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My personal Canada Day tradition is to catch a Vancouver Canadians game. It’s a wholesome day at the park, complete with fireworks set to your CanCon crowd favourites (I dare you to not feel patriotic during a singalong of “Life is a Highway“), and a great opportunity for me to work on my sunburn while trying to beat my personal record for number of veggie dogs consumed in one sitting.
But this year, I’ve had a tempting invite to an alternative celebration: one hosted by decidedly non-Canadian celebrity Queen Latifah.
To be clear, I’m not against the idea of celebrating the birth of our nation with this iconic performer. I have not personally met Queen Latifah (YET) but she seems like a great person. She’s an Oscar-nominated actress, a celebrated musician, she’s an activist, she’s an entrepreneur. She’s also an American—so it feels just a titch odd that she’s performing in a free concert at Deer Lake Park with the Vancouver Symphony Orchestra on Canada Day long weekend.
Was Tom Cochrane too busy? (I just did a quick google and he is still alive and well.) Did Carly Rae Jepsen have some sort of falling out with the VSO after her performance with them last year? Surely a Barenaked Lady or two would have some free time in their schedule? I don’t mean to be jingoistic here, and I don’t want to scare Queen (can I call you Queen?) away because I am very much still excited for the opportunity to personally meet her in the future, I’m just perplexed that one of the underwriters of this concert, Creative BC, whose sole mission is to lobby for local creative industry, would not be strong-arming corporate sponsor Brian Jessel BMW into hosting a Soul Decision reunion as part of the weekend’s festivities.
I regularly write a column for VanMag where I’m solving local mysteries but this is just one I can’t figure out. So if you’re not hitting up the park to catch Q.L. working her magic during a truly dynamic cross-cultural musical spectacle on June 29, come join me to mull it over at Nat Bailey Stadium. (Please bring cash for the concession.)
DETAILSQueen Latifah and the VSOJune 29 at Deer Lake Park, 8:00 p.m.Free admission
