mecca d.i.y.

There is an excellent article in Saturday's Globe and Mail by Fiona Morrow about the dearth of performance venues in dear Vancouver, a fact that was underscored for me when the evening found me at a here-unnamed work/live/art space/performance venue in the city's DTES, near the Sugar Refinery (the factory, not the long-dead performance space) listening to the anarchist and political poetry of Ron Sakolsky and Dr. Afua Cooper, the experimental jazz of Jonathon Wilcke and Dave Chokroun, and the good rockin' of stalwart d.i.y. scene veterans Mecca Normal. Jean Smith and David Lester are about to tour their art exhibit, lecture and performance event "How Art and Music Can Change the World," parts of which were performed at the Vinegar Factory (ok, I named it) this Saturday evening.

I feel like the themes of art + music vs. social change are becoming ever more relevant in these times of economic upheaval. Traditional media is tanking, art budgets have been slashed, and we all know people affected by the downturn. Let's get downsized!

Jean Smith and David Lester performed their particularly well-honed brand of underground agit-rock and spoke with passion and conviction about how art and music can change the world. It still has to be good art, mind you, not just polemic, and Mecca Normal delivers on that front as well. They rock, they wail, Lester strums at his guitar with a paintbrush and Smith runs into the audience belting her peculiarly sharp alto voice. They remind us, in the lecture portion of their presentation, that "in other cultures and societies, culture is used as a way to propel social change, as opposed to a way to make fame and money and to be liked."

This might be a thing to consider this Juno weekend. Which is not a veiled comment towards the Juno artists at all (well not all of them), it's just a thing to keep in mind. Not to get all sucky, but isn't it better to work together to improve things for our artists and musicians? Wait, you're already reading this blog, I'm preaching to the choir, aren't I?

"Those in power fear artists," they said, and, "smaller scale activities can instigate and fortify other activities within a community."

Which, at the end of the day in this geographically vast country, is all we are. A series of communities, hopefully working to fortify each other. Play on!