelance writer. She can be reached at [email protected].

Dementia, cinema’s darling

Julianne Moore as Alice in Still Alice. (photo by Jojo Whilden, courtesy of Sony Pictures Classics)

Fifteen years ago, the subject of dementia was the “elephant in the room,” a very large issue that everyone is acutely aware of, but nobody wants to talk about. If you or a member of your family developed symptoms such as forgetfulness or confusion, you kept it quiet as long as you could. The first time your grandfather found himself somewhere and did not know why he was there was but the coup de grâce, the decisive stroke that heralded the end of a lifestyle as he knew it. This was the beginning of a terrifying and tragic journey towards senility and death.

I remember my paternal grandmother; she was a wonderful cook, Polish style. Her husband took care of her until she had to be placed in a seniors residence. The topic of her illness never came up at home. My father visited her every week. My brother and I did not go with him. Then there was the telephone conversation with my aunt: she was surprised to hear that I lived in Vancouver (I had moved here eight years prior). I knew then that she had Alzheimer’s disease. It was a shock.

During the last 10 years, things have changed. Articles about dementia, in terms of statistics, symptoms, prevention strategies, caregivers and residential settings, abound in our newspapers, magazines, on the radio and on the internet. Seminars, forums, courses, self-help and support groups are readily available – and world cinema has made up for lost time. For the last few years, I have been tracking American, Canadian, British, European and Israeli films that feature people who are suffering from some form of dementia, especially Alzheimer’s. These movies show the impact of their condition on caregivers, whether they be spouses, sons, daughters or friends.

photo - Jim Broadbent with Judi Dench in Iris — Jim Broadbent with Judi Dench in *Iris*. *(photo from Everett Collection / Rex Features)*

The British film Iris (2001) reveals the true story of the lifelong romance between novelist Iris Murdoch and her husband John Bayley, and her gradual deterioration due to Alzheimer’s disease.

The Canadian movie Away from Her (2006) follows a loving couple; she acknowledges her condition and moves into a seniors residence, and the husband must cope with his wife’s new romantic attachment to a male resident of the facility. Still Mine (2012), also a Canadian movie, is an old-age love story told with minimal sentimentality and spiky integrity. She has Alzheimer’s, he wants to build her a smaller house, with his own hands; complications ensue.

Amour (2012), a French film, gives us an unflinching vision of dementia caused by stroke and the complex relationship between the members of the octogenarian couple. It was widely acclaimed and nominated for several Academy Awards.

The British comedy Quartet (2013) brings together four superb actors in a magnificent seniors residence for musicians. Each member of the ensemble has his or her own impairments and talents. Somehow they cope and produce beautiful music together.

The American movie Still Alice (2014) shocked and educated every viewer who stayed until the end. We watch as early-onset dementia gradually overcomes the heroine’s intelligence and independence. Her strategies and courage educate and enrich our lives as she struggles with her loss of memory and mental abilities. Julianne Moore won an Academy Award for her performance.

In the American documentary Glen Campbell … I’ll be Me (2015), the legendary singer agrees to a final North American tour knowing that he has Alzheimer’s. The family supports, encourages and devises ways in which he can continue to perform despite the debilitating effects of the disease. A superb real-life drama that makes one appreciate how drastically the disease affects everyone close to the struggling singer.

photo - Christopher Plummer in Remember — Christopher Plummer in *Remember. (photo from Serendipity Point Films)*

In the Canadian movie Remember (2015), two residents of a seniors home seek revenge against the Nazi killer of their families in the Holocaust. With Alzheimer’s robbing him of his capacity to remember, one old man goes forth, with detailed instructions in hand, to find and kill his tormentor. He struggles with his inadequacies and perseveres.

Then there is the Israeli drama The Farewell Party (2015), which deals with the topic of assisted suicide and dementia. Notwithstanding the topic, it is a sweet, funny and sad tale that teaches us compassion and acceptance.

I recommend all of these movies to you, no matter at what stage of life you find yourself. But you might say, why should I watch these movies, why should I care? I am not there yet. It is not my issue, I don’t need to know about all this. It is too depressing. I defy readers to tell me they do not know someone who is suffering or has suffered from dementia. One in nine people over the age of 65 will develop some form of dementia. We must acquire knowledge of the disease, we must become familiar with the signs and symptoms, we must acquaint ourselves with the various paths that dementia takes.

How can we understand, empathize and assist these people, our grandparents, our parents, our friends, in their journey? As ethical human beings, it is our obligation and privilege to make the disease and those who suffer from it an integral part of our society. Watching these movies will provide you with the tools and strategies to be informed, to be helpful and to be accepting of this condition. After all, you or I may receive the diagnosis of dementia tomorrow.

Dolores Luber is a retired psychotherapist and psychology teacher living in Vancouver. She writes regular columns for Senior Line, blogs for Yossilinks and writes movie reviews for Isaac Waldman Jewish Public Library. This article was originally published on yossilinks.com.

Leaving some things hidden

Olga Campbell and Larry Green’s shared exhibit at the Zack, Hidden, is on until March 6. (photo by Olga Livshin)

In the new exhibit at Zack Gallery, Hidden, the pieces are united not only by theme but also by media. Both artists featured, Olga Campbell and Larry Green, mostly use photography, which they then play with in Photoshop. The computer-generated effects contribute to the graceful and faintly mystical feel of the images. Hazy silhouettes hide behind the splashes of paint. Eyes peek through the veil of the unknown. Mysterious places and partial faces open the gates of subconscious and let us witness the artists’ creative cores, their emotions.

The images are distinct, echoing each artist’s personality, but the common approach makes their double show almost seem inevitable. And the meshing of their artistic visions spills into life beyond the gallery. Both chose careers in the helping professions, for example. Campbell was a social worker until she retired. Green is a psychotherapist and a professor of psychology. But they didn’t really know each other before the idea of a mutual exhibit took root.

