Another day at the Beer Tent, though I got there a tad later. Beer was supposed to arrive anywhere from 11 to noon, it came about 3:30pm if I remember right. And there was no sense in my going for the beer, they brought three people and three handcarts. I suspect that happened last year too, when it came earlier than I'd been told and missed it. For a long time, it was only the driver, and so we volunteers worked hard at moving the kegs. That's the Donkey Kong reference, we were rolling the kegs into the park. But with three handcarts, rolling just got in the way, so I think my days of moving beer is in the past.
But there were some last minute things to take care of, so i didn't completely sit around. I think the full cast of "Think Outside" came to help, they were actually fun to have around. They even have tshirts, though I initially thought only those with tshirts were part of the troupe. It is a good way to work your way into the Fringe culturally, yes you can promote your show but the real impact is not that the olunteers may come to your show, but that they will think kindly towards your show. I do mention the show here, right? I've often thought for out of towners, it's also something to do. If you are in a strange place, helping out at the Beer Tent is a means of staying with the somewhat familiar, and then for the rest of the Fringe, there are some people around that you know.
Again, the postering was happening today rather than opening night. The first in line arrived about 3:30pm, "C'est un Riopel". Liz doing "Arthur C. Clarke's How We Went to Mars", was next in line, I guess reasonably soon after. A few trickled in, but then the real crowd did not arrive until much closer to the 6pm start time.
One or two acts were smiling at me, and oddly I didn't react. I suddenlywasn't sure if they perceived me as authority, or if they remembered me from other years. And sometimes it is actually someone I may know. Even some of the people bringing the tents or fences remember me from year to year.
So long as Patrick and a few other people aren't around, I've been around longer than anyone, now that Jeremy has "retired". Well, Nancy K. Brown is senior volunteer, I can't think of any volunteers who are still around who predate me. Tristan was a volunteer from Fringe 1, but he's been staff and board of directors since. Kristi in the counting house is another volunteer from before I arrived, but she's been staff, and has also missed some years.
There were some new rules about the postering, some good, some seem arbitrary. No postering on the benches, which is great. We've always cleaned them up, but two years ago we were told to scrub harder. It wasn't clear whether it was change of management of complaints, but this time Many said there had been complaints. That's one rule I'm glad of, those benches were really hard to get back in "normal" state. The glue of the tape actually starts affecting the wood. No postering on the tables where the beer is served. I think I can rememember when someone first took the initative to poster there, I guess it's deemed too messythough it always seemed like a good place. I'd still like to try putting posters under the plastic, without tape. If it works the posters stay clean and the top of the plastic is clean, but of course if it doesn't work, the beer gets under the plastic and the flyers soak it up. Some areas of the fence were reserved, obviously in some cases though I don't know why the fence on St. Dominique has to remain poster free.
I announced one minute to go at 5:59, nobody took the bait, so I blew the whistle at 6pm, and crowd rolled in. The usual stampede, some had been waiting for some time, though some had spent the time postering the outside of the fence and arranging their posters in preformed sets. Without that crowd of artists, there would be no Fringe. They are the paying customers at the moment, they subcontract the venue, technical help and ticket sales (plus some other bits and pieces) from the Fringe and they won't make money until they can sell their show to an audience.
Nodoby was at the gate holding the crowd back, nobody was there to greet them except for me. I can remember when volunteers ruled the Fringe, I can remember when that first night postering wasn't seen as tradition, but as one important thing to do to lure an audience to your show. I have absolutely no status, yet I have the deep history and uphold the culture of the Fringe.
With the posters up, it was the usual mingling. But then the sky darkened. We were actually lucky, it didn't rain either day of the setup, though it had been forecast. It's not fun being cold and wet all day. And then the wind came, gritty dry wind and then the rain came. Not too heavy, but not too pleasant. Amy passes by and whispers "it's not my fault". And I sure woudln't pin rain on her. It happens.
I left about 8:30pm. Again I was too worn down to do anything useful, so I was going to watch "Saving Private Ryan" as a late D-Day memorial, but the VHS copy I bought the week before for 25cents has mangled sound. I wonder if it was like that when I bought it, or if I mangled it by putting that radio on top of the tapes? So instead, I watched "The Ghost and the Darkness", that Val Kilmar/Michael Douglas film about a man eating lion attacking railroad workers in Africa. I never saw it before. It was okay, but I should have been doing something practical.
I think that gets the accumulated junk out of my system, so now I can get
with the Fringe.
