Below the party favours, hackysacks, and discount house wares filling the neon-illuminated shelves of Nelson’s Baker St. dollar store, there is a sweet little juice bar dishing out Ginger Zingers that pop.

This lovely all-ages, hole-in-the-wall, the Velvet Underground, played generous host to the Selkirk College Students’ Union second annual Battle of the Arts competition on March 5; and between the wheatgrass shots and wicked student talent, the event was a total success.

“The Battle of the Arts,” said SCSU Organiser Varenka Schwarz, is intended “to raise awareness about the arts and provide an opportunity for students from different campuses to meet and mingle.”

With most of the student competitors hailing from Nelson, the Kootenay School of the Arts was definitely well-represented. In addition to passionate musical performances by community members and Selkirk students, the event showcased student work in ceramics, textiles, jewellery, metal, paint and mixed media, with beautiful contributions by Talia Maisonneuve, grand prize winner of $200 and second-prize winner Peter Booth, as well as third prize-winner Trent Kampel-S. The event also featured work by Sarah Orton, Liz Banes, Alexander Cheshire, among others.

The jewellery and metalwork were amazing: pieces included a full chain mail shirt, a sceptre complete with crystal ball, and necklaces with glowing silver pendants.

While the music played, audience members participated in an on-site painting competition, whose continuing rounds and winners were decided by audience applause between band sets, with Sarah Orton taking home first prize (twice!), Trent Kampel-S second, and community-member Nadia third.

The crowd was amazing: super-dancey, enthusiastic, supportive, and fun. Whilst grinning ear-to-ear and gesturing wildly, SCSU Events Director Fraser Ploss exclaimed, “The bands kick ass! The artists kick ass! This is our best event ever!”

The evening’s music opened with two solo acts: Akhil Kodamanchili (remember his sweet finger-tapping at Selkirk Idol?) and Simon Joseph as One Stood Still. Though the two made valiant attempts to shift focus to the stage, the attention of the masses remained, for the most part, concentrated at the back of the venue, no doubt in the grips of the creepy skeleton-hand candleholder and delicate silver-twig necklace contributed by those talented folks of the KSA.

Immediately following the duo however, I Heart NY, featuring Melis McWilliams on drums, Nils Mikklesen on keys, Tyler Toews on guitar, and Simon Joseph on bass, grabbed everyone’s attention with a killer cover of MGMT’s “Kids,” and another of XTC’s “Making Plans for Nigel,” which they rocked like maybe XTC could’ve rocked it, were this 1979. The guitar killed. The keyboard! The drums! And every band member grinning like sinners, which is the best part of any performance, really.

Soundsplash, composed of music students Orion Miller, Neil Graham, and Remi LaLiberte, followed with earnest acoustic rock. Though I wasn’t totally captivated by their first two songs, I appreciated the third, into which singer Miller charged with total abandon, maybe having glimpsed the MC lingering near the side of the stage. Equipped with a wireless patch cord, bassist Graham strolled into the crowd the way a sitcom dad strolls across the front lawn for the paper, casual as all get-out, effectively clearing the stage for the evening’s first-prize winners, Prank Hot.

Clad in bare feet, bandana, and Gogol Bordello hoodie, guitarist Tyler Boissonnault revealed Prank Hot’s influences even before bassist Tom Wyman announced them. “We’re gonna play some gypsy punk!” hollered Wyman, as Boissonault launched into that carefree one-legged rock hop so dear to the music-lover’s heart, pounding out the rhythm as much as the chords on a nylon-string acoustic, whilst drummer John Aaram shredded a snare with a sound so tight and beautiful as to inspire this intrepid reporter to maybe learn the secrets of tuning drums. Seriously. It was gorgeous. Their set sprinkled liberally with fist-pumps, choruses of “Hey! Hey! Hey! Hey!,” and half-time breakdowns I overheard one listener describe, in excited disbelief, as “Totally metal,” Prank Hot effectively captivated the audience.