Campbell explained how it happened: “Last year, I participated in Culture Crawl. Linda Lando, the Zack Gallery director, came to see my pieces. She asked me if I wanted to have a show at the Zack Gallery.”

Green added: “I was with Linda that day – we are partners. I remembered Olga’s art from other shows…. I like what she does. Someone suggested we have a show together. That’s how this collaboration started, but, even before that, we were vaguely aware of each other. We saw and admired each other’s art at group shows. We knew many of the same people: friends, neighbors, co-workers.”

After the dates of the exhibit were set, the artists met to decide on the theme. “Larry came up with the Hidden, and I thought it was wonderful,” said Campbell. “There is so much in the world that is hidden. People hide things from others and from themselves, adopting layers of masks and veils. When we put obstacles in the way of seeing the world, we hide not only the shadows, but also the light. When we acknowledge the shadows, then we are able to see the light. Most of the really profound and rewarding things in life are hidden beneath the layers of mystery.”

In Campbell’s pieces, the layers are frequently photographs superimposed upon each other in Photoshop, plus special effects and the occasional addition of multimedia. She admitted that she doesn’t do much pure painting although she studied it.

“I always liked doing art,” she said. “In 1986, I took several art classes and then I thought, what to do with it? So I enrolled in Emily Carr. Afterwards, I worked as a social worker part-time and on my art part-time, until I retired. Art is not a hobby for me. I have to do it.”

Green’s path was a bit different. “I did a lot of art until I was about 25. Then I dropped it for 20 years before starting again, first with pottery and then with other stuff. When I worked with clay, sometimes my hands knew better than my brain what I wanted to say. I made a sculpture and now, years later, I look at it and think: Oh, that’s what I meant. Of course! My brain has caught up with my hands.”

The intuitive application of their skills underlines both artists’ creative courage. They are not afraid to experiment.

“I play around with Photoshop,” said Campbell. “I don’t know it very well. I try different things and I often get something I like by accident. Later, I can’t always reproduce the effect, so I never repeat myself.”

Green concurred. “I like Photoshop,” he said. “I learn it as I go. My ideas pull me through the learning process…. Using Photoshop, I can realize my vision much faster than with paint and canvas, but it is all trial and error. I keep worrying at the piece until something comes along. Or not. If it comes, I go for it. If it doesn’t, I don’t. Some pieces take years to come together. For example, years ago, I saw a single pink running shoe in a park and snapped a photo of it but I didn’t do anything about it. Then, recently, in a different place, I saw a single pink glove, and photographed it. I brought them together in Photoshop, and now they are not lonely.”

Many of Green’s pieces at the Zack are foggy landscapes. “I’ve always been fascinated by fog,” he said. “A foggy landscape has a particular dreamlike quality to it. Shapes are indistinct and, therefore, invite the viewer in, in an attempt to give the scene some definition. Alternately, the viewer can rest in the soft tranquility of the scene rather than be overwhelmed by details…. People who come to me for therapy are often afraid of the fog, especially inside themselves, but they’re also interested in it, in what it might reveal. Everything I do, in both art and psychology, is basically the same: trying to reveal the underlying reality, the hidden connections behind the apparent.”

“The same for me,” Campbell agreed. “Although not everything should be revealed. Some parts of the whole are better hidden, while the essence should be revealed.”

Olga Livshin is a Vancouver freelance writer. She can be reached at [email protected].

Don’t let the fear overwhelm

Itai Erdal brings A Very Narrow Bridge to Chutzpah! March 5-13. (photo by Emily Cooper)

There’s the family into which you were born, and the families you create yourself. Itai Erdal has built a life in which he is surrounded by family, both on and off stage. He often shares vulnerable aspects of himself and his family in his work, and he is one of the more collaborative playwrights out there.

While A Very Narrow Bridge, which runs March 5-13 at this year’s Chutzpah! Festival, is about Erdal’s “relationship with his sisters, Judaism and the state of Israel,” it is written by Erdal, Anita Rochon (artistic director of the Chop theatre company) and Maiko Yamamoto (artistic director of Theatre Replacement), is directed by Rochon and Yamamoto, and co-stars Erdal, Anton Lipovetsky, Patti Allan and Tom Pickett. The original score is written and performed by Talia Erdal.

“It is a dream come true for me to work with my sister,” Erdal told the Independent. “She is a brilliant musician and I’ve always admired her talent and her spirit. Talia is much younger than me … and we’ve been very close from the day she was born. In the past few years, she has become religious and, since I am not religious at all, I was worried that it would pull us apart. This fear of mine is indeed addressed in this show, which makes her being here and participating in the show even more special.”

The play’s description is minimal: Erdal “relives a trial in order to obtain a get – a divorce document in Jewish religious law – where everything he knows is at stake.” Its title comes from a teaching of the founder of the Breslov Chassidic movement, Rabbi Nachman of Breslov (1772-1810): “All the world is a very narrow bridge, and the most important thing is not to be overwhelmed by fear.”

That certainly seems to be Erdal’s approach to creativity. A Very Narrow Bridge is not the first work in which he puts a part of his life on a public stage.

“I’ve always been a very candid and open person,” he said. “I am an extrovert and I enjoy telling stories and being the life of the party. Having said that, in all my shows I talk about very personal things and sometimes about things that are hard to reveal or even to admit to myself. But I’ve learned that when something is hard to talk about, it often makes for good dramatic material, and I really trust my collaborators, who are all brilliant and steer me in the right direction.”

And they have. How to Disappear Completely, which was also a collaborative writing effort, is a one-man show that deals with the last months of Erdal’s mother’s life before she passed away from lung cancer. First produced by Chop Theatre for Chutzpah! 2011, it has since been mounted in many other cities, and continues to tour. It was nominated for Jessie and Dora awards, which both honor excellence in theatre.

Rochon was one of the writers of How to Disappear Completely, and its producer. Erdal, who is also an award-winning lighting and set designer, has worked with Yamamoto before, as well.

