Duane Storey and I were supporting the Union Gospel Mission, due to their excellent work in the downtown eastside and around Metro Vancouver. Upon hearing of this effort and cause, Matthew Good offered up a once-in-a-lifetime prize.

Here’s what you will win:
- The opportunity to hang out with Canadian singer/songwriter Matthew Good at an exclusive private meetup

- A listening session of the demos for the next record, Vancouver
Demos include: 1. The Vancouver National Anthem, 2. The Boy Who Could Explode, 3. Us Remains Impossible, 4. On Nights Like Tonight, 5. Volcanoes, 6. A Silent Army In The Trees, 7. Fought To Fight It, 8. Empty’s Theme Park

How to enter: Be the highest bidder on Miss604.com. The winner will then donate said bid to the Union Gospel Mission and will be one of the first people to hear the new album in this intimate setting.

Photo credit: Dan Lilly on Flickr

Bourdon, 21, was killed in a motorcycle accident near Shipagan, N.B., Montreal’s CKAC Radio reported. The accident occurred around 12:30 p.m. local time (8:30 a.m. PDT)… …Bourdon was the Canucks’ first-round draft choice in 2005, and played 27 games the following season. [The Province]

More information is available on Canucks and Beyond, including confirmed reports and updates. Our thoughts go out to Luc’s family.

[Hat tip: John Bollwitt for the heads up on this.]

The patriarch of the family was Frank Griffths who was a media mogul in BC being associated with and acquiring radio and TV stations around Vancouver over several decades. In 1974 he bought the Vancouver Canucks, which the family held on to dearly until 1997. After being inducted into the BC Hockey Hall of Fame in 1992, Frank Griffiths passed away during the 1994 hockey season. In his honor, the Canucks wore patches on their jerseys for the remainder of the season, “2Pts FG” which meant “two points for Frank Griffiths,” a term he liked to use instead of calling a win.

Photo Credit: squeakymarmot on Flickr

Frank’s son Arthur was involved with the team since 1988 and financed GM Place in 1995, moving the team from the Pacific Coliseum to its new home. He eventually sold the team in 1996 but remained involved in Vancouver’s business and sporting scene, being a supporter of an Olympic bid for years.

Tomorrow it is reported that Arthur will announce he’ll be running as a candidate for the BC Liberal Party.

Griffiths is expected to run in the newly created Vancouver West End Riding. The official announcement is set for Tuesday morning in the West End of Vancouver. [News1130]

Although deals made throughout the years may not have been crowd favourites, and our NBA team failed miserably, I still like to share stories about families that helped build business and hockey dreams in this city. Hopefully anyone now driving down near GM Place or BC Place will note Griffiths Way and know of its significance.

Photo Credit: SqueakyMarmot on Flickr

This morning while listening to the lovely Jeff O’Neil radio program on CFOX they mentioned an article on MSN.com featuring the top 15 worst tourist traps in the world. Here are the top (worst) places in North America from that list:

1. San Francisco: Fisherman’s Wharf
2. Chicago: Sears Tower
3. Washington, D.C.: International Spy Museum
4. Las Vegas: Shark Reef at Mandalay Bay
5. New York City: Times Square
6. Seattle: Experience Music Project
7. Boston: Faneuil Hall Marketplace
8. Los Angeles: Hollywood
9. Orlando: Animal Kingdom
10. Chicago: Navy Pier
11. Las Vegas: Stratosphere Tower

Another quick Google search lead me to CNN’s list compiled last summer of the most “disappointing sites” around the world:

1. The Eiffel Tower, Paris
2. The Louvre, Paris
3. Times Square, New York
4. Las Ramblas, Barcelona
5. Statue of Liberty, New York
6. Spanish Steps, Rome
7. The White House, Washington DC
8. The Pyramids, Egypt
9. The Brandenburg Gate, Berlin
10. The Leaning Tower of Pisa.

Let’s say there was a “top ten worst tourist traps” for Vancouver, which would you pick? I already stated one of my preferences for such a title in the first paragraph but I’m certain there are others.

It appears that this is a part of “Where on Earth is Waldo“:

For my graduating project at the Emily Carr Institute of Art Design and Media, I am creating a Google Earth Wheres Waldo inspired game. Players will be given the hint that Waldo is hiding somewhere in Vancouver and he can only be seen via Google Earth. In order to do this, a giant Waldo painting is being constructed and placed on a rooftop! The project will be exhibited at the Emily Carr Graduation Exhibit 08 opening May 3, 2008. [Where on Earth is Waldo]

So… any guesses as to where Waldo is lying?

