And The Winner Is....

WE ARE THE CITY!

My favourite part of watching WATC win $150,000, was watching their girlfriends freak out...and then seeing the boys in shock on stage.

The three of them are so genuinely nice, and insanely talented, that you couldn't help but smile the entire time.

Oh yah...Bend Sinister picked up $50K, The Left got $75K and there was a giant concert that happened too:
(To see all of the photos, go here: www.mcavoy.ca/peakfinale )

Vancouver IS Awesome...The Launch of SCENE & HEARD

So I just wrote about how I'm now a contributor to Vancouver Is Awesome...apparently I'm also (kind of) a writer now too.

I've been appointed organizer/do-er of a new series for the website called Scene & Heard...where the local indie music artists interview each other...The first post of the series is of my good friends Nat Jay and Adaline, who were kind enough to be my guinea pigs! But I wont go into it, because you can read it right here: www.vancouverisawesome.com/2009/10/27/scene-and-heard-nat-jay-adaline

Guestlists!

Yesterday I was on two guestlists...I felt special.

First stop of the day (yes, day. 1pm in the afternoon on a Tuesday) I went to the Vancouver Magazine 20th Annual Restaurant Awards.
I have to say...it was amazing.

I took a few photos with my G9, but I was very content to not have to work and actually enjoy myself and schmooze.
Here is one of the most incredible desserts I've ever seen/eaten:

It is a tiramisu shooter...with a birds nest of spun sugar. So good.

Next stop (after managing to give myself an awful blister) was to the Media Club for a sold out show that Nat Jay was opening. I even got two special badges/stickers saying I was her photographer.
Nat was great as always and played her "gutsy" set-list and the crowd was excellent.
Here are a few shots:

And Like A Ghost, I'll Be Gone...

Nat Jay: "What are your plans for tomorrow night?"
Me: "Nothing, why?"
Nat: "We're going to Beyonce."
Me: "Okay."

I was more excited then that (in fact I did a little "Single Ladies" dance for her).
Yay connections!

So my first trip to GM Place was NOT for a hockey game, but to see Sasha Fierce herself.
First thoughts still landed on hockey though:
-Why is there only one size beer.
-I love sippy cup lids.
-Where is the out of town scoreboard?
-This makes me miss the ACC so much!

I went into the show with NO expectations, not owning any Beyonce albums (but knowing several songs, and of course growing up with Destiny's Child) and she actually blew me away.

The highlight for me was her all female band. I mean... 2 drum kits and percussion, 2 keyboardist, guitar, bass, backup singers, and a HORN SECTION!
I was in love.

Anyways. I approve.
Here are the photos:
www.mcavoy.ca/beyonce


PS. I managed to find a tv with the scored on it. Damn you Montreal. Damn you.

The After After After Party...

So Junofest weekend had to end sometime...and it went out with...a bang!

After a mini photoshoot in my front hall with the dolled up Nat Jay and her Juno dress, a few friends (including Sarah Sears! visiting from Toronto) and I attended the Fashion vs. Rock - David Suzuki Foundation Junofest/Fashion Week After Party. There was as much going on at the party as there is in it's name!

After about an hour outside in the cold (while security tried to figure out what they were doing) we headed into Storeyum on West Cordova in Gastown. I did a quick wander around to see what was going on...

The VIP Room (behind me in this photo are large windows into the main room. Later in the night there were tons of girls with their faces pressed against it looking in...):

Ed Robertson being interview:

George intro-ing David Suzuki:
David Suzuki talking about "Kevin" (referring to K-OS!):

An awesome painting that I would love to have, haha:


These are the extent of the photos that I took that night as I was highly distracted with the party. There were some very fun people there, including Brendan Canning from Broken Social Scene (he DJ'd in the back room)(we shared a "It's really hot in here" moment). K-OS played DJ in the main dance room (he smiled at me when we passed each other once). I ran into my friend Jean-Paul Maurice from the band Maurice and said hello! and Parker Bossley of Hot Hot Heat (the one who gave me the beer on Thursday) recognized me and broke my eardrum screaming "CHRISTINE!" into my ear and gave me a very wet kiss on the cheek.

