Author: Pope Lenny

I'm only wanted by directors for the image I give off, and it makes me angry. I always wanted to be an actor and not a beauty pageant winner. Jude Law
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Lady Gaga VS Madonna

Madonna has had a strong connection to Vancouver through her various concert performances, where she has performed for thousands of fans as part of her world tours. Some key performances in Vancouver include:

  1. Rebel Heart Tour (2015) – Madonna performed at Rogers Arena on October 14, 2015. The Rebel Heart Tour was known for its high energy, elaborate costumes, and a mix of both new material and her classic hits.
  2. MDNA Tour (2012) – On September 29, 2012, Madonna’s MDNA Tour made a stop at Rogers Arena. This tour supported her MDNA album and included dramatic visuals, choreography, and hit songs like “Like a Prayer” and “Vogue.”
  3. Sticky & Sweet Tour (2008) – On October 30, 2008, Madonna performed in Vancouver as part of her Sticky & Sweet Tour. This tour promoted her Hard Candy album and was one of her most commercially successful tours, filled with energetic dance numbers and a lively setlist.

Vancouver has often been included in her tour stops due to its enthusiastic fanbase and its role as a major city on her North American legs of world tours.

“Expect No Mercy” is a well-known slogan, particularly associated with the East Vancouver (East Van) community, often reflecting a strong, gritty, and rebellious attitude. It has been seen on murals, graffiti, and in various local art forms. The slogan encapsulates a defiant spirit, often tied to the area’s working-class roots and a sense of toughness in the face of challenges.

East Vancouver, or “East Van,” has a unique cultural identity, known for its diversity, creativity, and sometimes rebellious nature. The “Expect No Mercy” phrase fits into this ethos, symbolizing a sense of pride and resilience in a community that has historically dealt with socioeconomic struggles, gentrification, and cultural shifts.

The phrase itself is often used in street art and graffiti, adding to East Van’s image as a place where people stand their ground and express themselves in bold, unapologetic ways.

Madonna’s daughter, Mercy James, was adopted from Malawi in 2009. She is the second of Madonna’s children to be adopted from Malawi, following her son David Banda. Here are a few details about Mercy James:

  • Full Name: Mercy James Ciccone
  • Adoption: Madonna adopted Mercy when she was four years old, and the adoption process was finalized in 2009.
  • Education: Mercy is known to have a strong interest in the performing arts, particularly dance. She has participated in dance classes and shows.
  • Public Appearances: Mercy has occasionally appeared with Madonna at public events, including the Met Gala and various family outings. She has also been featured on Madonna’s social media, showcasing their close relationship.

Madonna has spoken about the importance of family and her commitment to raising her children in a supportive environment.

“Have Mercy” is a song by John Stamos that he performed for the television series Full House during its original run. The song is often associated with Stamos’s character, Jesse Katsopolis, who is a musician on the show. Here are some key details:

  • Performance: The song features a blend of pop and rock elements, showcasing Stamos’s musical talents, particularly on the guitar.
  • Cultural Impact: “Have Mercy” became memorable among fans of Full House, reflecting Jesse’s character’s charm and his role as a struggling musician.
  • Legacy: John Stamos has revisited this song in various appearances and performances, keeping the nostalgia of Full House alive for fans.

CONCLUSION

Madonna’s song “Looking for Mercy” is part of her 2019 album Madame X. The track explores themes of vulnerability, compassion, and the search for solace in a chaotic world. Here are some key points about the song:

Key Points about “Looking for Mercy”:


Theme: The song delves into the struggles of seeking understanding and empathy, reflecting on the difficulties of life and the human condition.


Musical Style: It features a blend of pop and world music influences, characteristic of the

Madame X album’s eclectic sound.


Lyrical Content: The lyrics convey a sense of longing and the desire for mercy in the face of personal and societal challenges.

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I Decide Who Is a Saint

East Vancouver’s Infamous Youth Gang and the Park They Ruled

These days, East Vancouver is home to its share of million-dollar homes. But in this story from our archives, we look back at the fearsome Clark Park Gang that once vigorously defended this turf. “The gang were like a bit of a boogieman, a ghost story that you’d tell kids: ‘Watch out! Don’t go out to East Van at this time of night or the Clark Park Gang will get you!’” historian Aaron Chapman told us when his book, The Last Gang in Town, came out four years ago.