Following Prank Hot were third-prize winners Sarah’s Electric Panda, who performed a sizzling rendition of Erykah Badu’s “Back in the Day.” Thank-you, Brittany Mahood—though I had forgotten how fabulous a frontwoman can be, my cynical heart busted wide-open every time she and the rest of the band called out, “Puff.” The hip swing! The tenderness! Though they’d obviously only planned the one song, as Mahood left the stage drummer Melis McWilliams, possibly responsible for the wicked sound of the snare I later saw her hugging to her chest with affection, hissed, “I kind of feel like playing another one.” They did—an instrumental original, “It’s Sweet When Cultures Meet,” which boasted complex parts, myriad time changes, and many breaks. Though it was upwards of eight minutes long, the dynamic keyboards and visible concentration and joy of the players made for a totally engaging performance. Keyboardist Mikklesen confessed to being a relatively new addition to the group, while McWilliams, guitarist Sean McLaughlin, and bassist Matt Haywood have been playing together for a little over a year.

With two bands left, we were treated to the impromptu beat-boxing of one Rob Goblin, who made beats like C3P0 might, if he were a droid with some sense and not an uptight nerd. Think, maybe, Anakin gets rich or dies trying, the podrace is actually a driveby, and instead of light sabres the jedi are wielding those hi-tech needle-less turntables that play records with lasers. George Lucas. The crowd pressed in close to the stage as Nelson’s Dazza freestyled over Rob Goblin’s wicked beats.

The Ginger Zingers, at this point, were flowing freely. Some audience members had paint on their faces. Most of us were on our feet.

Second-prize winners Locomotive Ghost were a crowd favourite. Somehow, the bulk of the audience knew all the words to their songs, singing almost as hard as vocalist-guitarists Tyler Toews and Mike Buckley, though with somewhat more fierce and frequent fist-pumps. While drummer Cortney Osness kept time with the upright posture and serene expression of a yogi, bassist Ben Nixon wriggled like a two-legged snake playing bass in a Disney flick, feet planted, teeth flashing, heart singing, riffs galore. The beautiful back-ups, harmony, and sweet, sweet repeats of singers Georgia Laloudakis and Shelby Suhan fleshed out the band’s old-time good-time stage-party 1970s feel.

And then suddenly, at the close of the evening: metal. Northwind—Nick Molson, Kris Kolesnikoff, Ross Oyurkovitz, and Shane Sherm subbing on guitar—boasted, having left their synth player at home, a six-string bass, a pair of matching flying V’s, a double-kick, and two china cymbals. Extreme! Singer-guitarist Kolesnikoff projected all the charisma and rakish charm of Bruce Dickinson, and gave mad props to the Velvet Underground, SCSU, participating artists, and other bands.

And then it was over.

First-prize winners Prank Hot took home $500, Locomotive Ghost, a close second, bagged $250, and third-prize winners Sarah’s Electric Panda scored a cool $125. When pressed for a quote, SEP bassist Matt Haywood said, “It’s cool being in Nelson, just playing whatever music you want.” Damnnnn straight.

For upcoming shows, music downloads, and more information, check out everybody’s websites:

Soundsplash: myspace.com/soundsplashmusic

Sarah’s Electric Panda: myspace.com/sarahspandaland

Locomotive Ghost: myspace.com/locomotiveghost

Akhil Kodamanchili: soundclick.com/anidlemind

Northwind: myspace.com/knightsofthenorthwind

On March 2, the founding members of the SCSU’s Total Bouldering Club, James Boldt and Tanya Foster, RRS students at Selkirk’ College, unveiled an almost entirely revamped bouldering cave in the Castlegar campus, boasting challenging new climbing routes for all experience levels.

The occasion marked the club’s inaugural Bouldering Competition, which was complete with oodles of prizes generously supplied by over 15 local sponsors, including the Lion’s Head Brewpub, Kootenay Centre Cinemas, the Castle Café, Patagonia, Valhalla Pure Outfitters, Safeway, Boston Pizza, and the Selkirk cafeteria and bookstore.