“One of the things I like the most about theatre is the collaborative nature of the process, and knowing each other well and understanding each other’s strengths and weaknesses makes it that much more rewarding,” he said. “The three of us have done many shows together, in different capacities. I have lit five shows for Maiko’s company, Theatre Replacement, some of which she acted in, some of them she directed and all of them she produced…. All this familiarity makes for a very symbiotic process and a totally democratic room, where no one is precious about anything and the best idea always wins.”

Erdal is the artistic director of Elbow Theatre, which is presenting A Very Narrow Bridge. He explained how the collaboration with his fellow artistic directors on this work came about.

“I always wanted to do a show about my sisters and my complicated relationship with Judaism and the state of Israel, and I always wanted to work with my dear friend Maiko, so I approached her and pitched her this project about three years ago and we’ve been working on this project ever since.

“Initially, we thought that Maiko would be on stage with me, so we approached Anita, who is in my mind the most exciting director in Vancouver. When we started writing this play, the focus shifted from my sisters to a show about immigration and Judaism, we added the three rabbis and Maiko’s role has changed from performer to writer and director.

“Creating a show from scratch is very hard and you never know which direction it will take,” he added, “so it’s important to stay open and do whatever serves the play. The various directions this process took have led us to create an exciting piece of theatre that we are all proud of.”

Would A Very Narrow Bridge exist if Erdal had never left Israel?

“Since this play is about emigrating from Israel, I am sure I couldn’t have written it if I still lived there,” he said. “Even though I am very happy in Canada, immigration is a very hard thing to do and this show is about the lingering doubt in the back of every immigrant’s mind: Did I do the right thing? Would I have been happier had I stayed home?

“When I grew up in Israel, everybody around me was Jewish, so I never felt particularly Jewish. I knew that there were people in the world who weren’t Jews, but I had never met them. Since moving to Canada, I feel a lot more Jewish because I am defined as a Jew by my surroundings. It’s a bit like family: you take it for granted when it’s there and you start appreciating it when it’s gone. Moving to Canada made me appreciate my heritage and my family, and this show is about both.”

A Very Narrow Bridge runs March 5-10, 12-13, 7 p.m., in the Dayson Board Room of the Jewish Community Centre of Greater Vancouver. For tickets ($29/$25/$21), call 604-257-5145 or visit chutzpahfestival.com.

Exploring sound and space

Israel’s Victoria Hanna is coming to Vancouver for the Chutzpah! Festival (photo from Chutzpah!)

Victoria Hanna is unique. There is no doubt that her concert at the Chutzaph! Festival on Feb. 23 will be one of the most uplifting and intriguing performances you’ve ever seen.

A longtime vocalist and performer, Hanna’s mainstream popularity skyrocketed last year when the video of her song “Aleph-Bet (Hosha’ana)” went viral. She describes herself as a voice artist, and the phrase does best describe her work. Though music is a large part of it, Hanna explores the sounds that we make when we speak, the physical mechanics required to form letters, diacritics (the nekudot in Hebrew) and words, their meanings and those of the space into which they travel. She uses her whole body as an instrument, singing, voicing beats, gesturing with her arms, tapping her chest, stamping her foot. She is mesmerizing to watch and hear.

“I am very curious about voice and speech,” Hanna told the Independent. “I had a stuttering problem and it made me enter deeply into the act of voice.”

When Forbes Israel chose the Jerusalem-based artist as one of the 50 most influential women in 2015, it noted as one of her most important messages: “If you have a disadvantage you can turn it into a kind of gift.”

Hanna grew up in Jerusalem in a religious family, “in which the language and elocution of prayer were valued, above all other arts,” notes her bio. Hence, her source material: texts such as Sefer Yetzirah (Book of Creation, traditionally ascribed to Abraham) and the writings of 13th-century kabbalist Rabbi Abraham Abulafia.

“I grew up hearing both Iraqi-Persian and Egyptian liturgy,” she said, “and it influenced my art in the sense that I am completely intrigued by the scales and accents.”

The way in which Hanna presents the melodies and the rhythms of the texts gives listeners a sense of meaning even if they don’t understand the words.

“When I sing in ancient Hebrew for audiences who do not speak Hebrew,” she explained, it provides “a better understanding that language is sound, and music crosses boundaries.”

She also crosses boundaries between the seen and the unseen, making tangible the intangible. She uses letters, nekudot (or vowels), syllables and her whole body to create choreography in the space sound inhabits. She refers to it as “voicing space.”

“The concept,” she said, “means ‘to fill the space with voice,’ giving the voice action. Voice in action has to react to space. When you intend to put the voice into space, then it is called ‘voicing space.’”

Her art includes song and spoken word.

“Singing has to do with the purity of voice and speaking has the intention to deliver information,” she explained. “These two levels are mentioned in the kabbalistic scripts as two different dimensions.”

Her performances also include theatre, music, of course, and video or some form of visual. In a 2015 lecture-performance at Tel Aviv University (TAU), which she has posted on her website, she uses a dry-erase board to illustrate various concepts.

A graduate of Nissan Nativ Acting Studio, Hanna has performed around the world – in Mumbai, Berlin, Sao Paolo and Boston, to name only a handful of the diverse places she has been. Her Chutzpah! show in Vancouver marks her first visit to Canada.

Hanna recently released her second single, “22 Letters,” a “kabbalistic rap from Sefer Yetzirah.” In the TAU lecture, she explains that there are 22 letters (in Hebrew). These foundation letters are engraved by the voice, carved with breath set in the mouth in five places: in the throat, in the palate, in the tongue, in the teeth, in the lips. With these 22 letters, God depicted what would be formed and all that would be formed; He made nonexistence into existence. She connects the creation of letters, writing, to human conception, birth. Therefore, our souls are full of letters, from head to foot, and the letters combine with the nekudot, alternating sounds, back and forth, in many melodies.

Her work is thought-provoking as well as entertaining, but is there some specific understanding that she is seeking, or that listeners are supposed to glean? “The exploration is the purpose,” she said, examining the “meeting point between voiced language and space.”

