Word from a reliable source is that at the Drag Races on Saturday, there will be at least one Drag King participating.
This has been an ongoing story since one venue manager told me some years back that she wanted to be in the Drag Races, but they told her "only if you come as a woman". But she is already, what's the point of that? There was hurt in her heart.
But dreams do come true. Apparently she will be allowed to participate this year, indeed she has been allowed for the past two years, but was unable to do so for other reasons. Nobody told me, though it would seem that I was the one making the issue louder. I wouldn't have repeated myself if somebody had told me the change had happened.
The "reliable source" is the woman who wanted to participate, so I have no reason to believe she is making this up.
I wonder if the "10 year old boy" from "Beethoven Lives Upstairs" will participate too?
Saturday, June 18, 2011
Friday, June 17, 2011
Arthur C. Clarke's How We Went to mars
I took all this time to write about the show, even though I saw it the first night, because I wanted to write something deep about it.
There has been science fiction at the Fringe before. In 1998, Anthony DP Mann did a show based on Dr. Who, but it was low budget and campy. It was fun, but it was not that different from most Fringe shows. (DP Mann was interesting, he sounded and looked old, but was only 21 that year. About a month after the Fringe, I saw some dinner theatre put on by him at a church hall, spaghetti while an original story based on Sherlock Holmes was performed.) In 2004, ASM did "The Martian Chronicles" and it was slick, but didn't really feel like anything.
Last year Black Box theatre did "Shades of Grey". About three old time type science fiction short stories presented in the form that was seen on "The Twilight Zone". You could feel those old stories, you could feel the connection to science fiction before it came to mean movies. But they were limited by the form.
This year they are back with "Arthur C. Clarke's How We Went to Mars" and I think they've done an even better job. They aren't stuck with a predefined form. It is a lecture (and no, I didn't talk to Liz last year about how lectures could be a form for Fringe shows) and while going to Mars is the theme, the lecturer has a distinct style that is entertaining. You need a dynamic artist to show off the static slides.
Science fiction is "fringe". It's over there somewhere. People do things because it interests them, the true definition of "amateur". Yet bring it to the Fringe, and suddenly that gets to show off. Someone who would spend so much time building a model, because he likes to build models, now gets to show it off, as part of the background to the lecture. The care put into the detail may be much finer than many Fringe shows, because putting on a show isn't the key component. The Fringe becomes a vehicle to put on the show, and like all kinds of art that is out there but which might not consider performing at the Fringe,
it may be better than some of the self defined artists who then lack experience or life to say something important.
Sorry Liz. in trying to do so much thise week, I don't convey this properly.
There has been science fiction at the Fringe before. In 1998, Anthony DP Mann did a show based on Dr. Who, but it was low budget and campy. It was fun, but it was not that different from most Fringe shows. (DP Mann was interesting, he sounded and looked old, but was only 21 that year. About a month after the Fringe, I saw some dinner theatre put on by him at a church hall, spaghetti while an original story based on Sherlock Holmes was performed.) In 2004, ASM did "The Martian Chronicles" and it was slick, but didn't really feel like anything.
Last year Black Box theatre did "Shades of Grey". About three old time type science fiction short stories presented in the form that was seen on "The Twilight Zone". You could feel those old stories, you could feel the connection to science fiction before it came to mean movies. But they were limited by the form.
This year they are back with "Arthur C. Clarke's How We Went to Mars" and I think they've done an even better job. They aren't stuck with a predefined form. It is a lecture (and no, I didn't talk to Liz last year about how lectures could be a form for Fringe shows) and while going to Mars is the theme, the lecturer has a distinct style that is entertaining. You need a dynamic artist to show off the static slides.
Science fiction is "fringe". It's over there somewhere. People do things because it interests them, the true definition of "amateur". Yet bring it to the Fringe, and suddenly that gets to show off. Someone who would spend so much time building a model, because he likes to build models, now gets to show it off, as part of the background to the lecture. The care put into the detail may be much finer than many Fringe shows, because putting on a show isn't the key component. The Fringe becomes a vehicle to put on the show, and like all kinds of art that is out there but which might not consider performing at the Fringe,
it may be better than some of the self defined artists who then lack experience or life to say something important.
Sorry Liz. in trying to do so much thise week, I don't convey this properly.
Lectures as Performance
One show I never got around to writing about last year was "A Trip to Coney Island with Uncle Zeroboy", seeing it late afternoon on the final Sunday. It intrigued me since it was listed as "multimedia" and I expected it to be a movie, but it was really a sort of tour of the place by acting out some of the people you'd meet at the park.
