“1139 Lonsdale Avenue
North Vancouver, B.C.

PETER SPECK
“Publisher
985-2131 (101)

bog » Operations Manage
_ 885-2131 (953) 965-2131 i168)

Managing Editor 7°: & Marketing Director
S523 ny 3 90-0511 319)

COTA Ageios 5:
~: Promotions Manager ©“ Photography Manayer

885-2121 (218) - 985-2131 (160)

North Shore dsws, 6 founded in 1969 as an ;
independent suburban newspaper and qualified

under’ Schedule 111, Paragraph 111 of the
Excise Tax Act, is published each Wednesday,
Friday and Sunday by North Shore Free Press :

Ltd. and distributed to every door on the North «

Shore, Canada Post Canadian Publications Mail
Sales - Product Agreement ‘No, 0087238,
ot Mailing mes salable on equ

Entire contents ms
@ 1995 North Shore:
" Free Press Ltd...”

Te
aie. via
Shap. | ie
teste eee

HANKS TO good: hearted North

Shore volunteers, the boys of sum-

mer had a great place to play ball
last week.

The Provincial Little League Baseball’

Championships -— featuring eight teams
of 11- to 12-year-oid boys — wrapped
up ‘Tuesday night at Chris Zeuhike Park
in North Vancouver following « 10-day

tournament organized and staffed by

local heroes, ©.
‘And ” while
Whalley begin. play

tournament champs
fomorrow in

‘Ontario for the national crown, the yol-
“‘anteers. who sweated out tourngment -.

details have gracefully returned to their

typical summer routines.

Tournament spectators. were treated
to the remarkable skills and dedication
of young athietes and also the remark-
able skills and dedication of a spirited
volunteer corps.

Five of the cight teams in the champi-
onships travelled to the North Shore
from outside the Lower Mainland,

“meaning a full workload for accommo-

dation volunteers.
Marshalling volunteer forces has

never been a big prodlem on the North,

Shore. Indeed, West Vancouver's history
alone is full of large volunteer undertak-
ings, including the 1939 formation of the

B.C. Winter Games.

f
ARE Lad A Ra EN

West Vancouver . Volunteer Defence
Corps, one of the first such organiza-

. Uions in the province.

Early next year these forces will face |
their greatest challenge yet — the t 1996 .

Over 3,000 volunteers will . be.
required to pull the three-day event off,
but organizers are confident  that..all |
those. positions will be filled. (Volunteer |
recruiting will begin in Septemiser,) -

Judging from Little League teurna- © me

ment effort, the unsung heroes. of. the

“North Shore volunteer corps will once:

again commit their time and energy to

- mauling our home. a ' better place to live.

AL
an)
oe

3 ailbox co

A formula for. reférni.

IT is Harmony Arts ;
Festival week in Greater

” Tiddlycove, and, quite coin-

~,cidentally, this inspires me ;

to pluck two of my blackest.
roses from the ever- fecund a

_ Garden of Biases.

He ‘ a

First, ‘what i is art, huh?

_ Not.that i’m a philistine or a
fat, stupid bourgeois. OK —. :
“ maybe fat and bourgeois. But not
stupid. And I concede that a few
piecés of good art have been pro-
duced since the 1913 Armory
Show.
Still, | admit that as I grow
older Lam more: en garde than
avant. :
“Not to put too fine a point on:

it, I’m dismayed at the widening

gulf between art'‘and the people

— and between the artists and the
people, the nourishers and inspir-:
ers and those they should nourish .

and inspire.
If you can naine a single prac-
tising Canadian artist ‘or for

that matter an artist anywhere ~~

(a) you are either unusually well
informed, probably. in the busi-
“ness or profession itself, o7 (b)
the artist you name is your sister,
spouse, friend or neighbor, some-
one whose. work. is shown around

town or. precisely in festivals like,

the Harmony Arts. my
At can be fairly.argued that. this”

2 isa good thing — that art has

supe
INCOME INFO
v

; “hard for their ‘Constituents,

"Dear Editor:

_ Af remuneration is’a measure: of
value, then clearly we value the ser-
vices of our unelected public servants
far more than that of uur elected rep-
resentatives, .;.-

For example, most of our school

superintendents, municipal managers.
and deputy ministers make in excess

of $100,000 per year including bene-
fits, but we pay. our MLAs less than
$60,000.

Yes, we need to ‘reform theiz pen--

sion system so that itis in line with®
the private sector, but let us be careful.
that: we'do not throw. the baby “Out
with the bathwater.

