Unsure about what to do this weekend, leave it up to rhyming couplets.

Saturday night approaches
And someone broaches
“What’s the plan?”
Party at Stan’s? Or maybe Joanne’s?
Yet a backyard rave
You can always save,
But The Cheaper Show,
Or Martha Wainwright & Co.
Singing Piaf’s “Adieu Mon Cœur”
“Mon Dieu!” we do declare
It just wouldn’t be fair
To miss two events so rare.

www.thecheapershow.com

Our favourite avant-garde performing arts festival is back to bring us wackiness and wonder before the Winter Games descend. Herewith, our pick of the PuSh Festival plays:

The Show Must Go On
In the new SFU Woodward’s building, 20 Vancouver locals bring to life Parisian choreographer Jérôme Bel’s signature work, which The New York Times called “sly, witty, joyous fun.”

Nevermore
Like the sell-out production of Frankenstein Edmonton’s Catalyst Theatre staged two years ago, their magical and macabre portrait of Edgar Allan Poe promises to be an awe-inspiring spectacle.

Best Before
The theatre transforms into a virtual world where audience members with game controllers have avatars that affect the action in this premiere piece from provocative Berlin company Rimini Protokoll.

The PuSh International Performing Arts Festival runs January 20 to February 6, 2010, for more information visit www.pushfestival.ca

A few of Vancouver’s finest creative-types across the genres of art, comedy and music have forged a brand new four-day festival in clubs across the city to make the middle of August that much hotter. We’ve scanned the line-up of mostly local talent to help you plan your inaugural Olio Festival experience.

Thursday/Gastown: Start with laughs at The Lamplighter courtesy of Nardwuar and comedy acts Bronx Cheer and The Sunday Service. Then toss a coin—heads it’s indie rock at the Red Room with The Paper Cranes and The Clips, tails it’s club music at the hands of Piper Davis and DJ My!Gay!Husband!

Friday/Main Street: Art start the night with short films and paintings at the Grace-Gallery, then head up to the Anza Club for retro-inspired acts The Whitsundays and The Choir Practice, and another helping of art by Ronan Boyle.

Saturday/Downtown: Chug it up to The Railway Club where The Blue Violets kick it off moody and Bend Sinister finish it off funky.

Sunday/Granville: Closing night is made easy for you with one big DJ dance party at Venue, so rip it up right.

Olio Festival, August 13-16, 2009, $25 four-day pass at www.oliofestival.com

With the Pemberton Festival on pause until 2010, we feel the need to alert you to an acoustic alternative worth piling in the van for.

The Sasquatch Festival lineup reads like a laundry list of bands we love. There’s Kings of Leon, Animal Collective, Erykah Badu, The Decemberists, Santigold and the Yeah Yeah Yeahs all set against the scenic backdrop of the Columbia River gorge in George, Washington.

With Grizzly Bear, Fleet Foxes and The Wrens also on the roster, you could say you were “helping local wildlife.”

Sasquatch Festival, May 23-25, 2009, tickets $66.50 per day at www.sasquatchfestival.com

Why play it safe when you can dive into the deliciously avant-garde?

Shaking up the culture calendar at the top of the year and boasting trail-blazing acts of all genres, from here to Auckland, New Zealand, the PuSh International Performing Arts Festival opens today.

Must-see shows include:
•Billy Twinkle where Toronto’s Ronnie Burkett delivers provocative puppetry for grown-ups.
•13 Most Beautiful which sets the live music of Dean and Britta (the duo behind The Squid and the Whale score) to Andy Warhol’s iconic screen tests.
•That Night Follows Day with its cast of 17 school-aged children expounding on how adults shape their world.

And that’s just the tip of the entice-berg. Watch the show reel to get a feel for the rest of the fest.

The PuSh Festival runs until February 8, for more information visit www.pushfestival.ca

As the sun sets earlier, so does our patience for shallow-end summer blockbusters. Good thing the Vancouver International Film Festival starts next week. Here is a must-see list—straight from the insiders.

3 Women
Three generations of Iranian women explore questions of cultural identity and their country’s heritage in this realist drama, which Variety called, “A compelling sociological portrait.”

Dunya & Desie
The Netherlands selection for the Best Foreign Language Film Oscar, this film touches on issues of family and fitting in, giving an honest perspective of the teenage experience far from Disney’s High School Musical hallways.

Growing Op
A satirical snapshot of one frustrated young man stuck in a suburban existence by which mom and pop make their living selling home-grown marijuana. Sound familiar?

Happy-Go-Lucky
Mike Leigh, director of the Oscar nominated Vera Drake, takes a few of that film’s actors and trades crime drama for spirited comedy. Lead Sally Hawkins landed the best actress prize at this year’s Berlin Film Festival for her portrayal of Poppy, a primary school teacher and eternal optimist.

I've Loved You So Long
As a woman released from prison trying to rebuild her relationship with her estranged sister and regain her place in society, Kirstin Scott Thomas supplies a praise worthy performance.

Maman Est Chez Le Coiffeur
This '60s period piece from Canadian Léa Pool provides a poignant and poetic portrait of three young children as they struggle with abandonment in their own unique ways.

Mothers & Daughters
A comedic drama from Vancouver director Carl Bessai that explores the complicated dynamics between three mother/daughter pairs. Making it even more interesting—the film is improvised.

Rachel Getting Married
Anne Hathaway stars as a self-destructive force of nature who returns home to wreak havoc on her sister's wedding in Philadelphia director Jonathan Demme's latest.

The film festival runs September 25 to October 10, 2008. Order tickets and see schedules at www.viff.org

Ever since Maria belted it out in the Alps, we’ve had a soft spot for mountainside music.

And what better backdrop to Elvis Costello, Thievery Corporation and Broken Social Scene than the panorama of Blackcomb Mountain.

Staged in a specially built amphitheatre at the top of the gondola, the inaugural Whistler Music Festival this weekend is sure to bring the hills alive.

Just be glad you’re all grown up now and you don’t have to wear green curtains.

Day passes for the Whistler Music Festival from $67.50. For more info and to buy tickets, click here.

Now let’s be frank: BBQ weenies are for the dogs.

Switch up your routine this weekend with whole spot prawns on the grill. Now until the end of June, live spot prawns can be purchased fresh off the boats at Fishermen’s Warf ($12/lb) daily from 1:30 p.m.

Simply toss in melted butter, garlic, lemon juice, salt and pepper and grill (head on) for 2-3 minutes, platter up and pass the napkins!

False Creek Fishermen’s Wharf, 1505 W. First Ave., Vancouver.
For more about the Spot Prawn Festival visit www.chefstablesociety.ca