The Secret to Being a Great Musician Kevin Olafsson, a master teacher of Japanese tradiational Koto and Shamisen music, revealed how cross-cultural experience was a great foundation to expand his art and to deepen his understanding of musical masterworks and tradition.  Being a native Japanese, I was not only blown away by his Japanese-like demeanor but also by his great soulful sounds. My hats off to him! ~ Editor-in-Chief About Kevin In 1988, Kevin left Canada for Japan and began koto and shamisen lessons as a member of the Souchiku Kai, a school under the direction of Takemura Aiyako.  In 2000, he left Tokyo for Honolulu to begin graduate studies in ethnomusicology at the University of Hawaii at Manoa. His research focused on the Iemoto Seido.  He was a Graduate Assistant in the University of Hawaii Music Department and taught the shamisen portion of the Koto Ensemble class.  He has been heard on Hawaii radio as a guest on Barbi Wong World Notes, and the late Glen Grant Japanese Ghost Stories as well as on TV KHON morning show.  He regularly taught and performed both koto and shamisen and guest lectured at the UH music department. Kevin is especially proud of the University Laboratory School Japanese music ensemble, which he founded in co-operation with the Kimono Culture Class.  Most recently he has performed in Vancouver for the Japan Canada Relief Fund and conducted a lecture workshop at Quest University. Photograph by Noriko Nasu BONUS!! Come Meet Kevin and Try His KOTO Workshop! Recommended for all ages! When: May 20, 2012, Sunday, 2pm-4pm Where: Kerrisdale Community Centre For Registration:  https://pbregister.vancouver.ca/adet.sdi?activity_id=354719   Complimentary coffee is donated by Bean Around The World...

Photographed by Rosanna Goncalves...

An Interview with Lori Wotherspoon BY Keiko Honda, Editor-in-Chief Videotaped by Rosanna Goncalvas   Visit: KJM Country...

Oliver Samonte “Dr. Recycle and the Art of Recycling” Interviewed and Written by Trina Moran Innovative, creative, and environmentally friendly, Dr. Recycle exhibits a pioneering way of educating the importance of recycling in a creative and interactive environment. With his self-invented ‘junkology’ anything is possible. From crocodiles to venus fly traps, Dr. Recycle can transform ordinary recyclable containers into charming works of art and children’s toys. Dr. Recycle’s workshops are filled with creative and amusing toys and projects that are age appropriate for pre-school children to grade 12 students. Dr. Recycle’s projects have been used by the GVRD for their educational programs for over the last ten years. In addition, a series of books have been published and a board game has also been developed all in the theme of recycling. Dr. Recycle, Oliver Samonte, hails from the Philippines where he learned the art of ‘creative recycling’ as a child. After studying electrical engineering at the Mapua Institute of Technology, he immigrated to Canada in 1991. He later enrolled in the Self-Employment program at Douglas College to take on a new career path after developing many of the recycled creations featured in his workshops as well as earning his nickname ‘Dr. Recycle’. Oliver also teaches Sunday school at the Bible Missionary Church in Surrey. When asked why recycling is important to him, Oliver remarks that it ‘makes sense that everything can be [recycled]’ and that these choices and decisions that we make at home impacts the world as a whole. Oliver developed and based his recycle program around children as he feels that they are more understanding and accepting of these global notions: they can see and understand the importance of it, how it impacts them both in the present and the future, what previous...

