the fifty fifty arts collective, located in unceded and occu...
Open / Operational
Event Description
The Fifty Fifty Arts Collective & VEC Present:
Mark Sultan (BBQ) and Scars & Scarves
Saturday, November 6th | Doors: 8PM | Show: 9PM
All-Ages | ID Required for Alcohol Service
Purchase tickets at: https://www.victoriaeventcentre.ca
• “The best one-man band alive. If you don’t believe me, watch him perform. It is absolutely otherworldly and WILL blow your mind. And that voice...” - London Times
• “Like a haunted jukebox, complete with all of the static and anticipation, you can almost smell the filthy ghosts he needs to exorcise upon the stage.” - Metro
• “(Sultan) doesn’t simply revive old sounds and old excitements, he ingests them and digests them, and regurgitates them as something new and personal.” - Pitchfork
• “One of the few musicians working today who makes you question what it is you just saw and heard. Was it art? Was it church? Was it a ritual? Was I dosed? All while implanting a treasure trove of rewarding and familiar-sounding choruses that stick with you as you smile all week.” - Gallery Sound
https://www.marksultan.com
Mark Sultan aka BBQ is a cult figure, sorcerer, nutcase, and underrated gem. One of the veteran torchbearers of real rock n roll, and ‘The Man with the Golden Voice’. His legacy of LPs and 45s are on labels like In The Red, Goner, Crypt, Wick/Daptone, Sub Pop, Dirtnap, Vice, Fat Possum, Bomp!, Norton, etc… and his impressive list of rock n roll projects (The King Khan & BBQ Show, Ding-Dongs, Almighty Defenders, Les Sexareenos, Spaceshits, etc…) have been very influential. A stalwart observer of DIY, and a reverent student of rock n roll history, punk rock, and subversive culture, Mark remains enigmatic in a new world of prefab style over substance. He's mainly a secret handshake, but that’s just how he likes it. “I think it’s an art in itself to actively avoid playing the game, and keep under the radar these days. I’m a music fan. When I was a kid, finding some crazy, magical 45 nobody knew was very empowering.”
His unmistakable vocals, instantly transportative melodies and ideas, use time as a tapestry, mood as color, while retaining the sexuality and primitivity of the genre. “Some of my favorite music acts like a portal to me. It’s my time travel. It’s a way to shift into parallel worlds. I feel as though I now can achieve that with my own music, as well.”
This tour sees Mark as the notorious one-man band, ‘BBQ’, which has long been lauded as an anomalous delicacy: an improvised show filled with his ribald and vulgar humor, uncomfortable tempo shifts, all rolled into his unbridled intensity, from which he rarely surfaces to take pause. It’s allowed him to tour the world over, from the Americas to Australia, Europe to Micronesia to Russia, and everywhere in between. He’s played hallowed venues like the Sydney Opera House (at Lou Reed’s request) and Carnegie Hall, as well as all of the unnamable Festivals. His fans include many strange, artists of varying celebrity. His songs are in constant rotation on worldwide radio, and new generations cover his tunes online. His music can be heard as an unaware xerox throughout the ‘underground’, while simultaneously making its own way onto the TV and silver screen. “It’s strange to me how my music is consumed. A lot of people don’t know what or who they are listening to anymore, so my music, playing, singing is often credited to others, lyrics misconstrued, etc.. But that’s just the way it goes, I guess. I’m just happy the music is sometimes beloved.”
• "Heavenly harmonies and sunset serenades. The Velvet Underground rises to silken summits with each ascendant stroke. Come on, honeys, draw the shades, cast off your inhibitions and strip down for a moonlit skinny dip in a pool of fluid feedback." - Sled Island
https://www.scarsandscarvesband.com
Scars & Scarves (S&S) are a rock'n roll band from Victoria, BC, Canada. They dabble in all the sounds - a little heavy, a little quiet, a little atmospheric. Up until now they haven't been international jetsetters but collectively, they've paid their rock'n roll dues. Live they're Stereolab and Lou Reed's love child, but Michael Bay's nightmare (fuck that guy!). They released debut album Chimes At Midnight in 2011, The 5ive Dada EP in 2018 and then a second album in 2020 on vinyl - Sphinx Pinastri. Sadly, the pandemic has put this album release into a holding pattern until fall 2021.
They've shared stages near and far with buds (Pink Mountaintops, Lightning Dust, Mount Eerie, Bonnie Prince Billy, Dead Meadow, LSD & the Search for God and a host of equally amazing unheard of bands, too) at festivals (Anacortes's Unknown Music Series, Calgary's Sled Island, Nanaimo's Backyard Fest, Victoria's Eventide and Psych & Soul Fest). And more than a fair share of glitter palaces and dive bars (re: paying their dues). So what does the future hold for S&S? Life's too short. They just wanna play music and quit their day jobs! Looking to Asia and Europe to blow minds and eardrums in any language.