Vancouver still suffers from gang crime—from drug trafficking to targeted shootings—but local historian and author Aaron Chapman theorizes that it’s easier for regular folk to steer clear of that kind of clustered activity these days than the brazen, in-your-face approach of the youth gangs from the 1960s and ’70s. Chapman’s latest book, The Last Gang in Town (out now on Arsenal Pulp Press), explains how hundreds of East End kids from low-income backgrounds and troubled family dynamics locked down in spaces like Riley Park and Brewers Park at night to hold their territory, putting the scare into outsiders that dared crossed their greenways. While today it’s just as likely to find million-dollar properties in East Van as it is in Kerrisdale, Chapman notes that back then the East Side was a “hard scrabble place,” and no group was more feared on the turf than the Clark Park Gang.

“Everybody talked about how the Clark Park Gang was the toughest, the meanest, the most evil of all those people,” Chapman explains, noting that even growing up in town in the ’80s left him with a head full of violent hearsay about the crew. “The gang were like a bit of a boogieman, a ghost story that you’d tell kids: ‘Watch out! Don’t go out to East Van at this time of night or the Clark Park Gang will get you!’ That myth fascinated me. I wanted to get the truth out of the myth.”

Chapman’s professional interest in the Clark Parkers stems from a 2011 Vancouver Courier piece that dealt with their legacy—a legacy raised sky-high because the gang was blamed for a Molotov cocktail-tossing brawl with police outside of a Rolling Stones concert at the Pacific Coliseum in 1972. The Last Gang in Town breaks down how the Clark Parkers were more of an apolitical, fists-up kind of force to be reckoned with: a crew of over 200 that were bouncing in and out of the juvenile detention system after dabbling in street violence, vandalism, arson, and theft. The book also examines the tragic police shooting of 17-year-old gang member Danny Teece, who had been escaping in a stolen car with a few other boys from the group when he was killed.

Another major focus of the tome is the Vancouver Police Department (VPD)’s just slightly under-the-radar H-Squad, who would go into the parks undercover to target the status-quo-threatening Clark Parkers. One gang member was picked up and thrown into the water in not-so-nearby Steveston Harbour. Perhaps starting more problems than it solved, this led to the Clark Parker stealing a car to get back home.

“This is before, of course, the Charter of Rights and Freedoms in Canada, where police are given a little more mandate and direction,” Chapman explains of the H-Squad. “These are the wild and woolly ’70s, where you could get away with a lot more. [But] even back then, they would’ve been considered really colouring out of bound with that gang task force.”

For The Last Gang in Town, Chapman reached out to a number of former gang members and retired police officials. Access to surviving Clark Parkers was fairly easy, with many having reformed, and the statute of limitations on other crimes having long passed. Getting the H-Squad on record proved a bit trickier. Chapman reveals: “I filed a Freedom of Information request with the VPD and they didn’t have anything on file. Whether it had all been destroyed or not, it’s hard to say, because some of the record-keeping in the 1970s was not very good. Unless you have a specific incident number, it’s hard to find.”

But from the existing police transcripts and photos, to the press coverage from the time, to the anecdotes offered present-day, The Last Gang in Town is a fascinating look at how gang life in the city has evolved. “These guys, they were sort of the dinosaurs before the comet hit,” Chapman theorizes, suggesting that today’s gangs come from a more upper-middle-class background than the Clark Parkers, who scattered by the end of the ’70s. “Within a couple of years, the stakes are raised. No longer are the gangs interested in some minor breaking-and-entering, or territorial squabbles. Now they’re interested solely in the traffic of drugs.”

Chapman continues: “I didn’t mean to make the Clark Park Gang guys any more noble or anything like that, but they were less motivated by the greed and avarice of money. They sort of stuck together, there was a bit more of a code: things they would do, some things they wouldn’t touch, or whatnot. It was a different time. They were the last of their kind in that sense.”