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Wednesday
May 15 2013 www.newwestnewsleader.com
Want an interesting camp for your kids? What about a little sword play? See page a9
Creative way to save the parkade? Grad project proposes way to make it attractive, useful Grant Granger
ggranger@newwestnewsleader.com
MaRIO BaRTEL/NEWSLEaDER
comedy duo Bob robertson and linda cullen have discovered the giant tinman on new Westminster’s waterfront is also a missile silo to defend the city from attack by north Korea. they’ll be revealing more historical truths and half-truths in may day! may day! double exposure presents the complete history of new Westminster as part of the hyack festival.
Mining comedy gold in their backyard Mario Bartel
photo@newwestnewsleader.com
Bob Robertson and Linda Cullen are sleeping a little easier now that they know the giant tin man on New Westminster’s waterfront does double duty as a missile silo armed to defend the city from attack by North Korea. That little known factoid is one of many historical truths, halftruths and outright fabrications uncovered by the comedy duo in their exhaustive research for Mayday! Mayday! Double Exposure
presents The Complete History of New Westminster plus a lot of other funny stuff. The hour-long—with laughs, five hours without—multimedia extravaganza will premiere at the Massey Theatre on Sunday, May 19 at 7:30 p.m. as part of the 42nd annual Hyack Festival. Their research was exhaustive because, well, they walked up and down New Westminster’s ubiquitous hills observing the people, peccadilloes and political peculiarities of the city they’ve
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called home for more than two years. They also visited the archives, toured the museums and heritage homes. Once, they even braved the food court at the Royal City Centre. “You can’t do a funny history of New Westminster unless you understand it first,” says Robertson. “It’s ripe for the picking because it’s so unlike many other communities.” Robertson and Cullen both started their careers at CKNW at Eighth and McBride where she was
a producer and he was a freelance writer brought in to punch up promotional spots. They became a couple and then pitched a half-hour show of topical satire to CBC Radio. They ended up producing and performing more than 400 episodes of Double Exposure over 10 years before taking their act to television. When they returned to the Royal City, they knew they were moving into comedy gold. please see ShOW TuRNS MIcROScOpE, a5
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Nicolas D. Robitaille couldn’t help but see the Front Street parkade from the SkyTrain bridge as he commuted back and forth from Vancouver to Surrey for his graphic design job. He needed a subject for his graduation project to get his masters of architecture from the University of British Columbia, and the parkade jumped right out at him as he rode the rails. “That parkade is so massive that’s the first thing you see,” said Robitaille. So one day about 18 months ago he got out and explored. Columbia Street’s topography and energy was cool, he thought. Ditto for the River Market and the waterfront—they combined to create an experience unique to New West. But that wasn’t the case for Front Street and the parkade in between. “Spatially it’s dark, dusty, it has this backstreet feel to it,” said Robitaille, while visiting the area on Monday. see ‘I’M juST TRyING’, a3