And it’s a journey that many are now following her on. As to what about her personal search speaks to so many people, she said, “I think that voice is a universal code, the basis of everything. The word was created by sound.”

For more on Hanna, visit victoriahanna.net. Her Feb. 23 performance at Rothstein Theatre starts at 8 p.m. For tickets ($29/$25/$21), call 604-257-5145 or visit chutzpahfestival.com, where the entire festival schedule can be found.

Join Hotz at Just for Laughs

Jeremy Hotz is coming to British Columbia, starting with a show in Kelowna on Feb. 25. (photo from Just for Laughs)

For a man whose current show is the International Man of Misery Tour, whose CTV special was What a Miserable Show This Is and whose DVD is called What a Miserable DVD This Is, Jeremy Hotz is a very funny and upbeat guy. He’s also really pleasant and cheerful on the phone.

Hotz spoke to the Jewish Independent on Jan. 27 from Toronto, where he was doing a press run for his show, which is being presented by Just for Laughs. The month-long Canadian tour started in Jasper, Alta., but then Hotz returned east to perform in Newfoundland. He is now making his way west and his first of four shows in British Columbia is in Kelowna on Feb. 25. The trip has him performing almost every day, sometimes twice in a day.

“I don’t work in the same order or anything,” he said. “A lot of stuff I make up is specific to the city that I’m in, so it’s quite fresh for me every single time I go on stage. I’m a very free-form comedian. I include the audience in the performance so they’re part of the show. It’s like a comic working without a net. That’s what seems to work the best for me, even though a lot of comics will tell you, ‘you should never do that.’ But, of course, everything that I’m told I shouldn’t do, I do. I put my hand in front of my face, I turn my back to the audience, I do everything wrong, but if you do all those wrong things together, I guess it works.”

Whereas many comedians have their prepared routine and will perform the same jokes from show to show, Hotz has several concepts that he carries from one performance to another – complaints about getting older, for example – but the content will be different. “That’s because I can’t remember the damn jokes,” he said.

He explained that he doesn’t plan anything out. “Planning gives me anxiety,” he said. “I suffer from this generalized anxiety disorder … and what happens to me right before shows when there’s stuff looming and coming up, it can get very bad, almost debilitating…. But, once I get out there, it just melts away, it’s gone. I feel much more comfortable in front of a theatre full of people than in a one-on-one conversation with a stranger.”

He said that he ended up being a comedian in part because he never really got any other jobs when he was younger. “I had to choose stand-up because it really was the only thing that was working for me.”

Humor has always been a part of his life.

“We were Jews, so when we got together for dinners, it was funny,” he said. First starting out as a comedian, “I didn’t even know there were comedy clubs. I didn’t understand why people would have to go to a club to see funny, and then I realized, oh, not all families are funny, I get it.”

While he had a bar mitzvah and attended Jewish school for six years as a kid, Hotz said, “My dad was the one that held the Jewish thing together in the family. My mother, of course, was Jewish as well, but she came from South Africa, like he did, and her family wasn’t observant. We observed the High Holidays, the Yom Kippurs, we had Passovers, things like that, but as far as going to the synagogue every Saturday, we didn’t do that.”

Born in South Africa, Hotz was a year old when the family moved to Canada; he has an older brother and a younger sister. He remained here until he moved to the United States in 1997.

“What happened was I went to the Just for Laughs comedy festival in Montreal and then these people from Disney gave me this big deal,” he explained. “They just threw a whole bunch of money at me to stand there and do nothing for a year. I guess they were keeping me off the market and they were saying they were going to do all these things with me. They did nothing, but they gave me that chunk of money and, on that money, I moved to Los Angeles.”

Joining his household soon will be a purebred long-haired chihuahua named Shackleton, after the polar explorer. Hotz is getting him from a longtime friend and had just seen the puppy while in Toronto for the press run. “We went on Canada AM and he was a fantastic little star,” said Hotz. “He’s only three months old.”

At best, Shackleton might be five pounds at his adult weight, Hotz added. “His nickname, of course, will be Shaq, which will be very funny because Shaq [O’Neal] is the big giant basketball player and this dog will be about five pounds.”

After the Just for Laughs tour, there will be a few projects to which Hotz will return his attention.

“We’re right now working on this documentary that’s going to bring to light this anxiety thing that I suffer from because it’s no joke,” he said. He described it as being “like an evil man that waits around the corner and can just pop out at any second.” While fine on stage, it’s generally “in full force” before the show, so he brings his brother, who’s a psychologist, on the road with him, at least for the beginning of the tours, “to get my head thinking about the right things.”

Even when acting in TV or film – Hotz is in Call Me Fitz, and has done other television shows and the movies My Favorite Martian and Speed 2 – the anxiety affects him. He was diagnosed about two and a half years ago.

In addition to the documentary, Hotz said he and his writing partner, Brian Hartt, have a couple of projects that they would like to have produced. On his wish list for himself is an HBO special.

“I’ve pretty much done the Lettermans and the Lenos and other specials, Comedy Central … but I’d like to do one HBO special. That would be something for me to do,” he said.

Hotz is looking forward to performing at Vogue Theatre. “I think it’s one of the best venues,” he said, “and I really hope that a lot of people are there. I know that there’s a comedy festival [jflnorthwest.com] going on at the right time, which they’ve made me part of, so hopefully that’ll be neat. And it’s a Just for Laughs thing, so that makes me feel all warm and fuzzy because they kind of launched my career. It’s very difficult to get out of Canada – because of Just for Laughs and the festival, that’s how I did it.”

While Montreal isn’t on this tour – and Hotz hasn’t done the main Just for Laughs festival for awhile – he said he’ll be there this July. While locals will be able to watch that performance on television, no doubt, his B.C. dates are a rare opportunity to see the award-winning comedian in person. Hotz is in Kelowna Feb. 25 (Kelowna Community Theatre), Vancouver Feb. 26 (Vogue Theatre), Nanaimo Feb. 27 (Port Theatre) and Victoria Feb. 28 (McPherson Playhouse). For tickets ($45.50), visit hahaha.com/en/jeremyhotz.

