Vancouver Olympics Glitz and Glamour

What's a world class, international, strenuous athletic competition without music, entertainment and celebrity gossip? This is the Internet Millennium after all; pop culture is what it's all really about, isn't it?

OK maybe not, but there is going to be significant entertainment and social hosting going on in the evenings throughout the Olympic Games, a good portion of it free. Full listings were released today.

Dubbed the "Cultural Olympiad" by the Vancouver Olympic Committee, there will be high-profile bands playing at BC Place for Opening, Closing and Awards Ceremonies. Tickets are not cheap and these events, are mostly sold out, however rumours are starting to fly of volunteers and performers selling what they received in exchange for services. Decide for yourself whether you think that is low-down and dirty or all part of the free market system. Apparently Craigslist is the place to go if you are part of the latter group, or simply desperate.

Acts appearing at BC Place include, after Olympic athlete medal presentations: Nelly Furtado, Barenaked Ladies, Paul Brandt, Hedley, Theory of a Deadman, Stereophonics, Trooper & Loverboy, Devo, Billy Talent, INXS, Burton Cummings, Great Big Sea. The completely maddening official Olympics Vancouver website doesn't list things normally, but I know that Sarah MacLachlan is playing, and I think it's for the Opening Ceremonies. Why is it such a secret? The thing is way sold out. Sometimes finding real information about the Olympics makes me feel like I'm living in a police state. Or one of rampant incompetence. Can't find at all who is playing the Closing Ceremonies either, what a joke. (PS: Trooper?? really? that's horrifying)

Sarah McLachlan wrote a song for the Olympics actually called "One Dream," which debuted at the end of January. The song seems to be doing well, with NBC selecting it as the centrepiece of its marketing campaign for the Vancouver games. That's kind of cool, considering another Canadian singer-songwriter, K'naan, had his song "Waving Flag" chosen as the official theme for the 2010 World Cup of Soccer.

Apart from the ticket-only events at BC Place there is a ton of acts playing around town, a lot of it free. Olympics organizers decided to put a heavy focus on Canadian acts, many of which are wildly popular up here, so expect quite a crush for a lot of those shows. I am for sure going to check out Mother Mother (saw them open for Sam Roberts in Deer Lake Park over the summer, smashing good show), Great Lakes Swimmers, Hey Rosetta!, Sam Roberts Band (that will be really squished for sure, he's playing few times), and my personal favourite, Jets Overhead. Full listing, as complete as I could find (its missing a lot), is posted on the Vancouver Sun newspaper Web site.

As far as celebrity gossip goes there is so much it is making my brain hurt frankly. I kind of hope the stories are exaggerated because people tend to lose their minds a little bit more than usual when famous people are about and a mob frenzy in the middle of massive crowds of international visitors milling together just doesn't sound safe.

Names dropped so far include but are not restricted to: Cindy Crawford, Michael Phelps, Buzz Aldrin, George Clooney, Nicole Kidman, Michael Schumacher, Zhang Ziyi, Sergio Garcia, Wayne Gretzky, Mike Weir, Brent Butt, Steve Nash, Ryan Reynolds, Hayden Christensen, and Sean "Puffy" Combs. Some of those people live in Vancouver so mentions are extraneous, but . . . whatever.

Such a list can not be considered complete, of course, without mention of the inimitable Stephen Colbert, who decided to launch an awkward battle with the Olympic Skating Oval in Richmond and is now attending the Games as an honourary member of the US speed skating team. Oh man he's doing colour commentary for NBC. Ok then!

The newly recorded remake of "We Are the World," as benefit for Haiti, will debut at the Opening Ceremonies. I don't know what that means. Will they play a video of the recording process? Tune in to find out, I guess.

And finally, in a weird twist, US figure skater Johnny Weir has bowed to pressure from animal rights groups and is changing his costume fringe to faux fur.