Mecca Normal et alia at the Sinking Ship, Friday

Ah, gigs. Lots to choose from this weekend in Vancouver - I'm planning on taking in the "hockey improv" exhibition game between Team Sweden (headed by Mats Gustafsson) and Team Canada (led by Francois Houle) tonight at the Ironworks. Tomorrow, meanwhile, the Sinking Ship - the cool little gallery space where Mats played last Sunday, at the corner of Pender and Richards, with an alley entrance - will be hosting a gallery opening for the surreal collages of Jesse Gentes. Performers include Mecca Normal, Robots on Fire's Jonathon Wilcke, and others; Scott Aitken tells me he will be"premiering/ performing/ presenting a collage work of some of the recordings I made in India, called 'puja' which means a prayer or blessing" - this sounds pretty interesting to me. Saturday, meantime, there's a cool little Valentine's day gig at Vancouver's favourite backalley, "off the map" venue for improvised music. I'm going to leave the name of the venue unmentioned, since they've been getting hassled by the cops lately, but y'all know the place I mean, right? Members of the Sorrow and the Pity, Ahna, and Shearing Pinx appear in a "mix and match improv blender." Hopefully the cops elect to go hassle some crack dealers or monitor drunk driving teenagers or something else socially useful that night...