An Interview with Mark Perry by Trina Moran     When you walk into Kerrisdale Lumber on West Boulevard and West 46th Avenue, you right away get caught up in its bustling atmosphere: exquisite garden ornaments, hanging fire places, BBQs, and cheerful employees who are delightful to talk to and eager to show you how one of their many intricate home furnishings work. I stumbled upon a decorative fireplace that emitted smoke. Did I mention it hangs on a wall? It hangs on a wall.   Overall, the store itself is an extraordinary home hardware store that has everything and anything you would possibly need to furnish, fix, re-decorate, re-model your home, or accentuate, your backyard, or garden. Amidst the liveliness of the store, is Mark Perry. Mark is the current President of Kerrisdale Lumber which his grandfather, Bert Perry, founded in 1921. Rich in history, pertaining to both Kerrisdale and Vancouver, Kerrisdale Lumber’s mandate is to provide the ultimate home hardware shopping experience; able to cater your home’s each and every need over time.   Kerrisdale Lumber was founded in 1921 by Bert Perry who started the business with a horse and wagon after migrating from England after World War I. Sidewalks and just about everything at that time were made of wood and was what allowed Bert’s business to thrive in the beginning. In the 1920’s, Bert did not restrict Kerrisdale Lumber to only Kerrisdale (part of the Municipality of Point Grey at the time). He had his eye on expanding the business and making a name for the company and sought business wherever he could. Much of the original wooden streets of Vancouver were built out of the pine supplied by Kerrisdale Lumber and contracted by Bert Perry. The story behind the wooden streets...

  Written and Photographed by Fitnat Fahrner   Markus Fahrner is a freelance Graphic Designer, writer, photographer and Book Artist. His passion for books and eye for all things design has been a lifelong love affair. He has been a fixture at the Frankfurt Book Fair (Frankfurt/Main Germany) since he was 9 years old and the London Book Fair (UK) since adulthood. Now that he is Vancouver based; the Codex Book Fair in San Francisco is one of the new arena’s for his work. A self professed ‘Mac Geek’ and letter press enthusiast Markus loves to share his enthusiasm for the arts with like minded individuals. Here is what he has to say about his craft: “I love the challenges and variety of graphic design. Typography is one of my favorite subjects. It has been a special honor to design the Alcuin Society Canadian Book Design Awards for the past two years. I am delighted to layout the catalogue again this year. The catalogues have been well received and have gained high praise from the public and industry alike.When not working on design projects I produce artist books for my own book art company called Fahrner & Fahrner. We specialize in limited edition books and individual graphic posters. Fahrner & Fahrner books have been acquired by the Library of Congress, Wash. DC, Victoria & Albert Museum, London, Meermanno Museum Den Haag and the Klingspor Museum, Offenbach to mention just a few. It was fun and a privilege to give a lecture about Fahrner&Fahrner at the Berkeley Museum of Art during the CODEX Book Fair. ”My goal is to bring excellent typography and innovative, fresh design to all my projects. I enjoy providing my clients with professional advice ranging from layout, paper, printing and publishing...

“Old Modern” In January of this year 2012, Gerry was show-cased in the initial launching of the E-Gallery section of the Kerrisdale Playbook Web-site displaying some of his completed etching artwork pieces.  Hopefully the E-Gallery did attract more than a few viewers and created some interest in etching artworks other than the more known artworks like, pencil / colored pastel sketches and colored oil / acrylic paintings.  Subsequent to Gerry’s January show-case on the E-Gallery, Our Kerrisdale Playbook Web-site has discovered that Gerry had another interesting past-time childhood passion with building model airplanes and exotic cars.  Gerry having an artistic creative side for the arts is also blessed with a very creative technical side, where building hobby model planes and cars was something he loved doing during his early teens.  Gerry has agreed to show-case in the E-Gallery two hobby models he has completed as an adult quite sometime ago.  The first hobby model kit is a 5-channel radio-controlled,  gas-motored, 6.5 lb. helicopter with a main rotor-blade of 36″ diameter span, which Gerry purchased in (1987)  and took over 2 two years to build.  The second hobby model kit is a 1:8 scale, Spider Touring Gran Sport (1932) Alfa Romeo Car (made up of over 2500-plus total connecting nuts, bolts, wires, car parts in different materials of special high resistance plastics, brass, stainless steel, iron, copper, rubber and leather).  Gerry purchase the hobby model car kit in (1975) at a hobby shop at Cambie & 41st Avenue and took over 1-1/2 years to build.  Both the completed helicopter and car show-cased on the E-Gallery are very complex, but interestingly, in particular the Alfa Romeo Car kit was designed in Italy and mass-produced into hobbist model kits at least 50 ++ years ago by hand...