Gonna be a fun night

Jessica Kirson and Jon Steinberg (below) launch this year’s Chutzpah! Festival on Feb. 18. (photo from Chutzpah!)

Everyone who likes to laugh should attend the opening night of this year’s Chutzpah! Festival on Thursday, Feb. 18, at Rothstein Theatre. Watch a few of Jessica Kirson’s or Jon Steinberg’s routines and you’ll see the wisdom in Steinberg’s comment to the Independent: “Jessica and I, we have very different styles of comedy but we’re both very funny, so there’s something for everyone. If you come to the show and you don’t enjoy yourself, you may be the problem.”

Both seasoned and acclaimed performers, Kirson and Steinberg have long been funny.

“I was always the class clown,” Kirson told the Independent. “I had no idea that I wanted to do stand-up comedy. I had no idea I was capable. I never thought I could get on stage in front of people. I ended up taking a class and that’s what gave me the strength to actually perform. I was petrified. Once I did it, I fell in love with it.”

Whereas Kirson initially considered becoming a therapist, following her mother’s example, and went as far as graduate studies in social work, Steinberg’s path to stand-up was more direct.

photo - Jon Steinberg — Jon Steinberg *(photo from Chutzpah!)*

“As a kid, I always enjoyed making people laugh,” he said. “In high school, all my friends were into skateboarding but I was really bad at it. So, when my friend Toby made a skateboard video, I did some comedy sketches to go in between the clips of kids skateboarding. It was my way of being included.

“One night, I was out with a friend, walking in the rain with a paper bag full of doughnuts when the bag tore open and all the doughnuts rolled out into the street. I started telling people about it and they found it funny, and then I figured out how to tell it in a way that was funnier and eventually this would come to be known as ‘The Doughnut Story.’ The humor came from the disproportionate level of build-up to pay-off, and also how sad I was about losing all my doughnuts.”

The success of that story led to other stories that Steinberg and a buddy would write for Steinberg’s repertoire. Later, this buddy convinced him to run for high school president, “as a joke.”

“I had to deliver a speech in front of roughly 800 students,” said Steinberg. “That made my first open mic night in front of 35 people seem way less intimidating.”

His first time seeing live comedy was in Toronto at Yuk-Yuk’s.

“It was one of those nights with 10 comics on the bill, Russell Peters, Shaun Majumder, and many other great comics. Awhile after that, I did my first open mic at the Yuk-Yuk’s in Ottawa.”

Steinberg’s comic style is nerdy and calm, his hair being the most out-of-control aspect of his act. Kirson, on the other hand, exudes energy and her facial expressions are a sight to behold.

“I am very intense like my comic persona,” Kirson said. “I am definitely not as loud. I am not ‘on’ all of the time. A lot of people assume that of comedians and it is so not true. I am very silly and love to laugh at myself and ridiculous situations around me.”

She is edgy and pushes boundaries in her performances but is, ultimately, kind-hearted. “I never want to be mean-spirited to anyone,” she said. “If I feel like I am hurting someone’s feelings, I back off. I do, like most comics, love to get people thinking.”

Steinberg, too, steers clear of nastiness. “If I write something and I believe that it’s funny, and not mean-spirited, I’ll try it,” he said. “But if it consistently gets a poor reaction from audiences, I’ll drop it from my act. Some audiences are more sensitive than others, but my goal is to make people laugh, not to make them sad, so I won’t try to cram something down people’s throats and blame them for not liking it. So, if you’re at my show and I do a joke that you don’t like, just know that I may be in the process of figuring out I shouldn’t do that joke. You might only need to hear it once to realize that I shouldn’t have said it, but I may need to say it three or four times before I come to the same conclusion, so don’t spoil it for me by coming up to me after the show and telling me which jokes I shouldn’t do.”

Despite his extensive touring, the comedy festivals and television specials, Steinberg admits to still being a little nervous when doing stand-up. However, he said, “I find that helps keep me alert and in the moment. It’s like crossing the street – you need to be a little afraid of being hit by a car, just enough that you remember to look both ways, but not so afraid that you can’t cross the street.”

Kirson, too. “I get nervous at times,” she said. “I have done so many kinds of shows for so many years that I know what to expect from certain audiences. If I get fearful, I try to remember that I am seasoned, and most likely it will be fine. I get the most nervous doing television.”

And she has done a lot of television – on Comedy Central, Nickelodeon, VH1, Oxygen, Bravo, the Women’s Television Network, NBC, Fox, ABC, Showtime … the list goes on. The Jessy K Show YouTube channel has more than 100 videos with more than 2.5 million views in total.

“I started making silly videos with a friend of mine and posting them online. People loved them and it just grew from there,” said Kirson of the show’s genesis.

Many Canadians will recognize Steinberg from CBC Radio’s The Debaters.

“My first debate was in 2010,” he said. “That was when they were doing the TV version, which was taping in Vancouver. I came back to do another one of those shortly after. They stopped doing the TV version shortly after that, but the director of that was a guy named Brian Roberts, and after that he cast me in a kids’ TV show he was doing, which allowed me to quit my day job at an electronics recycling facility. So, The Debaters has been good for me in a lot of ways. I do around three to five of the tapings a year, it helps fill out my schedule, and it exposes me to a whole different audience. I have one coming up in March in Victoria.”

While their comedy isn’t Jewish per se, Judaism or Jewish culture are a part of who they are.

“I’m very proud to be Jewish,” said Kirson. “I love the traditions, the culture. It means, family, home, it is my rooting in life.”

For Steinberg, “the things that are most Jewish are those that secular and Orthodox Jews have in common, like bagels or potato kugel. I know a lot of people think that stuff is trivial, but it’s what we have in common.”