When crews demolished and tore up the south end of Davie street they left a freestanding brick structure, which they worked around for two years [a thumbnail photo can be viewed here]. The part of the future Roundhouse Canada Line Station contained a small elevator lobby that lead down to the Easy Park below but other than that, the structure (about 2 storeys high) was kept intact throughout the entire construction process.

Last week with incessant jackhammering that still rang through my ears when I got home from work at night, they structure was demolished. I assume part of it is because they wanted to maintain elevator access throughout the project, but as I’ve caught several passery-by note, “why did they save it for so long, just to tear it down in the end?”. Each day someone from my office asks the same question – perhaps someone out there has an answer.

On a related note, does anyone know if there are any available artist renditions/mock ups of the new Canada Line stations available online? I’ve only found this one so far but I wonder if the brick structure was included in the one for the Roundhouse… hmmm….

Update: Thanks to Karen I found the following for the Roundhouse Station:

If you ordered the game on March 17th when Shaw had the outage in the 3rd period, you will be getting a refund. I got my bill last night (which should have included that day) but apparently they’re applying the credit on the billing cycle that starts March 24th [ms604].

Shaw says they had a hardware failure that kept the cable feed from going out, while their StarChoice satellite feed continued with no problems… …Disappointed fans will get refunds, worth almost $200,000 dollars to Shaw. [News1130]

Photo: Miss604 on Flickr

Hopefully next year Shaw and CanucksTV will reevaluate their offering because for $12.95 x 16 games the fans should be getting a little more out of their coverage – including uptime.

With only two games left in the regular season, pay per view might not be the only thing that’s done for the season, I know (although we’re gonna make it, I just know it – and you’re all welcome on the bandwagon with me!) But for those of you ready to watch a nail drive into the coffin, here’s some “humour” from the Hockey News.

Top Ten Excuses for the Canucks:

10. We haven’t been the same since losing all-star Rory Fitzpatrick.
9. 21st in the NHL in offense would be OK if the league had 90 teams.
8. Just not enough confidence in Curtis Sanford to start him in that key March 28 game in Minnesota.
7. Markus Naslund and Brendan Morrison just can’t bring it on like the good old days.
6. Nashville wasn’t supposed to be this good – 88 points should have been enough.
5. We wanted Mats Sundin, but he doesn’t like the rain.
4. Maybe summer acquisition Ryan Shannon wasn’t the answer offensively after all.
3. The hockey gods just won’t let the Todd Bertuzzi curse go.
2. Goal-less Jeff Cowan didn’t go on the six-goal in four-game binge like he did last year.
1. Golf courses in greater Vancouver are far too inviting this time of year.

I found this via Alanah at Canucks and Beyond and hey, I just decided to share – these opinions in no way reflect my own or those of Metroblogging Vancouver.

Vancouver’s lads and lassies have until Sunday to press their kilts and dust off their sporans for the city’s first official Tartan Day. Council will declare today that Vancouver is joining a long list of cities around the world that celebrate their Scottish roots on April 6. [The Province]

Photo Credit: Roland Tanglao on Flickr

The Tartan Day campaign is being spearheaded by Todd Wong who is responsible for the local and inter-cultural Gung Haggis Fat Choy dinners. GHFC has been taking place for the last 10 years and it brings together the Chinese New Year and Robbie Burns Day.

I’m not sure I own anything tartan (do some funky argyle socks count?), and I have a sneaking suspicion it may turn into “dress like a naught school girl day”, but I think Vancouverites will embrace this new tradition in the making.

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Photo Credit: Paul Hillsdon on Flickr

PS – It feels wonderful to compose my first post on WordPress-powered Metroblogging.

On February 9th and 10th (this weekend) you have your chance to audition for the judges at Metropolis at Metrotown. Here are some of the basic rules on game day:

3. There is no 8 a.m. cut-off: people hoping to audition can arrive ANY TIME between 8 a.m. and 4 p.m. on the day(s) of auditions. In most cities, you can choose to come on either the first or second day of auditions. You do NOT need to line up overnight, just show up between 8 a.m. and 4 p.m. on the day of auditions.

5. Venues open at 6 a.m. on the day of auditions. Participants arriving before this time will be turned away by security. If you have subscribed to the Canadian Idol newsletter at idol.ctv.ca, you may be notified by e-mail about a change in the opening time.

9. You must be a Canadian Citizen or Landed Immigrant – NO STUDENT VISAS.

14. DRESS TO IMPRESS but please, BE YOURSELF and let your personality shine! If you want to be on TV, do NOT wear clothes with visible logos, trademarks or offensive language. (Although if you want to wear a Miss604 Metroblogging shirt, just let me know).
[Read more @ Idol Audition Rules]

If you don’t make it as the top dog on Canada’s search for the next great pop star then you could always become a part of a pre-fab pop rock band like Hedley. I’m just sayin’…