Patricia Martinez   By Coco Bikadoroff Patricia Martinez taught Spanish in her home town in Mexico. She began teaching in Vancouver in 1997 and has since taught out of her Kerrisdale village office since 2000. She came upon her Kerrisdale location while she was pregnant with her first child and shopping for baby clothes! There was an infant store in an old office building on 41st called ‘Small Peas’ which she went to and found that the woman there was moving.  She grabbed the opportunity to rent the office and she is still there today. Patricia is a lovely, vibrant woman with a flare for life! She always has a smile to give. She loves being a part of the close knit community of the Kerrisdale village and how all the merchants and regulars know each other. She also loves that she can walk down the street and recognize her students from as far back as 12 years. She shares the space with other teachers, when there wasn’t enough room for all the classes, she would sometimes teach in the coffee shop (Legato) and also at the jungle cafe which the only Mexican restaurant in the village. She used to advertise in Georgia straight before the internet, but she likes the community concept of advertising better.  Along with her partner Nora, they would participate in the Kerrisdale carnival days by creating a huge rainbow balloon and raffle off free lessons. Patricia’s students range from 4-80 years old. She loves teaching and can’t see herself changing careers. Her biggest influence in her life came from her father who was her social science teacher in high school. Her Grandmother and Great Aunt were also teachers. You can tell she has had a loving bond with her family...

Interviewed and written by Queenie Lee Dylan Cramer has been teaching saxophone in Kerrisdale Community Centre for 19 years. He is also a recording artist who has received worldwide acclaim. What is the key for his success? It is his talent, but also his “honesty” with his students and “passion” for his job. Dylan’s success did not come easily. He had gone through difficult times when he was young. The death of his father when he was 13 was the reason he started connecting to his saxophone. “It was a way to escape.” Dylan recalled. However, his way of escape brought him two of the most influential people in his life. He went to LA to study with Sonny Criss who became like a second father to Dylan. “It was like finding my father again.” Dylan described. But heartbreakingly, his second father left him just like his biological father. They both committed suicides.  With his days filled with grief, Phil Sobel was the one who put Dylan back together. “Every death brought in a birth” Dylan told me. Yes, the death of his father gave birth to his passion for saxophone and his attachment with his second father Sonny and the death of Sonny brought in the birth of his other mentor Phil Sobel. “I am very fortunate. Some people never bump into anybody meaningful in their life.” Dylan said. Success never came easily. The success Dylan has today is credited to his hard work and talent, but to him, it is credited to all the meaningful people in his life. The influence his two mentors had on him transfers to how he sees his music career and education today. Being a teacher is not a job for Dylan Cramer. He specifically said to me “it’s...

“My Wishes and Dreams” by Grade One French Immersion Students (Teacher Madame K) at Kerrisdale Elementary Our children are born natural artists!  All pictures are amazing, different and reflect our children’s vision of the world and future. Education is about helping children who are capable of self-reflection and self-expression! Bravo! Our teachers and children! ‘Whatever you can dream, begin to do it. Boldness has the power and magic in it.’ Goethe...

Jack Parasiuk By COCO BIKADOROFF Photographs by DEAN MCLEAN   It couldn’t be more nestled in the heart of the village. The fresh flowers surrounding the patio and the beautifully designed french doors set the entrance for an inviting bistro experience. Jack Parasiuk is a hard working entrepaneur with a very kind and happy air about him. He took over Suvai Restaurant in 2007 when the opportunity presented itself after he had been working with the previous owners. But this is not his first restaurant; he owned a business in Gastown with his best friend and current chef Denis Scipion who he has great respect and admiration for. Jack started in the business as a young boy along with his family. His European upbringing taught him that a happy environment involved many a good time including good food, drink, dancing, entertainment, socializing, but with an emphasis on food. When asked ‘Why Kerrisdale?’, Jack said that it reminded him of the ‘70’s. The village ambiance is a perfect setting for Suvai’s epicurean experience, and the close knit community reminds him of simpler days, when the world was not as technologically busy and people were more engaging and personable. He feels that is what it’s like present day in the community. He believes in treating others the way you wish to be treated and that this neighbourhood has provided him with just that.   People smile and take the time to chat even if they don’t know him, and you can tell when you meet him that even after one encounter, however small, he will remember you. Jack hopes that Suvai will leave a lasting impression on its visitors. That a good time will be had by all and that they will remember the warm, cozy spot...

