Mike Usinger

5 days ago | straight.com | Mike Usinger

Get the best of Vancouver in your inbox, every Tuesday and Thursday. Sign up for our free newsletter. What’s In Your Fridge is where the Straight asks interesting Vancouverites about their life-changing concerts, favourite albums, and, most importantly, what’s sitting beside the Heinz ketchup in their custom-made Big Chill Retropolitan 20.6-cubic-foot refrigerators.

6 days ago | straight.com | Mike Usinger

It’s the most wonderful time of the year not named Christmas, my birthday, and Happy Leafs Elimination Day. The greatest and most punishing tournament in professional sports officially starts tomorrow, with 16 teams facing off in round one of the 2025 Stanley Cup Playoffs. And with that in mind here, as always, is a love letter from the West Coast:Fuck Canada. Signed, the Vancouver Canucks’ fan base.

1 week ago | straight.com | Mike Usinger

As a judge of talent, there’s a case to be made that late British blues giant John Mayall was a little more astute than most. Active from the early ’60s until his death last year at the age of 90, the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame inductee saw his fair share of sidemen over the decades. Guitarists who played in his fabled band the Bluesbreakers include Eric Clapton, a before-Rolling Stones Mick Taylor, and future Fleetwood Mac founder Peter Green.

1 week ago | straight.com | Mike Usinger

Here’s a question that’s not always easily answered: how does one make a weirdly unlikable person seem like more of a relatable human being? As evidenced by the ongoing public perceptions of Van Morrison, Tommy Lee Jones, Ted Cruz, and, well, me, the job isn’t an easy one. But that doesn’t mean it’s not impossible. And that makes one wonder what the hell the Pierre Poilievre camp is thinking as the Conservative Party’s federal election hopes for 2025 continue to slide straight down the shitter.

1 week ago | straight.com | Mike Usinger

Feel free to admit that, as much as you’re all in for Elbows Up, the ongoing trade war with our southern neighbours has led to some disappointments. For the past decade and a half you’ve been saving up for that dream bottle of Van Winkle Special Reserve Corti Brothers 20 Year Old, and that's meant sacrifices. Like driving a 1977 Vauxhall beater when you'd rather be the owner of a Vanishing Point-white 1970 Dodge Challenger R/T with a 440 Magnum engine.