Scars & Scarves (S&S) consists of Garrett McClure, Annalea Sordi, Don Chessa, Tim Dubroy, Nevada Brown
Featuring go-go dancer Florence Fatale with Mark Sultan
Sweat drips and hair flips - The Saltiest Siren of the West Coast started teasing and titillating audiences in 2013 and now calls the stage a second home. Florence Fatale is the producer and host of Smut Slam Victoria, producer and co-founder of decentralized strip/dance club, Teasers and Pleasers. She is also the mastermind behind Fatale Production & Promotion.
Poster design and imagery by Fatale Production & Promotion
≫ COVID Safety Info ≪
▪︎ Due to COVID-19, there will be a limit of 90 tickets available for purchase. Tables will be seated in the venue once the whole group has arrived.
▪︎ Tickets should be purchased online in advance, through our website, to ensure availability. If space remains, additional tickets will be available at the door.
▪︎ The bar will provide table service. Instead of going up to the bar, a server will visit you to take orders and to clear empty glassware.
▪︎ Masks are required, except when seated at your table. If you do not have one, one will be provided for you.
▪︎ Unfortunately, we cannot allow mingling between tables or dancing. If you’re feeling the groove, we encourage you to shimmy in your seat!
▪︎ Beginning September 13th, in accordance with Provincial Health Order, all ticketholders will be required to show proof of vaccination at the door in order to attend. More information about the BC Vaccine Card is available at https://www2.gov.bc.ca/vaccinecard.html
Read the VEC's full Covid safety plan here:
https://victoriaeventcentre.ca/covid19/
In the event that public health restrictions prevent this event from going ahead, all tickets purchased for this event will automatically be valid for a rescheduled date. Refunds will be made available as needed - please email [email protected] to arrange.
≫ Safer Spaces ≪
▪︎ At the VEC there is zero tolerance for any type of racist, sexist, ableist, fatphobic, transphobic or homophobic behaviour. By purchasing a ticket and attending this event, you agree to conduct yourself with the utmost respect for everyone at this event. In the event that you do not, you may be asked to leave without a refund.
▪︎ If you feel uncomfortable at any time, please let a VEC staff person know and we will try to support you in the best way possible.
≫ We're Livestreaming ! ≪
▪︎ The show will also be available as a livestream at facebook.com/VictoriaEventCentre and twitch.tv/victoriaeventcentre
▪︎ This livestream will be available without admission fee.
If you’re able to donate and support these artists and the venue so they can keep it happening, donate here:
▪︎ Credit Card: http://www.victoriaeventcentre.ca/donate/
▪︎ Etransfer (please put "Mark Sultan" in the message line and the password as "livestream"): [email protected]
≫ Land Acknowledgement ≪
▪︎ We would like to gratefully acknowledge that the territory on which this event takes place is on the traditional, stolen, unceded land of the Lekwungen and W̱SÁNEĆ peoples. We acknowledge the rich cultural history of the many peoples and rituals that have been affected by the ongoing process of dispossession and colonialism. We hold this understanding in our interactions and engagements with this land and its people.
≫ Accessibility ≪
▪︎ Our seating is a combination of high tables, bar stools, and cocktail tables with chairs. If you require assistance with this, please make a note when purchasing tickets or contact us at [email protected] and VEC staff will do their best to accommodate.
▪︎ There are three multi-user, gender-inclusive bathrooms with stalls. One bathroom has a larger stall with its own sink and a grab bar (more details in the ‘Bathrooms’ section).
▪︎ The Victoria Event Centre currently does not have an operational elevator, and there is one long flight of stairs at the venue entrance. The only way into the VEC is up 27 wood stairs, 11″ deep, 6″ high. There are wooden 2.5” handrails 38” up the wall on each side of the staircase (54” apart, so not graspable on both sides at once. See further details in the ‘Getting Inside’ section)
▪︎ If you would like to attend the event but require assistance with accessing the space, please contact us at [email protected] and VEC staff will do their best to accommodate.
▪︎ Inside the Victoria Event Centre there is a gender inclusive wheelchair accessible washroom that technically fits necessary size dimensions, but is missing a bar and a handrail beside the toilet.There are two stalls in the washroom, but only one of these has been renovated to meet 5'x5' wheelchair clearance.
▪︎ More detailed venue accessibility info is available at:http://www.victoriaeventcentre.ca/attendees/accessibility/
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