Move Minutes

 Cocktail Correspondent: Weldon Gardner Hunter

Monday, July 8: The hottest day of the year, so far. I spent most of the day in an office with air-conditioning. I have a fitness app that tracks my steps and “move minutes” and I assumed I would not get much movement today because of the heat. I have tickets to see Sleuth at Green Auto, and I might get some double-m's there if I shimmy enough to all the bands.

Honestly, the app drives me batty at times. Several times I've been looking at my stats only to have it suddenly lop off 1,000 steps or so. I know I did the exercise, but it's not recorded! And finding that annoying is annoying. Anyways, I use the app to motivate me to get out and raise my heart rate, so, overall, it's working.

After my 6pm class, I watched the Rocky Mountaineer pull into the railyard outside the college, and when I finally stepped outside to get a better view – the train was going well past the level crossing on Station Street, reaching the very end of the line on Western - the hot air hit me like Jared Leto’s breath. I worried about the show at Green Auto I was going to at 8. These kind of venues are not good for air flow. Anyways, I needed dinner and a drink before, so I headed to It's Okay (2481 East Hastings Street, Vancouver). 

It's Okay is located in the "old neighbourhood." I lived in Hastings-Sunrise from 2007 to 2011 and my brother still lives there. After the pandemic, hanging out in Pandora or Trinity Park was a culture shock after my long and ongoing sojourn in largely parkless Soviet Kerrisdale. When I lived in Sunrise, there were no pubs, no bookstores, and few coffeeshops. Now it has all those things. Figures. 

The space where It's Okay is used to be the Master Chef Café. It was a genuine greasy spoon. The waiter was Tony, a neighbourhood legend and poet who wore a smock (burgundy coloured, if i recall correctly). Is this a false memory? The guy was impeccably dressed and had charisma before it was trunc'd to "rizz." His wife May was the cook. So she was the Master. My main memory of the place, besides the big personalities of Tony and his Other Half, were the old guys who took the window booths of the restaurant and discoursed in a language that I fancifully remember as a mixture of Italian and Croatian. Let's say they were Istrian. I hope Tony, May, and the Istrian Round Table are all doing well, wherever they are.

Anyways, on this day, the space was wilting a little in the heat of the day (no AC), yet it offered fans, Footie, and a Jamaican Rum Punch as the Feature Cocktail of the Day. Featured cocktails are my love language. The drink at IOK is comprised of Appleton Estate Rum, Wray and Nephew Rum, house made pomegranate syrup, and  lime juice.

I'm not sure if Jamaican Rum Punches always blend two rums - I'll do my research later - but it blew my mind to be relishing two bucaneering boozes. The Wray and Nephew is a Navy Strength (overproofed) rum that's 63%ABV. That'll swab your decks!

The It's Okay Jamaican Rum Punch is boozy and has a darker colour in the glass than you might expect. It’s not a super sugary drink, and the Pomegranate syrup makes it almost winey, with all those grape undertones. A flavourful, 15 minute or more sipper. But it's now almost 8pm, so I gotta move. I knew I'd switch to present tense at some point.

Turns out Green Auto (1822 Pandora Street, Vancouver) is air-conditioned! Sleuth started around 8:10pm. I've been going to see this local quartet since around 2012. Their sound takes me back to my misspent indiepop youth in the early 1990s: fanzines, flexidiscs, tape-trading by post, bands with bowl haircuts and naff keyboards -- a scene documented by comps such as Corrupt Postman (Windmill Records, 1988), The Waaaaah! CD (Bring on Bull Records, 1991), One Last Kiss (spinArt/Slumberland, 1992), and The Sound of Leamington Spa series. Try and find those on Spotify!

Sleuth used to play only every couple of years: around 2015 or so, they were one of the most mysterious bands in the city, slinging their cassingle at the occasional merch table in un-airconditioned halls, usually at the bottom of the bill. They would breeze through 8-10 songs in about 35 minutes and disappear back into the corners of university libraries throughout the Lower Mainland. I assume.

They coulda been a contender. This might have been their final show, since the lead singer is moving and another member is about to become a daddy. They were the first band on the bill, playing to the smaller crowd, which was comprised of some introverted indiepoppers who knew the gravitas of this gig. They breezed through 8-10 songs in about 35 minutes. A few of us shuffled and shimmied - one thing I have always appreciated about Sleuth is that they never were a "come on, don't be afraid, come closer to the stage" acts. They let it be. Singing words of wisdom.

I checked my move minutes immediately after and I'd added 10 on. During the set, the keyboard player would often glance admiringly towards his bandmates, he must be the future father. They did a group hug after as I wiped away tears. Who will write the jaunty, melancholy janglers for us aging Vancouver popkids now? They were just visiting this planet.

After the Sleuth set, I took a walk along Wall Street, Vancouver's most pleasing promenade, in air cooled by Burrard Inlet. I never did make it back to the venue to see the other bands. I ended up at It's Ok for another rum punch, thinking of Sleuth's next move, and mine.