Technocolour Dreams: A revolution is born

A new revolution is born

By Jesse Ferguson

(Article originally written 03/31/13; adapted 03/04/2017)

“WE WANT PAINT!”

This may sound like an odd request, but that’s exactly what Dom Sabourin loves to hear.

It shows him, the creator of the experience, that patrons are having fun to an extent unimaginable to those who have never experienced it.

“Technocolour Dreams was thee best experience of my life,” said Lisa De Jong, who attended a rendition of the event in St. Catharines, Ont. “It was completely ridiculous.”

What is Technocolour Dreams you may be asking?

“Plain and simple, it’s a paint party,” said Sabourin (above), the Brantford product.

Paint is fired off the stage primarily by modified water guns via a splatter into the crowd. The result? Paint ends up on people’s clothes, paint ends up in their faces, paint ends up on the floor and paint ends up on the walls.

Sabourin smiled and summed it up nicely: “Paint ends up everywhere.”

Under the black lights, the paint glows, creating fabulous fluorescent spectacles all over the dancefloor. 

“It’s a mess,” said Sabourin, standing a burly 6’3” while weighing in at 220 pounds. “But it’s worth it.”

The paint is supposed to be washable, but as guests have found out, it doesn’t come out very easily... if at all.

Regardless, the crowds love it. “It’s seriously the craziest party I’ve ever been to,” said model Nicole Arbour. “And that includes Cancun, Spring Break, MuchMusic Video Awards, everything.”

The increased attendance also appears to be worth the mess. Club NV in Brantford has held five of these events, with the next scheduled to happen at Club NV Saturday, March 4 (which is... TONIGHT!!)

The name “Technocolour Dreams” comes from where, you ask? Explaining the process, Sabourin says he wanted to include the type of music (TECHNO), the paint aspect (COLOUR) and finally, because “we want the atmosphere to be fantasy-like, where people can show up in the most creative costumes and escape reality, (DREAMS) is only fitting. "

Founded in 2012 with partner Yvonne Arbour, the mission of Technocolour Dreams is to deliver the best and most unique party experience to its guests.

“The idea came to me when I first experienced a version of a somewhat-like paint party in Panama City (Florida),” Sabourin said. “I was blown away. It was like being a kid again.

“And I thought how cool it would be to bring back to Canada..."

Well, he has... with a bang!

“The only thing we use [from the party in Florida] is the concept of paint, which can’t be trademarked,” Sabourin explained. “The name and everything else are original.”

Sabourin continued, “When I got back to Canada, I decided to make something happen. The owner of Club NV gave me the time of day to discuss my plans.”

From there, everything sprouted neon.

Sabourin, a Winnipeg native, graduated from Business-Marketing in 2012 at Mohawk College (Hamilton, Ont.), where he gained his entrepreneurial edge. He had already infiltrated the bar scene, working as a bartender at Boston Pizza South (by the casino), and these credentials paired to make the transition to initiating Technocolour Dreams a big step, but not an impossible one.

“I decided to take marketing at school because I love watching something I create grow,” said the Brantford Collegiate Institute graduate. “I like to picture an end product and figure out how to get there.

“I knew trying to sell a paint party to kids that have never heard of it would be a difficult,” he explained. “So I took my knowledge from marketing and called Dunbar from MTV’s ‘Real World’ who I met in Florida to see if he'd host it,” said a determined Sabourin. “This gave me a selling edge.”

The first ever paint party was at Club NV on September 15^th, 2012. Admission was reasonable compared to the amount of cover for a typical night. Proceeding this event, Technocolour Dreams’ popularity became contagious and soon thereafter, clubs across Ontario were all but lined up to have their own versions of the party.

“Our first party didn't quite sell out, but the goal was just to make sure people left wanting more,” he assures. “Needless to say, it was a success and from there we had to plan the next one.”

The next one, thrown just a month after the first, was a risk, yet attendance numbers doubled. “From there,” he explained, “we knew we had lightning in a bottle and were on to something.”