It reminded me of when lectures were big entertainment. Before tv, before radio, the lecture circuit was big, and people went not just to keep track of what was going on, but it was seen as entertainment. You wanted to catch Stanley after he'd found Livingston in Africa, not only for the story told, but because he'd been in the news. And without tv, movies or radio, the only live way to see such speakers was for him to tour about and come to your town.
When Ernest Shackleton got stuck in the Antarctic ice back in 1914, when they abandoned ship and then struggled across the ice and across dangerous open water, they get photographic plates because without them, the lecture would not be so interesting, and without the lecture tour, they'd never make the money needed to pay back the investors for the trip to the Antarctic.
Lectures make an interesting variation for a Fringe show. We've seen them, "The Bisexual Alphabet" that Shakti brought one year was really a lot less about entertainment than lecture. I guess all the "Teaching...." shows by Keir Cutler have lecture as a theme. Even MacHomer has an element of lecture, since it would be nothing without the drawings of the Simpsons characters.
But it becomes a dynamic way to show off something that would otherwise be static. If you have some drawing skill, you could get a Fringe slot and use it to display that art, but I can't see it working too well, the Fringe really is a performing arts festival and the art would be too static. But, turn it into a lecture, "I just got back from Alpha Centauri and here are some of the creatures I came upon...", it can become a vehicle to show off the art. Make the lecture entertaining, but the slides or whatever would be the key part. You can do things with a lecture that would be fairly impossible doing as performance. Too costly
to create costumes or sets, but if they exist only on a projection screen, they become doable. Yet the storytelling benefits from the visual element.
It reminded me of when lectures were big entertainment. Before tv, before radio, the lecture circuit was big, and people went not just to keep track of what was going on, but it was seen as entertainment. You wanted to catch Stanley after he'd found Livingston in Africa, not only for the story told, but because he'd been in the news. And without tv, movies or radio, the only live way to see such speakers was for him to tour about and come to your town.
When Ernest Shackleton got stuck in the Antarctic ice back in 1914, when they abandoned ship and then struggled across the ice and across dangerous open water, they get photographic plates because without them, the lecture would not be so interesting, and without the lecture tour, they'd never make the money needed to pay back the investors for the trip to the Antarctic.
Lectures make an interesting variation for a Fringe show. We've seen them, "The Bisexual Alphabet" that Shakti brought one year was really a lot less about entertainment than lecture. I guess all the "Teaching...." shows by Keir Cutler have lecture as a theme. Even MacHomer has an element of lecture, since it would be nothing without the drawings of the Simpsons characters.
But it becomes a dynamic way to show off something that would otherwise be static. If you have some drawing skill, you could get a Fringe slot and use it to display that art, but I can't see it working too well, the Fringe really is a performing arts festival and the art would be too static. But, turn it into a lecture, "I just got back from Alpha Centauri and here are some of the creatures I came upon...", it can become a vehicle to show off the art. Make the lecture entertaining, but the slides or whatever would be the key part. You can do things with a lecture that would be fairly impossible doing as performance. Too costly
to create costumes or sets, but if they exist only on a projection screen, they become doable. Yet the storytelling benefits from the visual element.
EcoCarnival at the Fringe
I was going to post that picture on Wednesday of me with a Zodiac in a Greenpeace Toronto action, since it was "Eco Day" at the Fringe, but I suddenly can't find it. (We got stopped by the OPP as we were going into the construction site of the Darlington nuclear power plant back in 1980, but unlike the other Zodiac, we did not get a ticket. Though when we were stopped, water starts coming in, someone didn't put the plug in the bottom of the Zodiac when we put it together, and the cop says "Oh, you're taking
on water". Well only when we were stopped.)
There was the advertised bike tuneup clinic, some seemed familiar faces so i think Santropol Roulant sent some of their people over (it was the group's day to fundraise too, they brought cupcakes). A couple of tables of what seemed like used clothing. Someone was planting something, I didn't stay that long.
But, this seemed another case of creating an event rather than showing reality. The Fringe hasn't been so great about recycling, it's often been a last minute thing, and the result of some volunteer taking it into their hands. It's never worked out so well, the bins were never clearly for recycling so the garbage goes in (and recyclables go into the garbage). The best recycling has always seemed to be by the scavengers coming by to dig the cans out of the garbage. Yet, just because of the makeup of the Fringe, it likely is more careful about such things, and we should be pointing that out, rather than adding a manufactured event.