Mike Hallatt, co-founder of Benny’s bagels,premiered his first documentary film ‘Uncle Herb’ about end of life issues and how they intersect health care at Kerrisdale Community Centre’s Creative Artisti Series on January 22, 2012. Here is the movie review (For those that missed it)!! “An Exploration of Gourmet Healthcare” Reviewed by Trina Moran Someone in your family needs surgery to correct a condition that is life threatening. Now imagine if your health care system denied them the surgery. Why? They’re too old, it’s too risky, and someone else needs that procedure more than they do. Now, these reasons seem a little unacceptable, right? ‘Uncle Herb’, a documentary by Vancouverite Michael Hallat, explores this exact predicament. His own Uncle Herb, whom the documentary follows, is denied surgery to correct his abdominal aorta aneurysm. Why? Because he’s 89 years old and the Canadian healthcare system deems Herb ‘too old’ and the surgery ‘too risky’. Herb, a spry and determined ex-WWII military officer refuses to take ‘too old’ and ‘too risky’ for an answer. Instead, he heads to the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minnesota, the Dalai Lama of American healthcare. As far as Herb himself is concerned, he loves life and is willing to do, travel, and pay whatever it takes to ensure he keeps living. Hallat notes that Herb is proud of his service during WWII and describes the Canadian healthcare’s attitude towards Herb as ‘here’s a blanket, go home, make yourself comfortable, and die’. As far as Herb is concerned, he did not fight the Nazis to take a blanket, go home, make himself comfortable, and die. Thus, Herb and his nephew Michael set out for America in search of the healthcare Herb deserves. Hallat escorts Herb throughout the entire duration of Herb’s surgery. In a trailer they embark on...

For the first time in history, four generations are coming together, Traditionalists, Baby Boomers, Generation X, and Millennials. We round up the best way to unlock the freedom of self-expression and our creative potential.   By Keiko Honda, Photographed by Erik Price  All programs and classes at the community centre, like most things in life, are divided by age, so why not start something different? We identified three fruitful areas for developing a program agenda for Kerrisdale Community Centre. These are community building, creativity, and intergenerational learning. Why is intergenerational learning so important? Current lifestyle increasingly has led to generations becoming distanced from one another, particularly younger from older. Today, we live in a different time; we think we have everything at our finger-tips, knowledge, information, products, and communication tools, instantly making us hyper-consumerists without face-to-face interactions. But, how does today’s way of life impact on the way we learn from each other? Are we missing the opportunities to enrich our lives from other generations? How is the life we think we have affecting our innate creative potential? For people of any age, creativity is a birthright. The truth of the matter is that we all ARE artists and we are entitled to express our creativity whatever form we choose to experiment with. But, how can we look at our lives in a way like a small child, full of curiosity and wonder and amazement? Where to begin? This is why we launched “Creative Artists Series” in order to change the way people of all ages can learn together and from each other. It is a slow and small but fresh start, with full of possibilities intended to foster lifelong learning relationships between different generations and helps to unleash creativity. As the Zen master, Shunryu Suzuki says, “In the beginner’s mind there are...

Gerry is a third generation Chinese Canadian born in Victoria, B.C. and a long-time resident in the Kerrisdale area. He had a wonderful career for over 40-plus years in the field of Architecture. Gerry is retired and now with more leisure time to do other things, he accidently a year ago rekindled his childhood passion for the arts. On Christmas morning of 2010, doing their traditional family “Christmas Stocking Stuffer” event he received a set of etching tools and a few small etching blocks in his stocking from Santa (from his daughter, Tara, who knew her father’s artistic talent). Shortly after the New Year, Gerry picked up the etching tools and the polymer faced etching blocks and started to scratch out some images. Since picking up the etching tools, Gerry has created some larger artwork etchings which are show-cased in the E-Gallery. Gerry plans to continue etching new artworks to satisfying his artistic endeavors. Photographs by Erik...