As to what else he’d like to do career-wise, Steinberg – who has appeared on the sitcom Spun Out and the drama Remedy – said, “I’d love to do more acting. I’ve done a bit, and it’s a lot of fun, but I’m happy just doing stand-up too. My goal isn’t to be famous, it’s just to make a living doing things I enjoy, so that can include stand-up, acting, writing, or things like The Debaters, which combines all three of those things.” In 2014, he released the album Between Me and the Wall.

Kirson also enjoys a breadth of activities. In addition to performing around the world, her TV appearances and her YouTube channel, the award-winning comedian has appeared in film and she recently launched her own podcast. While she would love to have her own television show so she can draw an even bigger audience, she said, “I make a good living at doing something I love. I’m very grateful.”

For more on Steinberg, visit jon-steinberg.com; for more on Kirson, jessicakirson.com. The comedians’ Feb. 18 Chutzpah! opener starts at 8 p.m. For tickets ($36, $21 for students), call 604-257-5145 or visit chutzpahfestival.com.

From earth to the heavens

Ayelet Rose Gottlieb will perform Shiv’a at Performance Works on Feb. 20. (photo by Gem Salsberg)

There are so many levels on which one can experience Ayelet Rose Gottlieb’s music, and her most recent releases are no exception. Shiv’a, which comes out today, is cathartic, simply enjoyable and everything in between. Her other recent release, Gomory, is ethereal and visceral, and everything in between. Two very diverse recordings, they exemplify Gottlieb’s range of talent.

Gottlieb will perform Shiv’a on Feb. 20, 9 p.m., at Performance Works on Granville Island, as part of Winterruption. She will be joined by a Vancouver-based string quartet led by violinist Meredith Bates, and by N.Y.-based drummer Ronen Itzik (originally from Jerusalem), who is coming to Vancouver especially for the performance. The concert is part of a double bill with singer-songwriter Alejandra Ribera.

Shiv’a has been years in the making. Gottlieb began it following the deaths of three close friends, and she has described the work as “a meditation on the process of mourning.”

“I composed the piece between 2007-2010, while I was living between Wellington, New Zealand, New York City and Jerusalem, Israel,” Gottlieb told the Independent. She met the quartet ETHEL in 2009, “and they and percussionist Satoshi Takeshi were very involved in the final stages of the composition process while I was still working on the piece.

“In 2011, we did an Indiegogo crowdfunding effort and, with 75 pre-orders of the album, we were able to fund the recording of the piece in N.Y.C. Since then, I gave birth to three other albums, and three babies, until finally, in 2015, Shiv’a found the right ‘home’ as part of the roster of 482music, a unique record label that features mostly N.Y.- and Chicago-based musicians.”

It was 482music that suggested releasing the recording as an LP rather than a CD. “For me,” said Gottlieb, “releasing music in this format has been a lifelong dream. LPs are my favorite format to listen to music in. I love the warmth of the sound and the physical feeling of holding a record. It also allows for a true feature to the artwork.

image - Noa Charuvi’s painting “Babel,” which Ayelet Rose Gottlieb chose for the cover of Shiv’a. — Noa Charuvi’s painting “Babel,” which Ayelet Rose Gottlieb chose for the cover of *Shiv’a*.

“I chose to use Noa Charuvi’s painting ‘Babel’ for the cover,” she continued, “as it seems to me to portray beautifully what I was trying to convey with the music of Shiv’a – something is broken, but that fragility holds much beauty, becomes abstract, allows for the imagination to roam. What was there before that is now lost? What will come in place of these ruins? What work needs to be done in order to clear the mess and rebuild? These same sentiments are found in Yehuda Amichai’s poem ‘An Old Toolshed,’ which serves as the epilogue to Shiv’a.”

When the Jewish Independent spoke with Gottlieb just over a year ago about her album Roadsides (“Music is the poetry of life,” Jan. 9, 2015), the Vancouver-based musician, who has called various places home, said she was still looking for her language here in the city. “I think this is an ongoing search,” she said when the JI caught up again with her about her two new releases. “I have a band here in Vancouver that I really love working with, though it has been a little while since we last had a gig. It features some of Vancouver’s most creative musicians – Aram Bajakian on guitar, Peggy Lee on cello, Dylan Van Der Schyff on drums and Meredith Bates on violin. Last spring, I composed a new song cycle, ‘12 Lunar Meditations,’ which they performed along with the Voice Over Mind Choir (led by D.B. Boyco) as part of the Western Front’s vocal festival. This was the first substantial piece of music I had composed since I moved here, and these musicians, Vancouver and the changes in my personal life, all blended into this composition.”

In addition to writing and performing her own material, Gottlieb forms part of the Mycale quartet, the group that recorded Gomory, part of John Zorn’s Masada project.

“John Zorn’s Masada project has been ongoing for over 25 years and has become a ‘cult’ project with a huge following worldwide,” explained Gottlieb. “These compositions all use the ‘Jewish scale,’ which gives them a klezmer-ish feel with a contemporary edge.

“In his second book of compositions for this project, The Book of Angels, Zorn commissioned different musicians to arrange and interpret his music. Among the musicians who participated in this Book of Angels series of recordings are guitarist Pat Metheny, trumpeter Dave Douglass, saxophonist Joe Lovano and many others. This is a magnificent list of artists for those of us who love jazz.”

And this is where Mycale comes in. Zorn formed the all-female a cappela quartet in 2009.

“We are Sofia Rei from Argentina, Malika Zarra from Morocco, Sara Serpa from Portugal (who joined the band in 2013 in place of Basya Schechter) and myself, from Israel,” said Gottlieb. “We all are band leaders and composers of our own individual projects and bring our musical styles into our arrangements of John Zorn’s music. We sing in Hebrew, Spanish, Portuguese, Arabic, Berber and French. John Zorn invited us to record two albums for this special series of recordings. The first was released in 2010 – Mycale: Book of Angels, Vol. 13 – and the latter was released in May of 2015, Gomory: Book of Angels, Vol. 25. We feel very honored to have been invited to participate in this incredible series, and especially to tour with Mr. Zorn globally as part of his Masada Marathon performances, which took us all over the world – Europe, Canada, U.S.A., Australia and South America.”

