Urban Mixer Blog

David Frum, George W. Bush’s controversial speech writer, best known for coining the term ‘Axis of Evil,’ made an appearance at the OPUS Bar on Tuesday, January 30th, to launch his new book, ‘Comeback: Conservatism That Can Win Again.’

The event, part of the Behind the Spin: Fraser@OPUS series, provided special insight into what the U.S. can expect once the president leaves office and some insight on the current American electoral race.

The Fraser Institute promises to bring more fascinating dialog for their next event, an evening with Karl Rove, the first Canadian appearance by the controversial political strategist and former Deputy Chief of Staff to President George W. Bush on February 18th.

Welcome to the week of January 28th - February 3rd, 2008. It is pregnant with possibility and positively popping with potential!

To see the latest newsletter (and newsletter archives) for your city, click the appropriate city, below:

CALGARY | VANCOUVER

More hotly anticipated than Jamie-Lynn Spears’s next ultrasound, this week’s social calendar arrives to the glare of flashbulbs, the blare of trumpets, and the clicking of a thousand blogger’s keyboards.

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Urban Mixer TV Vancouver edition, featuring events for the week of January 28th with host Sharad Khare and special guest Natasha Powell from the recently launched movie, How She Move.

Click on the above thumbnail if you’re having difficulty viewing the video or if you’d like to view the show in Quicktime, rate, comment or leave a video response.

To subscribe to our Weekly audio-only podcast for Vancouver, click HERE.

Links for this week:

• Urban Mixer’s Event Calendar for Vancouver
• How She Move - in theatres January 25, 2008
• The Drive Dance Centre - Vancouver’s hottest dance studio

Check back weekly for what’s happening in your city and great special guests.

Urban Mixer TV Calgary edition, featuring events for the week of January 28th with host Sharad Khare and special guest Natasha Powell from the recently launched movie, How She Move.

Click on the above thumbnail if you’re having difficulty viewing the video or if you’d like to view the show in Quicktime, rate, comment or leave a video response.

To subscribe to our Weekly audio-only podcast for Calgary, click HERE.

Links for this week:

• Urban Mixer’s Event Calendar for Calgary
• How She Move - in theatres January 25, 2008

Check back weekly for what’s happening in your city and great special guests.

On Friday, January 25th, Marchmain House Financial Corp. hosted the Casino Royale benefit for Canuck Place Children’s Hospice in the upper chambers of the Vancouver Art Gallery.

The event, emceed by local media personality Catherine Barr, featured a silent auction with priceless works of art on the block, a live auction, fashion show by JC Studio and a Monte Carlo styled casino.

On Thursday, January 24th, OPUS Bar located in the heart of Yaletown, hosted an event dedicated to ‘releasing your inner artist’ with the espresso vodka aptly named after Vincent Van Gogh.

The event introduced OPUS’ new resident DJ, Rachel Sehl, who originally hails from Toronto. DJ Kate Matthews, the resident DJ at Republic on Granville Street, headlined the event while murmurs in the crowd revealed that OPUS Hotel Montreal on Sherbrook Street West is getting ready to open a 6000 sq.ft club before summer.

Side note: contrary to popular belief, Van Gogh vodka contains no caffeine. Van Gogh’s Double Espresso and EspreXXO Ultimo 19/90 contain 10mg and 19mg of caffiene per liter respectively (1). Compared to a cup of coffee which contains about 130mg of caffeine and a shot of espresso which contains about 100mg of caffeine (2), Van Gogh’s Vodkas are simply about the flavour.

Sources:

1 - Van Gogh Vodka Blog
2 - Espresso Guy Blog

The newly-renovated Vancouver Lookout, located atop the centrally-located Harbour Centre at the edge of Gastown on Hastings and Seymour, hosted an open house on evening of January 24th.

The event featured live music, tasty nibbles by Glowbal Catering and even some swordfighting provided by Academie Duello. The Vancouver Lookout initially opened its doors on August 13th, 1977 with a ribbon cutting performed by famous astronaut and first man on the moon, Neil Armstrong.

You can find out more about the lookout on their website, HERE.

John Holden, the Head of Culture at Demos, a leading UK think tank and author of an influential body of work on cultural value and leadership was recently at the Glenbow Museum for a free public lecture. The event was sponsored by the Calgary Arts Development. Issues discussed included What are the real reasons people value culture and How do we measure the value of an investment in culture? Many artists, supporters of culture, and members of the public, including 3 local Aldermen were present.

To learn more about John Holden visit www.demos.co.uk

by Michael Schratter

A race car camouflaged as a street car.

Background:
BMW established their Motorsport (M) division in 1972, with the M offshoot being designed to facilitate BMW’s racing program. Simply put, it was about taking a 3 series and modify into a street legal race car. At the time, these special “M” cars were given to contracted BMW racecar drivers, to be used as their personal vehicles when driving in public. But that didn’t last long, word got out, and soon the über-mechanics from Munich were graciously sharing their “schnell” passion with anyone who was interested in driving fast. Read more

Welcome to the week of January 21st - 27th, 2008. It is pregnant with possibility and positively popping with potential!

To see the latest newsletter (and newsletter archives) for your city, click the appropriate city, below:

CALGARY | VANCOUVER

More hotly anticipated than Jamie-Lynn Spears’s next ultrasound, this week’s social calendar arrives to the glare of flashbulbs, the blare of trumpets, and the clicking of a thousand blogger’s keyboards.

Read more