Though the swag was sweet, the crags were sweeter. So sweet, that over 20 enthusiastic boulderers in three experience categories crowded the entrance of the cave, eagerly awaiting their turn to top out.

The competition’s categories required climbers to classify themselves as either Intermediate, Beginner, or Amateur, but despite drastic differences in skill and experience levels, all competitors managed to swing off routes that challenged their problem-solving skills.

“This is probably the best-organized campus event I’ve been to this year,” commented campus recreation enthusiast and killer local DJ Kevin Heidt, who had spectators crowded in the doorway bobbing their heads to the bumping music mix.

Heidt’s enthusiasm was mirrored by competition organizers Foster and Boldt, who spent many hard hours prepping the cave for the event: taking down and reassessing old routes, cleaning chalk and age-old finger grease off holds, and rearranging, retaping, and rethinking routes.

“We’re just so grateful to our sponsors and everybody who came out. It’s great to see our hard work pay off,” said Boldt.

“It was fun!” added Foster.

Event participant Jean-Fred Mongrain agreed, “So fun,” he said. “Really.” The man is not a fool.

If you’re ever looking to kill some time on campus, check out the Bouldering Cave, just down the hall from the weight room on the Selkirk College Castlegar Campus. Shoes and chalk can be borrowed from the equipment room across from the gym, free of charge.

For more information about the SCSU Total Bouldering Club, contact James Boldt by email at leadingtheway_2001@yahoo.ca.

On December 5, I woke up, brushed my teeth, and jammed five crazy carpets into an already jam-packed pack-rat backpack; stuck woolly-socked feet in worn-out snowboots, and met the seven other members of Selkirk’s fledgling Outdoors Club in the parking lot of Kekuli House for an overnight trip on Ripple Ridge, near Creston.

We piled into a couple of beat-up sedans filled to the rafters with snowshoes, skis, supplies, poles, jackets, and sleeping bags and listened to music by the Bear Necessities and Fresh Prince all the way to Kootenay Pass.

In books I’ve read there have been snug little A-frames, chopped wood, and cozy corners atop snow-dusted mountains, but not in my real life that I’m living day to day.

On that day however, we pulled into the Creston/Salmo Summit brake check area, piled out of the two beat-up sedans, grabbed gear, strapped on snowshoes and telemark skis, and began the uphill leg of our journey to an A-frame “snug-as-any-book-concerned-with-cozy” might describe.

Out on the ridge at the 1952 metre mark, the club undertook the construction of a quinzee—a snow shelter—we hope to use for winter slumber parties in January. Though a quinzee as big as the one we had our hearts set on couldn’t comfortably be finished in two days, we managed to put quite a dent in the snowpack on the side of our chosen hill.

Unlike an igloo, which is built of cut snow blocks, a quinzee is made by hollowing out a large pile of settled snow and using the excess to construct a cool tunnel entrance.

We spent the afternoon, shovels in hand, moving great quantities of snow up and down and over our quinzee’s proposed location, with gusto, until the sun began to slip behind the hill and all our arms were creaking with the effort of a shovelful.

At home in our snug little cabin we brewed up pot after pot of tea, feasted on curry and homemade pitas, and played cards by candlelight. And after supper, stars studding the sky, we picked out Cassiopeia, untied the flying saucers, yanked the crazy carpets out of our bags, and spent a few hours screaming through the powder and the cold, wind whipping against our faces, snow creeping into boots and jacket sleeves and crystallizing in hair and eyelashes until we’d torn up the pristine hill and the moon began to rise.

Sleepy-limbed and cupcake-hungry, we dragged our carcasses back to the cabin for dessert and curled up like kittens in our sleeping bags, while Nigel stoked the crackling fire.

The Outdoors Club went to Kootenay Pass to build a quinzee that weekend. We had a killer good time.

For more information regarding the SCSU Outdoors Club, contact Jean-Frederic Mongrain at jf_mongrain@hotmail.com.