The big news (I'm not too obsessed so it was mostly big news for everyone else) was when I was sitting on the couch in the VIP area nursing my tired feet/heels. I looked up to my right and standing beside me is none other than Robert Pattinson of Twilight fame (in MY mind he's Cedric Diggory first, vampire second). I smiled, waved and said "hi". He said "hi" back and I stuck out my hand told him my name and said it was nice to meet him.
I also told him that he met my friend Shawna last night but I don't think he could hear what I was trying to explain so I just smiled and let him sit on the couch.

The girls started freaking out in the main room, staring in the windows and everyone tried to rush into the VIP section, which got too crowded for me so I left and found the wonderful Vanessa Heins. We wandered back in the room shortly after, sitting on the same couch as some more of the Twilight cast and the very talented Sam Bradley.

After that story, I don't know what is left to say about the weekend except that my internal clock is still set to party-time and I'm having trouble falling asleep before 3am and am still waking up at 8am. At least I'm getting sleepy work done.

Thanks Junos! Come back soon.
-Christine

Junofest: Day Three...

Christine McAvoy: Photos For Our Fathers.


Day Three: Saturday March 28th.
Start Time: 1:00pm
End Time: 2:30am
Locations: The Middle of The Street, The Cellar, Nat Jay's Love Shack


RUN DOWN:

So the day starts of with the wonderful Nat Jay, playing on Granville St.
It was exceptionally cold to stand outside that day, and as I thought I would be in the "LONG ASS TENT" I did not dress appropriately.
Nat was wonderful and was backed up by her Borrowed Band. Peter Carruthers, the bassist for Said The Whale was pulling triple duty, playing with STW, Nat AND Dan Mangan. Five shows in total during the weekend. So when his father came up to me with his business card asking if I could send photos of his son "if I had some", I laughed.

Once Nat successfully put Love When I Can into my head for the entire day, I went to warm up with friends before the evening concerts.

Hannah Georgas was on first at The Cellar (which is def. a club)...and was brilliant as always and made me want to slow dance when she sang The National.
Nat Jay vol. 2 was right after Hannah and I enjoyed the set as much as I did earlier in the day. I think her pants were the finishing touch...

Seconds after Nat finished the Cellar returned into club-i-ness...which was kinda irritating, but when a DJ starts the set with the Flight Of The Conchords theme music, you can't help but smile. (Plus this introduced me to a song called "I'm In Miami Bitch", which unfortunately replaced Nay Jay on repeat in my head).

Nat and I decided that the Media Club would be a zoo and we couldn't see Hey Ocean...so bagels were in order and went to her casa to chill before finding out what was going on. Upon a lack of text messages and realizing that everything was almost done anyways, bagels and relaxing was where it was at.

Refuel for party night...

CLICK HERE TO SEE THE PHOTOS: www.mcavoy.ca/junofest - Day Three

Three Hours with The Prettiest Face In Town

A good friend (Nat Jay) and three new friends (adaline, Adrian Glynn and Cory Woodward) have combined themselves to form The Prettiest Face In Town.

This is how they describe the band: In an exciting alliance, four of the West Coast’s top emerging singer/songwriters combine forces to provide the audience with a magically collaborative experience. Individually, Nat Jay, Cory Woodward, Adaline and Adrian Glynn have engaged listeners around the world with their recently released albums. Together, The Prettiest Face In Town will win over music fans at Folk Festivals across Canada in 2009.

They had a concert at the Media Club on the 7th, and I have to say, it was the best Sunday Night I've had in a long time. The put out couches and pillows and blankets to sit on the floor, decked out the stage with moody lights and lamps, and had the crowd laughing, clapping and giving standing ovations. I am very excited that I will be shooting their promo photos soon.

In the meantime, you can check out the photos from the evening here:
http://www.mcavoy.ca/prettiestface

Lights Across The Stage/Nat Jay CD Release/The Media Club vol. 2

I proudly arrived at the Media Club for the 2nd night in a row, 300 buttons in hand, and with my name atop the list of guests (how special did I feel?!) My wonderful friend Nat Jay had the release party for her new CD Lights Across The Sky and there was a great turnout! Nat played with a band live for the first time and it sounded amazing (esp. with Tom and Peter from what used to be Lotus Child[a band I miss dearly] performing in the band!) I also have a few photos of James Lamb performing, which was great as usual!