57 things to do in Metro Vancouver on Thursday, December 8

Looking for something to do on Thursday? The Straight’s got you covered. Here are 57 events happening in or around Vancouver on Thursday, December 8.

 

CONCERTS

Australian indie-folk rockers the Paper Kites play the first of two nights at the Rio, with guest Doe Paoro.

Celebrate Urban Renewal Project’s four-year anniversary at Fox Cabaret with music by DJ Denise, Red Shirt Mike, Kimmortal, Missy D, Baby C, Trevor Mills, Estea Elements and DJ K-Rec, Ndidi Cascade, and DJ Floetic.

Baltimore-based electropop band Matmos, composed of M. C. Schmidt and Drew Daniel, plays the Western Front.

Vancouver jazz-blues vocalist Laura Crema and pianist-composer Sharon Minemoto perform with saxophonist Jon Bentley, bassist Paul Rushka, and drummer Dave Robbins at Frankie's.

Jazz Concert Series presents saxophonist Steve Kaldestad, pianist Miles Black, and bassist Steve Holly at Roedde House Museum.

 

BENEFITS

Safe Injection Comedy Fundraiser at the Rickshaw features performances by Katie-Ellen Humphries (above), Melanie Rose, Harris Anderson, Joey Commisso, San Aung, Brett Martin, and Kathleen McGee, with proceeds to the Overdose Prevention Society.

The ongoing Lights of Hope Christmas lights display at St. Paul's Hospital raises funds for the St. Paul's Foundation.

Vote on your favourite gingerbread creation and get your photo with Santa at Grouse Mountain, with proceeds to SOS Children’s Village B.C.'s programs and homes for local foster children and homeless youth.

 

ETCETERA

Over 265 exhibitors sell everything from clothing, to art, to home décor and accessories at the PNE Forum's Make It!

The Festival of Lights at VanDusen Botanical Garden features over one-million twinkling lights, a carousel, a dancing-lights show, the Make-A-Wish candle grotto, and photos with Santa.

Heritage Christmas at Burnaby Village Museum features light displays, vintage shop-window displays, a visit with Father Christmas, live entertainment, fresh heritage baking, kids' crafts, a sing along, and a scavenger hunt.

The Vancouver Christmas Market continues at Jack Poole Plaza, featuring traditional German cuisine, mulled wine, gingerbread, German beer, a Christmas pyramid, a large heated tent overlooking the North Shore, entertainment, a carousel, and vendors selling gifts and treasures.

Shop for holiday gifts made by artisans such as Croochet Shop, Lana Betty, Make More Happy, and Snaughtie at the Gallery of B.C. Ceramics.

 

KIDS' STUFF

Help Santa search for his missing elves during an exhilarating simulated flight-ride experience across Canada and on to the North Pole at Flyover Canada.

 

FORUMS

Jonathan Becker, founder of Thrive Digital, discusses his journey with landing clients such as Lululemon, Uber and Arc’teryx at Brainstation Vancouver.

Find out how you can leverage the flexibility of WordPress, the popular web publishing platform, at West Vancouver Memorial Library.

Forum at The Art of Loving Evening covers erotic techniques and products that can help you and your partner to enjoy a heightened level of pleasure.

A certified financial-literacy trainer discusses qualifying for home ownership, types of mortgages, and interest rates at the Vancouver Public Library's Kitsilano branch.

 

COMEDY

Los Angeles-based standup comedian Quinn Dahle performs the first of three nights at the Comedy Mix.

The Vancouver TheatreSports League presents the improv show Christmas Queen 3: The Bachelorette Edition at the Improv Centre.

Ross Dauk hosts an evening of comedy about the beauty and chaos of city snow at Little Mountain Gallery.

 

ARTS ETCETERA

Paint your own unique watercolour greeting cards at VanDusen Botanical Garden using poinsettia, holly, and berries as your festive still-life subjects.

Workshop at Lonsdale Quay teaches participants how to use gold foil and their own designs to create personalized greeting cards.

 

DANCE

Ballet BC presents the Royal Winnipeg Ballet's rendition of the classic holiday ballet Nutcracker at the Queen Elizabeth Theatre.

The School for the Contemporary Arts at SFU presents a performance at Studio D of Ascension, a student-led production involving collaboration between students from music, film, dance, and theatre.

Brussells-based German Jauregui, in collaboration with Company 605, presents a dance duet at the Firehall Arts Centre in which the performers surrender to circumstances and their interdependence.

 

LITERARY

Mother-and-daughter authors Janet Walmsley and Jenny Story sign books at Continental Cafe.

 

MUSIC

William Rowson conducts host Christopher Gaze, the UBC Opera Ensemble, EnChor, and the Vancouver Symphony in a traditional holiday concert at St. Andrew's-Wesley Church.