There are few if any rewards Hefty.
for_ serving’ one's community | and.

province.’ There is’-no.; respect or
appreciation for a’ job” well done,

f= there “is _no_ privacy, there. is Mile.
# - . opportunity to influence and you live.

~ under the constant glare of public

“tions, on reading this'in the’
Manchest ter Guardian. Weekly:

oh work was devised in an ashtray in”
, a Chelsea pub, last week, became.» -
_the hottest favorite in years for.
‘the 20,000-pound Turner Prize,

scrutiny... ee
For those wha truly care and work

““Damien Hirst, whose latest.

Britain’ ’s highest- profile art.
award.” *”

" » is 30, was shortlisted for the prize

/ been dethroned and demystified,:

‘brought down from the lofty ~ ..
‘heights of Michelangelo teetering’
_ on his boards higiy up in the

Sistine Chapel to the level of your .
: like a spoof, a parody..

Aunt Agatha turning out beauti-’

fully executed little still-life water

colors in what used to be her
sewing room.”

* That is: art democratized. And
not to be condescending about it, ’
either. Just look at the good work
_ that appears at places like die | ,
“West Vancouver library and the,
Ferry Building. ” ;

Thatyas Tsay, is a fair argu-

ment. But I feave it.to be argued.’

_dmother day.

Today, | turn-to ‘what the Big
. Boys and the Big Girls of art — /
the artistic pros, the clite _ are,
doing. :

a few years ago for a work that

involved “a rotting cow’s head.” :
His most recent artistic tri-

“umph occurred ‘in the aforemen- *

tioned Chelsea pub: “He picked
out the ends of the cigarettes he.
had. smoked ... and signed and -
numbered each one to create a:

limited edition of 25.”

_ Yes, 1 know — it'sounds, to
the ordinary fat, stupid Poureeois

- But there are a real:20, 000°

pounds and further fame riding on:
” the fag ends of those cigarettes.

« God alone knows how serious-

ly Mr. Hirst. might have been

challenged for the prize if he'd”
had to compete with the

~ Vancouver person whose “art”

was based on used articles of |

feminine hygiene —- if thats how |

they're still delicately being -

“called: :

Now, it has always been the”:
case thut progressive artists <>!
believe that the whole plirpose of *

art is to 0 epater les bour, geuis, to -

the.”

“Tt appears that Mr. Hirst, who. ,

rewards are mostly intrinsic, re

-Perhaps.we should ‘expect people’.
to selflessly dedicate themselves to
the betterment of our society, while

' We go about the business of pursuing
our own fi nancial comfort and securi-

ty. However, 1 if we do, we will perpet-
uate a’ system of governance that is
predominantly. controlled ; by. thosé.
who are “already. rich and well con-

nected, ©: ‘ ee,

We. need reform, but if we don t
attract the calibre of people who can
~ get the job.done then we may simply
. devalue democracy : and. continue

: down: the slippery slope to govern-
/ ment by tribunal.

We should pay our MLAs well. ‘let
them arrange their, own.’ pensions,
* give them ‘the power to truly, make a:
difference’ by allowing ‘free votes in“
the legislature. and have a workable
‘Tecall process. for, those: ‘who idon’t
“perform = —-'a private ‘sector f rmuta
for political. restructuring :

. Margot Furk

; shock the bourgeoisie.

But it is'rather poig ant to

oe today’s ‘revolutionary artists‘ ru

maging around with increasing:

_ desperation to. find both the ~
“shocking and the: shockable

something ever more loathsome;
absurd,’ moronic’ aimed at an audi

- -ence:that simply has gone away

‘Not that the written, word h

:. At the. most esoteric literary

; levels, language — especially i
*! most poetry — has become a:
.: vehicle of non- communication, a
., defiant privacy, a trove'of pérsor
“al symbols to which only the:

elect (usually scholars) ‘are’.
allowed to hold the reverent Key.
“In short, no one reads the stuff.
‘Even the liberal Guardian”.
doesn’t always fall for such: guff,
and it’s reassuring. that in the
same issue of the paper revie
Philip: Hensher casts a fish eye’ on -

‘the’ work of beatnik poet Allen

Ginsberg. a typical 20th- -century. :

‘fraud:

Hensher ponders why © "3.
Ginsberg is “such an awful poet.”
He quotes a few lines, observing:

‘ “ft isn’t unfair t@)say,that 2.0 ~

absolutely anyone could write: rg
like this, ¢
a nice sharp pencil.” { close my,
case.: But | promised neo biases.
The second also’ involve

~ Damien Hirst. The name.

I can’t stand the name:
“Damien.” Sony.

riven enough paper and 2°")