BarCraft!

by Joel Thiessen
On March 25 Streaming Cafe is hosting a BarCraft for the MLG Winter Championship of StarCraft II: Wings of Liberty.

The MLG, or Major League Gaming, was created in 2002 and has been building a massive following of gamers (and spectators) all over the world. Their tournaments legitimize the term Pro-Gamer, attract nut-so crowds, boast prize pots totaling $76,000 and ascend the winners to near-celebrity status (in the gaming world at least).

For those of you who are still wondering if ‘BarCraft’ was a typo, well, it’s not. The term was first used in 2011 and is defined by wiki as “a portmanteau name for watching StarCraft at bars.” (If you are unfamiliar with the term portmanteau then you’re on your own). It might sound kind of corny - to go to a bar and drink and eat with fellow MLG enthusiasts, but is it really that different from a UFC match? Or a football game? The game has full commentator coverage, the vocal ‘woooos’ and ‘boooos’ of live tournament audience and high stakes for the players.

StarCraft II joined Halo: Reach and Call Of Duty as the MLG’s games of choice for it’s Pro Circuit back in 2010. The game’s intense real-time combat strategy has quickly made it a fan favorite and a suspense and action filled show.

Before you pick up your controller to hone your Super Mario Bros skills for a chance at The Title, keep in mind that these competitors train year round and will most likely beat you very, very badly. So rather than embarrass yourself in a one on one, why not play a FUN ON FUN and come down to the Cafe on March 25th!

The official start time for the Winter Championship hasn’t been released yet, so make sure to stay in the loop by joining our BarCraft event at on our Facebook.

Michael Bernard Fitzgerald Live Online!

MBF, or Michael Bernard Fitzgerald, first blew through Streaming Café as part of the Breakout West music festival in October of 2010. He took the stage with a drummer and backing guitarist, and, along with his trademark “flower-on-the-headstock-of-his-guitar”, proceeded to play an energetic set that had the crowd literally up and dancing. By the end of the set our producer was hard-pressed to find a camera angle that could capture MBF, because the dancing hordes had surrounded the stage and were cutting off views of Fitzgerald from all sides. And the term ‘dancing hordes’ is not a fluffy non-accurate description written to spice up an otherwise dreary paragraph; the room was packed, and there were frenetic dancing bodies filling virtually every square foot of the space around MBF.

Endearing Calgary singer/songwriter Michael Bernard Fitzgerald is returning with a new album/EP combo. The "Side A" album portion of the project, Yes, comes out on April 24th with the more intimate "Side B" EP will be coming out in conjunction with his national tour.

Michael hits the road and Kelowna music lovers will get a special treat at MBF’s Saturday, February 25th show at the Streaming Café.  If you live out of town and make make it down be sure to watch the show streamed FREE live online @ http://streamingcafe.net/.  Viewers anywhere in the world can enjoy direct and personal interaction with MBF via the live chat.

Cafe Chalk Art Masterpieces: Part V

Canadian philosopher Marshall McLuhan once said "Advertising is the greatest art form of the 20th century".
On that note we continue on our journey of artistic self-promotion with our fifth installment of Cafe chalk art.

Our 100th Podcast!

by Joel Thiessen
I vividly remember one chilly December evening in the darkened depths of the Streaming Cafe production office, a conversation had while hanging out after hours. We were flipping through archives upon archives of videos from previous live SC shows, admiring not only the amazing music we've captured but also the artist's personalities that would shine through between songs. The scientifically tested truth that when you see a song performed live - when you see the passion in the singer's face and the guitarist doing that solo-twitch-thing - that song means so much more to you. That was a feeling we've been successful giving back to our viewers through our YouTube videos…but that little extra hint of personality or insight that would come to light when the artist talked about how much a song means to them, or the time they got a bar full of bikers to sing along with a folk-love song - those were the moments we wanted to show again, we just didn't know how.

Subscribe @  http://tiny.cc/267k3

Two years and 100 podcasts later our videos have been featured numerous times on iTunes and watched in over 21 countries. Strangers walk into the Cafe from the street because they recognized the logo on our door. We have managed to re-live some of those classic Cafe moments and share them with you all once more.

It has been exciting to see who all watches our podcasts, its a different demographic than that of our live shows - which is different than those who watch our YouTube videos - which is different again from our daily coffee shop customers! As different as all those audiences might be, they all share some similar characteristics (aside from having great taste in Live Streaming Indie Music And Delicious Coffees), they all see something cool is happening at the Streaming Cafe and they want to support it. And all of us at the Streaming Cafe are extremely grateful for that support!

If there is a show moment that you want to see again, send us an message and we'll see what we can do.
Thanks for watching the Streaming Cafe podcasts. Tell your friends about them.

Here's our 100th podcast that features a performance from Vancouver's Portage & Main.

Cafe Art Display and Showing: Rena Warren

We are very happy to be displaying some amazing art on our cafe walls for the month of February by Rena Warren of Capricornucopia Artworks.  Rena is having a Showing at Streaming Cafe  Friday, February 10 at 6:30 - 9pm, so be sure to come down and enjoy these works in person.  This showing is featuring her detailed Block Prints and 20% of all art sales goes to Muskan, a non-governmental, non-profit organization that provides art opportunities for children in rural India.
For more info go to the facebook event.  Hope to see you there!


Have a look at Capricorucopia Artworks page, wonderful portraits, drawings and info about classes!


Also check out this great article on Rena Warren done by Jennifer Smith at Capital News.


The Block Prints will be on display at the cafe Feb. 3 - 29.

BIO
Rena Warren has over seventeen years experience in teaching art courses throughout the Okanagan. She received a Bachelor in Fine Arts at Okanagan University College and a Bachelor in Education at University of Victoria. Rena has taught for Opus Framing & Art Supplies, Kelowna Art Gallery, Cool Arts Society and in the private school system. In her private practice, she specializes in large-scale oil portraiture in bold fauvist colour and original block print designs. Currently she is working on a series of mandalas in block print.
http://capricornucopiaartworks.blogspot.com/