All of Zorn’s compositions in this work, added Gottlieb, are titled after angels and demons. “Gomory is a demon who disguises himself as a beautiful woman riding a camel,” she explained.

As for current and future projects, Gottlieb said, “My primary project right now is my family. My third little girl was born just one month ago, so we are all in search of a new rhythm to dance by. Other than that, I recently recorded a duo album (which is still in the works) with my longtime collaborator, pianist Anat Fort. I am hoping to keep performing and developing my new piece ‘12 Lunar Meditations,’ which, following the Vancouver debut, was performed in N.Y.C. last fall with some remarkable participants, including legendary jazz-vocalist Jay Clayton. I am working on some new collaborations here in Vancouver, which hopefully I’ll be able to share with you soon.”

In addition to the Feb. 20 concert at Performance Works, Gottlieb and Itzik will be giving a workshop at the Jewish Community Centre of Greater Vancouver (604-257-5111) on Feb 21, 2 p.m. Open to all, the cost to attend is $15 per person.

For more on Gottlieb and to purchase Shiv’a, Gomory or other of her recordings, visit ayeletrose.com.

Psychological thriller to play

Hannah Moscovitch (photo from Hannah Moscovitch)

Not one normally drawn to psychological thrillers, Little One intrigues me, in large part because its playwright, Hannah Moscovitch, has such an impressive track record. She has not only won multiple awards for her writing, but has done so while tackling an almost unbelievable breadth of heady topics, including, but not limited to gender politics, Stalinist Russia, the Holocaust, the Canadian military in Afghanistan, and the nature of time. In Moscovitch’s words, Little One “is an exploration of guilt, family, trauma and the limits of love.”

The synopsis for the play – which runs in New Westminster at Anvil Centre Theatre from Feb. 4-6 and in Vancouver at Firehall Arts Centre Feb. 9-13 – reads: “When 4-year-old Claire is adopted into the family, 6-year-old Aaron has to learn to ‘love’ his new monster of a sister. Told through the now-adult voices of its two main characters, Little One weaves stories of childhood horror and teenage humiliation into a twisted, wryly funny, and ultimately haunting narrative. One that asks how far you’d let a psychopath control your life, and what you’d do to regain it.”

photo - Daniel Arnold and Marisa Smith in Little One — Daniel Arnold and Marisa Smith in *Little One*. *(photo by Kaarina Venalainen)*

In a 2011 blog, Moscovitch pondered why she wrote Little One. In contemplating humor and darkness, she noted that the humor allows “the audience to relax and go with me into the darkness.”

In an email interview earlier this month with the Independent, Moscovitch expanded on this topic. “There is humor in life,” she said, “even in the bleakest circumstances (we know, for instance, from diaries written in the Warsaw Ghetto, that starving Jews, imprisoned there, being terrorized by Nazis, told jokes) and so I tend to want to include humor in my work in order to accurately represent life.

“I don’t know why I write about dark topics. They attract me. I also tend to write historical plays for some reason. I write a lot of works set in the 20th century. I can’t altogether explain my voice and my story instincts as a writer. My guess is, in dark circumstances, human nature is exposed, so I head to dark circumstances (war, disaster) to understand the human psyche.”

Now based in Toronto, Moscovitch was raised in Ottawa, which is where Little One is set. Given the complexity and emotional depth of her work, the Independent wondered what the dinner table conversation was like at home when she was growing up.

“My father is an economics and history professor (he teaches in the social work department at Carleton and his specialty is social policy) and my mother was a social worker and a researcher on women in unions and women in the workplace, so conversations growing up were on the serious side,” she explained. “Conversations were generally abstract, about ideas. Not much small talk.”

She seems very comfortable with having a play that ends with some questions unanswered.

“Clarity opens up one possibility in the minds of the audience. Ambiguity opens up two or more possibilities in the minds of the audience,” she explained. “It’s a sophisticated form of storytelling. Makes the story more complex.”

Moscovitch’s own story is relatively complex, and her path to writing a little winding. As high school came to a close, she auditioned for National Theatre School in Montreal, and then spent time in Israel on a kibbutz and in England when she wasn’t accepted. When she returned to Canada, she got into NTS, graduating from its acting program in 2001, though also being introduced there to playwriting. One of the plays she wrote as a student was workshopped by the Great Canadian Theatre Company in Ottawa.

Moving to Toronto, it only took her a few years to find her niche as a playwright. Her short play Essay premièred at the 2005 SummerWorks Festival; The Russian Play, in 2006, won the festival’s prize for best new production. Her first full-length play, East of Berlin, premièring at Tarragon Theatre in 2007, was nominated for a Governor General’s Award. And the rest, as the saying goes, is history. She has won multiple awards for her writing over the years, and her plays have been mounted in several different countries. She also writes for other media, including radio, TV and film.

In a 2014 article on kickasscanadians.ca, she said, “For me, there’s a big question about whether I want to be a Canadian playwright or an American TV writer.” Her answer so far is that she’s “a Canadian TV writer as well as playwright,” though she told the Independent, “My husband and I talk about moving to London or New York for a year, to meet new collaborators and immerse ourselves in a different theatre culture.”

In her work, she added, “I try to show Canada to Canadians. We see tons of work by Brits and Americans. Canadian audiences like to see themselves represented (is my sense).”

Other aspects that enter her plays derive from her cultural background, which is both Jewish (her father) and Catholic (her mother). She told the Jewish Daily Forward in 2013 that Judaism was the core of her identity and that she “write[s] a hell of a lot less Irish plays.” Since then, she told the JI, “I’ve written a play called What a Young Wife Ought to Know that draws on my Irish heritage! It’s set in a working-class Irish immigrant district of Ottawa in the 1920s.