Sabourin and his “Dream Team” have also been to St. Catharines, Hamilton, Toronto and Barrie in the past few months with plans to hit more cities abroad.

“I have several cities (bars) lined up for meetings to plan events,” Sabourin said. He has reached out to Montreal, with no plan to limit the parameters of Technocolour Dreams. Sabourin even posted on his Facebook that someone in Africa has reported interest in hosting his party!

“Everyone I’ve talked to says this is my calling,” the entrepreneur said. “For me, the feedback from the fans is the priceless reward.”

Sabourin may want to buy stock in paint because the people have spoken. You can hear them in the background, faintly at first, but reassuringly, louder and louder, eventually screaming over the music: “WE WANT PAINT!”

“That’s what makes me want to do this,” Sabourin said, smiling. “When I say I love doing this, I truly mean I love doing this.”

The revolution, in flying fluorescent colours, is on.

Exactly What You Need

Exactly What You Need  By Jesse Ferguson   Meet Kaitlyn Brown. Maybe you know her. If not, she is a mid-20s woman from Brantford, Ont. Perhaps most importantly for the community, she (pictured below) is opening a weight management and nutritional supplement franchise under EWYN right here in her hometown, of Brantford (EWYN stands for “Exactly What You Need”, which, not coincidentally, is also the motto Brown follows for her clients).  Brown and EWYN studios offer clients personalized meal plans, one-on-one personal coaching and nutritional supplements to help them lose weight or achieve their weight loss goals. According to Brown, compliant clients can expect to lose an average of two-seven pounds per week if they follow the meal plan, take the mandatory nutritional supplements, and come in for their coaching sessions. “I believe that every client that wants to lose weight will achieve their goals if they stick to their personalized plan,” says a confident Brown. The new EWYN studio is located conveniently on the corner of Charing Cross Street and North Park Street. Ironically, this location pits itself right across from eateries including KFC and Dominos Pizza, and is beside Pizza Roma (so if you want to offset your greasy lunch, you can come and see Kait! Or if you want to get ahead, just go see her and she’ll tell you what your lunch should be instead). So, how did Brown get in this spot to open a franchise? It all started for her on her own weight loss journey. She lost 40 pounds, and soon thereafter felt the burn of wanting to help others feel the burn too. She then applied for a personal health coach position at a local weight loss centre in Port Elgin in 2012 and landed the job. After, Brown was then contacted by Dieter Decker, formerly the founder of Herbal Magic. His team from EWYN Studios liked her experience, she said, and so she moved to Sarnia to learn the business and work at one of their corporate studios. After increased clientele and success for five months, Brown felt that she had learned enough about EWYN Studios. “I was ready to open my own studio in Brantford,” she explains. So she met with Decker again to discuss the details of the franchise agreement. “Deiter saw the potential in Brantford for a franchise and we thought I could run it,” Brown says. “So I committed to the opening and I moved back here.”  Interested in a better body? Does your spouse want one for you?? Do you want one for them? (Be careful with broaching this topic…)  “I get goosebumps through my body when I sign up new clients because I see their potential and I want to make their potential a reality,” she gushes. “When my clients succeed, I feel a sense of accomplishment and I am proud to have changed a life for the better,” she explains.  “When they join, the knowledgeable personal health coaches will create a personalized meal plan and suggest an exercise routine to achieve their goals.” EWYN Weight Loss Studios opened May 16th and will celebrate their Grand Opening on May 24th. Potential clients are welcome to come out! “If clients don’t succeed in reaching their goals, they have not failed,” Brown tells. “I have failed. I want that onus to be on me,” Brown says. “I am committed to changing their lives for the better.” She advises that people can come in for a free consultation any time. Interested? Come to the Grand Opening Tuesday and check it out!! Other than weight, what do you have to lose? It may just be exactly what you need.

What the Donald Sterling?

