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MUSIC SERIES Kay Alsop When our beloved West Vancouver Memorial Library opened its doors to more than a hundred music-lovers November 25 , few realized what a special treat was in store - a "magic carpet" trip to far-off West Africa via the music of Alpha Yaya Diallo. For more than an hour, the gifted musicians, garbed in traditional Guinean robes, hypnotized their audience with a melange of throbbing, intoxicating rhythms quite unknown to these sober Western-Canadian ears of ours. The audience, mesmerized by the pulsing beat of tribal music, responded by tapping toes, twitching shoulders or jumping to their feet in total abandon. One small girl accepted dancer Jacky Essombe's coaxing and joined her in the musicians' circle, twirling and twisting in time to the rhythms. Most of the audience didn't realize that a major international musical artist was in their midst that night. Five times nominated, and three times Juno award winner, Alpha Yaya Diallo is an expatriate of Guinea. Based in Vancouver since 1991, he has assembled a group of talented musicians as enthused as he is about 'Afro-funk'. Vegan Cendar plays bass guitar, Mat Van Dyke plays drums and Kocassace Dioubate plays percussion, with Jacky Essombe the distractingly delightful dancer of the group. Librarian (Adult Department) Sue Kent welcomed guests to this unusual concert funded by the generous bequest of Library benefactor Robert Leslie Welsh. As always, the Friends of the Library provided punch and cookies, hosted by President Sophie Weremchuk, along with Kay Alsop, Edda Davis, Dorothy Evers, Noelene Harland, Joan MacArthur and Betty Stephen. FILM FESTIVAL Kay Alsop Handing out popcorn at our Library's movie night? Sounds a little boring, maybe, but when Sophia says she needs me, I'm there. And I was, although frankly when I realized that I'd be watching a film on drug addiction, I thought briefly of ducking out. But I didn't, and when I left later that evening I knew I was a more enlightened person. The documentary we saw, titled "The Fix: Life in the Downtown Eastside" was a brutally frank, gripping expose of what goes on 24 hours-a-day in that horrific, depressed area of Vancouver. Along with the 30 or so brave attendees that night, I saw it all - the "shooting up", the drug dealing, the pitiful desperation of the user victims, the compassionate attempts of a handful of good people who try to help - and I found it unforgettable. Like most of us, I think, I had read newspaper accounts of what life was like in that area of our city, but it's so easy to turn the page of a newspaper and go on to a happier