Probably because I was immersed in my Jewish heritage growing up – including Hebrew school, temple, Jewish holidays, bat mitzvah, trips to the concentration camps in Poland and to Israel to work on a kibbutz – my Jewish side has always loomed larger in my imagination.”

She most identifies with Judaism’s traditions and holidays, “especially Passover and Shabbat. I’ve named my son Elijah. The oldness of our culture compels me, our 5,000-year history. I spent a lot of time reading about the Holocaust when I was younger and that’s influenced me profoundly.”

With such a talent in writing, it’s hard to believe that Moscovitch initially tried her hand at acting. “When I was younger,” she shared, “I wanted to be a lawyer or a librarian or a war journalist. I wrote poems and stories my whole childhood though. My mother tells me she knew I’d be a writer because I was always reading and writing growing up.”

As to her current projects, Moscovitch is as busy as ever.

“I have a première in Edmonton at U of A in March (The Kaufman Kabaret) and at the Stratford Festival in August (Bunny), I’m working on an opera with a Philadelphia-based composer named Lembit Beecher. Along with a number of collaborators, I’m co-adapting Fall On Your Knees by Ann-Marie MacDonald for the stage. I’m talking to a Japanese theatre company about writing a play about Hiroshima. I’m writing a project with Maev Beaty, Tova Smith and Ann-Marie Kerr about modern maternity (in development at the Theatre Centre). I’m talking to 2b theatre in Halifax about co-creating a project that would feature the lives of my Romanian great-grandparents, Chaim and Chaya (both of them arrived in Halifax when they immigrated to Canada).”

And dream projects? “There are a number of brilliant artists in Canada I’ve yet to work with,” she said. “I’m a big fan of Vancouver’s Electric Company!”

For tickets to Little One at Anvil Centre Theatre ($25/$15), visit ticketsnw.ca. For the Firehall Arts Centre performances ($23-$33), visit firehallartscentre.ca.

Painting beauty, meaning

Lori Goldberg in front of one of her paintings. (photo from Lori Goldberg)

Lori Goldberg is one of the artists whose work has been chosen to be part of a special project in aid of what will be Abbotsford’s first residential hospice facility, Holmberg House, set to open this year.

“The Reach Gallery and the Abbotsford Arts Council, in partnership with the Abbotsford Hospice Society, selected several artists for the project,” explained Goldberg to the Independent. “After the artworks are completed, the Reach will host an event where donors will bid on them. The proceeds will be split between the Abbotsford Hospice Society, the Reach Gallery and the Abbotsford Arts Council. Some of the works will be placed in Holmberg House. Others will be used to cover medical equipment.”

The artists only receive a small honorarium for their work, which is due at the end of January. But payment comes in other forms. “I like the challenge of creating an uplifting and soulful work that would give the viewer peace and joy,” said Goldberg, who is coming off a fall 2015 solo show at the Zack Gallery called Urban Forest.

The forest theme, intertwined with the “true Canadian” theme, has been filling her canvases for the last several years.

“In the past, my art often involved objects,” Goldberg said. “I was a single mom with two growing sons and I realized recently that the objects and still life in my art meant me being domestic. The objects were all around me, part of my family life, and each object had a story to tell about their owners and the relationships between things and people. An object could be spiritual or mundane, and the stories could change with use.

“But, as my sons grew, I could expand myself. Before, most of my buyers were women. Now, I could reach further with my imagery. I traveled and I taught a lot, and the more I traveled, the more I realized how important my home was: Vancouver, Canada. I started exploring the theme of being Canadian in my art.”

One of the symbols of Canada in Goldberg’s eyes is a canoe. “Visually, the canoe represents something significant. Canoes took explorers across Canada.”

Red canoes float and bob on the water across Goldberg’s paintings. Some of them are big, others small, but all of them are empty. “A canoe is a vessel, and I make it empty on purpose. Everyone looking at my paintings can imagine themselves in the canoe. It is there for them. I did a lot of kayaking in my life, and the experience is similar. You’re on the water, paddling, and there is a landscape unfolding, sometimes peaceful, sometimes dangerous. There is a relationship between the persons in the boats and the landscape. There is a home there.”

For Goldberg, the color of the canoes – red – also represents Canada. “Like on our flag,” she said. “There are people who enjoy boating and water, and they like and buy these paintings. I have some new commissions of the canoes.”

Goldberg loves working on commissions. “I’m good with commissions. People who order them usually know my work, but we always discuss what size of the painting they need, if they want some specific colors, or if they have a story to tell. Maybe they have a cabin on a lake, and then I do research, make lots of sketches, and try to incorporate their familiar landscape details into the painting.”

More often than not, Goldberg’s canoes sail past wild, forested shores, shimmering with green leaves and filtered sunlight. “I like a punch of bright red inside the green,” the artist mused.

Forests, especially Canadian urban forests, have become another important theme in her art. “The forest is so close in Vancouver, just behind your windows. The city is all concrete, but when you step inside a forest, you shed the city, all its artificial neon colors, all the metal and plastic. It all peels off. You become part of nature, but you also become more exposed, more vulnerable, you feel alive. Nature inspires you, but it can also be dangerous, full of beasts and unknown perils. It’s beautiful and uplifting but also powerful. You have to respect it.”

The juxtaposition of the wilderness and the city, our cultural icons among the tangle of branches is a recurring motif in Goldberg’s forests. You could see a deer peeking from behind a tree, or people lugging their suitcases along the woodsy paths. “We all bring our luggage to the forest,” she said. “A forest is as much a metaphor of human lives as it is a real place. There is light and there are shadows there. Our cities are encroaching on the forest, but we need to become caregivers. In my small way, I do what I can, so we can find harmony with nature.”

The theme of urban Canadian forests resonates with many in Canada, and more and more people have become interested in Goldberg’s work. A few months ago, she and her paintings of canoes and forests were profiled in the magazines MontrealHOME, VancouverHOME and TorontoHOME.

More information can be found on the artist’s website, lorigoldberg.ca.

Olga Livshin is a Vancouver freelance writer. She can be reached at [email protected].