By Jesse Ferguson

May 30, 2005

To start, I must conform– and confirm– my stance on the disgraced owner of the Los Angeles Clippers as disgraceful, fittingly enough. It’s not right how the owner of a basketball team, a predominantly African-American sport, can be racist against African-Americans– specifically against a man everyone respects, basketball legend Magic Johnson. As wrong as that was, the penalty against Donald Sterling from the NBA is kind of shocking in itself (and under full disclosure, I’m a middle-class white boy).

As I listened to the mysteriously “leaked” tape to TMZ from Sterling’s phone call with V. Stiviano, a woman a fraction his age, I sat tongue-in-cheek with utter disbelief. Is he really saying this?, I thought to myself. However, Sterling did not drop the n-bomb. The worst thing he actually said was “those people” which invokes a problematic division of power which African-Americans are lesser.

But, for one minute, let’s consider where Sterling is coming from. Born in 1934 makes him 80 years old. This was an era in which segregation was a major issue and society was very racist (lest we forget that Jackie Robinson broke the colour barrier in 1947, 13 years after Sterling was born). Thus Sterling, a Jewish-born white man, perhaps unknowingly, used his dated concepts of race in this recording. It was an old man using his old concepts of reality, and failure to adjust is likely what Sterling’s wife enlists as mental deficiencies.

However, it’s not like this was a total shocker for the NBA. They knew Sterling was wired like this. Former NBA commissioner David Stern never penalized Sterling or rushed to straighten him out from his dated beliefs. Instead the NBA appeared to simply tolerate him without penalty.

New NBA commissioner Adam Silver was forced to take swift action after the recording was leaked, because his players (African-American players make up 78 percent of the league, according to racial equality activist Richard Lapchick) were threatening to walk out during the playoffs, which would not be good for any league. Silver then banned Sterling from any affiliation with the league and disbarred him from the Los Angeles Clippers, effective immediately, also dropping a $2.5 million dollar fine, the maximum possible under the NBA’s collective bargaining agreement. This was unprecedented action… but it was possibly the only just solution as far as the players are concerned.

Despite alienating an incredibly large group of people he employs in the process, Sterling broke no laws. Actually, the phone call recording is totally illegal in the first place. As a journalist, I know that for a phone call to be recorded, law states that both parties on the phone need to be aware that it is being recorded. Sterling may not know that he is a racist, but he definitely didn’t know that call was being recorded. For better or for worse, Donald, it appears that “V.” (Stiviano goes by an initial), just may have set you up (V standing for Vindictive? Sounds plausible…).

Of course, there is no conceivable way a man can own a basketball team being racist against the majority of players he employs. Next year the Clippers will be hardpressed to field a team (or floor a squad) after this mess with Sterling as owner in any way. The NBA will find one way or another to force Sterling to be vacated from the team and the league. How they intend to do this is anyone’s guess. I’m not sure there is a way to do so legally without Sterling’s consent. However, the NBA must remove him quickly so the Clippers can remain in existence. It’s hard to think with a whole offseason for the NBA to act that any African-American player would play for a team led by Donald Sterling, a bigot, according to everyone who’s heard the recording.

The only solution that would appear to appease both sides is the sale of the team (the NBA can’t hold the fast-forward button down hard enough to get a sale done ASAP). The only problem is Sterling doesn’t appear willing to sell. However, consider that Sterling paid $12.5 million dollars for the Clippers in 1981, and now? Estimates have the winning bidder to be nowhere short of $2 billion dollars.

On Friday, according to a vote, Sports Illustrated called Sterling the most hated man in America.  That is pretty strong, but that’s the public voice. If he doesn’t sell now and draws this thing out, which he may well do (and which he may well win because of the recording’s legality and the NBA forcing his hand), this franchise is going to implode itself out of existence. There’s hardly a hate great enough to explain how the NBA would feel if he destroys a franchise. I don’t think the NBA will allow that to happen because that would be admitting a fail (no word whether Sterling would like to add being responsible for bringing down a franchise to his résumé).

