Since CBC SongQuest seems to have not allowed a vote for the DTES particularly, it seems, by the Grace of God, that Matthew Good had already taken up the charge of producing music relevant to the struggles of Canada’s poorest. Greater Vancouver is a place of the greatest wealth disparity if you look at it like this: Canada’s richest postal code (West Vancouver)1 is only about 6 kilometers away from the poorest postal code (DTES)2.
Embeded Video for Promotional Use Only
Found in the “vancouverisawesome” Flikr photo-pool, from Jen-Gibson.
I had previously posted this photo, which I think beautifully captured the diversity of age and culture in the DTES. The format of the Hope in the Shadows website changed slightly and caused the previous link to become inactive, so I here blog it again… there’s a link to more of the Hope in the Shadows photo contest in the orig. “Who” post.
Perhaps a purporting of potential players
could capture the colour
of DTES donations
to inspirations, inciting
perspirations, primarily when listened to,
perhaps inciting a big boo-hoo,
a lament, or a vent, catharsis, release,
eventually contemplating of the great peace… perhaps:
Wu-Tang would walk the walk, while wrapping up raps in fortuitous funk, telling of DTES rapport that exists between the streets-life and the cops.
Bob Dylan could contemplate the chat around modern hobo-jungles and the city-park politics.
Tom Waits could navigate the space between the gutter and crack-den; the street-level poet, all too familiar… musician and denizen.
Rachmaninov unknowingly was composing for DTES tribulations, perhaps Stravinsky as well knew a similar situation.
Skinny Puppy vibes on the heightened heart-rate brought on walking through the neighbourhood at night.
Miles Davis and John Coltrane, and some of the other jazz greats could characterize the chaos and constancy, some of the underlying rhythms that are aching to be expressed.
The Downtown Eastside of Vancouver is a community. Insofar as community is filled with vibrant people pulling in every-which-direction who then reconvene, it is a community. Regular happenings include street-level activism, interfaith prayer circles, food/festival events, workshops, tours, arts initiatives, concerts, street art, and art shows. There is a paper, “The Carnegie Newsletter,” which is born out of a very active City of Vancouver community centre, at the very corner where Main Street and East Hastings Street meet. Like much of Vancouver, it is multicultural, multi-faith and home to people of many ages, states of health, and states of mind.
It is a place where people live.
What is different about the DTES?
People smoke crack and shoot heroin around the corner from the police station, sometimes at bus-stops on main streets. Some people from business-Vancouver stop by on their way to an office job to shoot heroin as well. It is common to see people in shaky stupors in the middle of the sidewalk, people stooped searching pebbled patches for a fallen crack-rock, appropriated sidewalk-space and park-space for hanging out or for vending of vendibles reclaimed from dumpsters or claimed from others’ property, parades of mishmash bikes, strollers, shopping carts, and carryalls.
See Photos from the Excellent DTES Photo-Contest
Part of the problem with presenting this blog as a source of edification is that the music should be what is speaking… so, this is like the research before the report. The report shall be the music, which I hope shall speak with more universality that what is blogged here.
The Downtown Eastside is not a simple place to label and understand, but there are a lot of cut-and-dried issues such as violence and abuse, human trafficking, and on. Please do not jump to conclusions.
There are many strong points about the community, such as the amount of advocacy and charity that take place, and the sense of community and sharing. There are also many sad things about the community and those who are at least partially responsible for the current state of the community; the scourge of addiction, dissolution, abandonment, and loss of dignity are all sad realities that pass through the community as thieves.
Interview 1
Interview 2
Interview 3
Homelessness Action Rally
Greetings!
This blog is a rally-cry for music birthed out of the Downtown Eastside (DTES) of Vancouver.
Many musicians would suit the place, in my opinion, from Bob Dylan to Wu-Tang… but the feeling that is present around the DTES is deserving of a musical outlet.