 

GALLERIES

Juxtapoz x Superflat exhibition at the Vancouver Art Gallery offers a unique insight into contemporary art and its place in cultural life.

Walker Evans: Depth of Field at the Vancouver Art Gallery features more than 200 black and white and colour prints from the 1920s through to the 1970s.

Stare exhibition at Vancouver Art Gallery features photographic works that evoke a fixed and concentrated gaze on the part of artist and viewer.

 

MUSEUMS

Layers of Influence: Unfolding Cloth Across Cultures at the Museum of Anthropology at UBC features more than 130 diverse cultural garments, from Japanese kimonos, to colourful Indian saris, to the elaborate feather cloaks of the Maori people of Aotearoa/New Zealand.

The Museum of Anthropology at UBC hosts an exhibition that features the carvings of Papua New Guinea's Iatmul people.

At the Museum of Vancouver, you can explore the cultural power and significance of collecting through wall-to-wall displays of unconventional objects.

 

THEATRE

Vancouver bluesman Jim Byrnes stars in Bah! Humbug, a retelling of Charles Dickens's classic tale A Christmas Carol, at SFU Goldcorp Centre for the Arts.

GTI Theatrical Productions Society presents David Sedaris's holiday comedy The Santaland Diaries at North Van's Presentation House Theatre.

Alchemy Theatre presents Alice in Wonderland, a play based on Lewis Carroll's famous work, at Studio 1398.

Performance at the York Theatre of East Van Panto: Little Red Riding Hood, Theatre Replacement's pantomime that sees Little Red Riding Hood battling bike thieves, distracted drivers, and the Big Bad Wolf.

Pacific Theatre presents a performance of Holy Mo! A Christmas Show!, director Kerry van der Griend's irreverent re-imagining of the Nativity story.

The Arts Club Theatre Company presents The Day Before Christmas--about a perfectionist who is desperately juggling family and work as she attempts to create the perfect Christmas--at the Goldcorp Stage at the BMO Theatre Centre.

Leaping Thespians presents A Christmas Carol In Gay Apparel, an original parody of Charles Dickens's classic holiday tale, at the Cultch.

The Arts Club Theatre Company presents Avenue Q--the musical story of Princeton, a bright-eyed college graduate who arrives in New York City looking for love, a job, and his purpose in life--at Granville Island Stage.

Realwheels Theatre presents a performance at the Cultch of Creeps, David E. Freeman's dark comedy about four disabled men who rebel against the way they've been treated and barricade themselves in a washroom.

The Arts Club Theatre Company presents Mary Poppins--a musical based on the stories of P.L. Travers and the Walt Disney film--at the Stanley Industrial Alliance Stage.

In Jacob Marley's Christmas Carol, four actors bring to life the characters of Charles Dickens's classic Christmas tale at Jericho Arts Centre. Appropriate for ages five and up.

 

ATTRACTIONS

Robson Square Ice Rink offers free ice-skating in downtown Vancouver, with skate rental available.

Grouse Mountain resort features a Skyride to the peak with views of Vancouver and the Pacific Ocean, as well as skiing and snowboarding, snowshoeing, ice skating, mountain ziplines, and the Peak of Christmas.

Edgewater Casino offers 24-hour gaming, over 60 table games, a poker room, a high-limit section, 500 slot machines, restaurants and lounges, and live entertainment, including concerts and televised UFC events.

Mount Seymour features skiing and snowboarding lessons from the Mt. Seymour Ski and Snowboard School, tubing and tobogganing, and snowshoe trails.

At the Bloedel Conservatory you can take in more than 200 free-flying exotic birds and 500 exotic plants and flowers.

Cypress Mountain features skiing and snowboarding lessons, snowtubing park, cross-country ski trails, downhill skiing and snowboarding trails, and snowshoeing tours.

Check out the Vancouver Christmas Tree at Robson Square.

The Capilano Suspension Bridge features seven suspended footbridges offering views 110 feet above the forest floor.

The Vancouver Aquarium features almost 800 animal species in galleries ranging from Canada's Arctic to the Amazon rainforest.

 

MOVIES

The Cinematheque celebrates late visionary Polish director Andrzej Żuławski with screenings of 1981's Possession (above) and 1971's The Third Part of the Night.

Screening at Vancity Theatre of Aim for the Roses, John Bolton's musical docudrama about Canadian stuntman Ken Carter's 1976 attempt to launch a rocket car over the St. Lawrence Seaway and land it in a bed of roses in the U.S.

Screening at the Vancity Theatre of Christine, Antonio Campos's drama about Christine Chubbuck, who briefly found national fame in an act of on-air desperation in 1974.

 

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