Again, that’s $2 billion (using a ‘b’ as in billion). I know you’re old school, Donald, but a one billion nine hundred eighty-eight million return on your purchase? That’s a nice flip. Do everyone a favour and take your money and run.

Ryan Braun: Adulation?

April 1, 2014

In December 2011, Milwaukee Brewers’ All-Star fielder Ryan Braun tested positive for extensive testosterone levels (which is included in the MLB’s forbidden performance enhancing drugs). He adamantly appealed the ruling of the charges at a press conference claiming the test results must be a mistake (all the while wearing a sleazy leather jacket). Ultimately, he told everybody he didn’t do steroids, plain and simple.

He blamed the botched testing procedure as the reason his test appeared positive. I didn’t pay attention to this press conference (below) because I wasn’t buying his appeal. Blaming the process for your positive test? That screamed out bogus to me (cop-out anyone?). How the sample was handled– that’s why the test came in positive, he said. Or it came up positive because it found something they were testing for. It was one of the two. I didn’t know the handling of a sample could bring about an opposite result… but on a technicality, Braun got off the hook and his suspension was dropped. His name still appeared reputable at large.

 

Then, midway through the 2013 season, Braun was implicated in the Biogenesis scandal, which also threw Alex Rodriguez to the wolves (again). Braun, himself, did not deny the charges for using P.E.D.s this time. His punishment for being busted was suspension for the rest of the season (65 games). He accepted the penalty, and in a statement, Braun said, “I realize now that I have made some mistakes. I am willing to accept the consequences of those actions.”

After this admission, one should wonder: Isn’t it a little late for that now?

The Milwaukee Brewers’ playoff aspirations were dismantled for the season as they lost their All-Star fielder and the team faced the distraction of Braun’s baggage all year long. That’s all anyone really wanted to talk about in regards to Milwaukee.

Fast-forward to now, following his season-long suspension, on March 31^st, 2014, Major League Baseball’s Opening Day, the Brewers opened the season at home. “Hitting third for the Brewers, Ryan Braun.”

How do you think he was received?

Sickeningly enough, the crowd gave the man, the same man guilty of cheating, the same man that lied about it, the same man who ruined their team’s season, the same man who provided a distraction for the team ever since the failed test, the crowd gave this same man a standing ovation. I was stunned in awe. 

Really? Even for the homecrowd, I’m confused, asking, Really?

Were you folks of Milwaukee cheering after the test came back positive and the suspension came down? Seems pretty hypocritical, at the least.

Greg Amsinger of MLB Network said: “I thought of all the kids at the game asking their fathers ‘Daddy, why are we standing and clapping?’”

Really, what do they tell them?

I know Braun didn’t ask for the ovation, but to every Brewers’ fan standing and clapping, I would like to ask them, why the hell exactly are you out of your seat and clapping?

That’s what makes me sick. I have to wonder, WHERE IS YOUR INTEGRITY? This guy cheated, and lied about it. To you! To us all. Sit the hell down!! You would be more right to boo this cheat, au contraire.

As Alex Rodriguez sits somewhere (right), suspended for the entire year, he must be wondering, “What's the difference between him and I? We both cheated, lied, then got suspended for it.” 

Really, aren’t these two players the exact same? But everybody hates Rodriguez, while Brewers fans, apparently, still love Braun (Rodriguez may think, naively, that he will be treated like to an ovation at home after his suspension too, but the chances New York fans will cheer is a New York minute lasting an entire season).

The only difference I can see about these two cases is that A-Rod is under contract in New York while Braun plays in small-market Milwaukee.  Are there really any other major differences? Surely, even if there are, I don’t think any of the differences (nor the similarities) grant a standing ovation for. Cheating doesn’t deserve an ovation, in New York, Milwaukee, or anywhere.

@_JesseTheMan; lostprophet_04@hotmail.com