Doktor Strange's Adventures at Sea Vancouver Festival 2005

July 6-10th, 2005

The Official Gallery

I had the great joy to MC on two different stages during the first official "Sea Vancouver Festival" from July 7 -10th 2005. The Creekside stage at the site near Science World during the day and in the evening at the Edgewater Stage in the Plaza of Nations. During which time I had the opportunity to meet hundreds of wonderful people and work with some of the most incredibly talented entertainers and Musicians!! The following page is some images from this exciting festival My only regret is I did not get all the pictures I would have liked to!

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Here I am performing some of the Magic I did during my Magic show on Friday Morning. Unfortunately the unexpected rain hurt the attendance a bit but the show must go on and it did. The bottom right picture is the revelation that inside the lemon was this audience member's signed 5 dollar bill!

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AT CREEKSIDE STAGE

The Ecclestons featuring Grand Master Violin champ Ivonne Hernandez (2nd from left in top left picture) and Sam's Rot'n Pot'n Pan Band a total hoot for children and adults alike, If you have kids you certainly have to have them experience this band!.

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Nyenyedzi and Kutapira are two groups comprised of youths ranging from age 9 to 18. With precision playing and a true joy and passion for their music they were both truly unique and entertaining groups of talented, dedicated youths who were loving what they were doing!.

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These two shows both moved me and made me move! Orquestra BC Salsa are a high energy Salsa band whose music had everyone jumping up to dance, totally infectious and energizing music. The Good Noise Vancouver Gospel Choir was admittedly the first time I had ever seen a Gospel Choir and they knocked the wind out of me, moving, inspirational and positiviely charged music so perfectly presented by this incredibly talented choir led by Marcus Mosely and Gail Suderman actually brought tears to my eye!!

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These two family based groups were really unique and also highly entertaining. 4 beautiful and talented sisters, the Sabir Sisters music was exciting and a joy to experience. Mother is a group that includes brother, sister & friend with a highly original sound and very entertaining music.

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THE CREEKSIDE CREW

Working the Creekside stage was made a very pleasurable and fun and easy job thanks to the people behind the scenes. Graham, Aaron, Angelo and Liam from Rocky Mountain Sound made the transitions between each musical group ranging in members from 1 to 60 people setting up & striking sets with only 15 minutes between each performance seem effortless. Under the command of our Stage Manager Bev Siver who kept everthing tight, fluid and friendly the team worked flawlessly together. I thoroughly enjoyed working with them and hope to again! Pictured with us as well is Frances Wasserlein the person responsible for hiring the extraordinary talent seen at the Creekside Stage (Yah even that magic guy too)

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FRIENDS AT THE CREEKSIDE

There were a number of vendors at the Creekside location, however these two were fun, the group from Canadian tire actively chatting up new customers and offering a chance to win a new car (pick me pick me). The couple at the Sentinel Eyeware booth were really great!! Friendly and fun this Husband and Wife team made my time there very fun indeed. I even got myself a pair of their sunglasses (The ones I am wearing in many of these pics) and I am very very glad I did, They are the best pair of sunglasses I have had in a LONG time if ever and I will be doing all my sunglasses buying through them in the future. You can contact Lou at Sentinel Eyeware by Clicking here

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EDGEWATER STAGE

This was really cool!! My first night on the Edgewater stage and I had the HUGE thrill of being MC for Canadian Music legends Jeff Healey and Jim Byrnes. I had the great pleasure of dining with Jim before the show and reminded him of how and where we had met 21 years previous (in 1984) a story I would be happy to share if you ever ask me. Jim is brilliantly funny and I had such an awesome thrill being able to spend time with him!! Their concert on Thursday was a Jazz euphoria of bliss felt by everyone in the plaza!

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Saturday Night was also an amazing night, the Plaza of Nations was wall to wall bodies. The place was filled with a room full of a high energy excited fans of headliners Jesse Cook and Alex Cuba. Sunday night also had the Festival closing with pure magic from Barrage with special guests The Bills!

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I regret I did not get a closer picture of the Alex Cuba Band but that was him and the audience he had loving him. Jesse Cook whose music is incredible also had a rather large following of.. um whats that word... oh yah... groupies ... cool!

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Sunday Nights concert with The Bills and Barrage was the most amazing experience. This was my first concert involving this exhilerating heart pounding music. The music and humour and fun of the Bills got the audience right up to the level of excitement that Barrage exploded onto stage with. "WOW" is an incredible understatement in reference to Barrage, I was floored by watching this ensemble of extraordinarily talented, vibrant and awesome musicians. I love it when music can make my heart race like that, I cannot wait to see them again!

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Finally, one of the things I really enjoyed was the opportunity to be a part of the Edgewater Casino's $100,000 Giveaway promotion where each night at the Edgewater Stage they would bring up 10 lucky contestants who would draw out of a bag a key. Only 3 of the keys unlocked the treasure chest. Inside trhe chest was three envelopes 1 which contained a cruise for two to Alaska and the other two envelopes contained $5,000 each. On the last night the cruise was even bigger, it was a Luxury cruise on one of the tall ships to the Caribbean!! As someone who LOVES Game shows and giving away prizes this was truly a BONUS treat for me!! (Note this photo is courtesy Cheryl Rae Smith)

In closing I must give my biggest thanks to Jodi Smith from JLS Entertainment. Her belief in what I do is why I was at this Festival and watching her do what she did in putting together what was achieved with the entertainment at the Festival shows the caliber of her ability to take on this vast an undertaking. THANK YOU JODI, you are a really an amazing and talented person!!

Doktor Strange is based out of Vancouver BC Canada