There was a blog posting from someone a bit before the Fringe where someone related helping deliver Fringe programs. She pointed out that nobody at the Fringe had a driver's license or a car (and she revealed, she had to rent one for the task). That seems the norm. Maybe nobody has the money for gas or a car, maybe they aren't sprawled out in the surburbs which tends to require a car, maybe they make a deliberate decision. But the reasoning is less important than that it is the reality. It looks odd when an audience member pulls up at the Beer Tent in a taxi, something that is foreign to me (and that time, it turns out she needed to go further, to the actual venue).
Likewise, we've covered the hole in the park numerous times with scrap we've pulled from garbage. That we now have a sort of permanent cover does not negate the fact that someone pulled it from a pile of discards. When I was returning the Fringe for All flyers to Fringe HQ the week before the Fringe, I spotted some scrap wood and dragged it along, in case the commercial cable bridge didn't appear as promised, I was going to make one this year finally. For a decade I've saved the flyers after the Fringe for All, no big deal, I just can't bear to see it go to garbage. Not only a waste, but the artists have paid good money to have them printed. The Fringe even had garage sale one early year.
Since Fringe is "doing on the cheap", likely many of the troupes are using used, borrowed or recycled material for their shows. It's no big deal, it's just something that happens.
It's not uncommon in conversation with volunteers to find people who will pull things from the garbage. I picked up a halogen lamp when I was on the On the Spot historical walking tour, the lamp was just lying on the sidewalk (and it worked, bulb and all). One year, a woman was a venue manager after just moving to Montreal ("it seemed like a good way to meet people") and I mentioned something about July 1st being a good day for interesting things being tossed out, and she admitted she might be out looking for furniture for her new place. I didn't think she was cheap, I didn't think she was poor, I didn't even think she did it for ecological reasons, it was just something people do. I was so pleased to see her last week.
And maybe that's the best thing. The worst driver I've known couldn't get my point about her driving, yet she'd say "I should give it up for the pollution it causes". Decisons shouldn't be made because of some Grand Cause. I'll pull something from the garbage because I see it, and maybe it does mean I have money for something else that I know I can't find. But I'll buy at garage sales, and I did buy that LCD tv set a month ago (but I bought it on sale). Big Causes tell you to live completely free, when really it's likely a novelty for the promoter. Or tell you to Buy Nothing on the day after US Thanksgiving, yet it ignores the fact that the frugal will always try to buy things when on sale, freeing money for something else.
Or take bikes. It was a few months after Earth Day in 1970 when bike paths hit the island of Montreal. Yet it wasn't for some grand ecological reason, it was to assert the cyclist's right to space on the road. I suspect most people who bicycle are doing it for a variety of reasons, people who change "because it's the right thing" often don't change that much, and resent the change. Hence it's silly to promote the right of the cyclist to the road along ecological reasons, the right is there and has always been there. Demand that right, don't water it down by propping it up for some good cause. Ride your bike because you like to do it, because it's cheaper than buying a car or gas, because it's convenient, and revel in the fact that incidentally you are helping the world.
on water". Well only when we were stopped.)
There was the advertised bike tuneup clinic, some seemed familiar faces so i think Santropol Roulant sent some of their people over (it was the group's day to fundraise too, they brought cupcakes). A couple of tables of what seemed like used clothing. Someone was planting something, I didn't stay that long.
But, this seemed another case of creating an event rather than showing reality. The Fringe hasn't been so great about recycling, it's often been a last minute thing, and the result of some volunteer taking it into their hands. It's never worked out so well, the bins were never clearly for recycling so the garbage goes in (and recyclables go into the garbage). The best recycling has always seemed to be by the scavengers coming by to dig the cans out of the garbage. Yet, just because of the makeup of the Fringe, it likely is more careful about such things, and we should be pointing that out, rather than adding a manufactured event.
There was a blog posting from someone a bit before the Fringe where someone related helping deliver Fringe programs. She pointed out that nobody at the Fringe had a driver's license or a car (and she revealed, she had to rent one for the task). That seems the norm. Maybe nobody has the money for gas or a car, maybe they aren't sprawled out in the surburbs which tends to require a car, maybe they make a deliberate decision. But the reasoning is less important than that it is the reality. It looks odd when an audience member pulls up at the Beer Tent in a taxi, something that is foreign to me (and that time, it turns out she needed to go further, to the actual venue).
Likewise, we've covered the hole in the park numerous times with scrap we've pulled from garbage. That we now have a sort of permanent cover does not negate the fact that someone pulled it from a pile of discards. When I was returning the Fringe for All flyers to Fringe HQ the week before the Fringe, I spotted some scrap wood and dragged it along, in case the commercial cable bridge didn't appear as promised, I was going to make one this year finally. For a decade I've saved the flyers after the Fringe for All, no big deal, I just can't bear to see it go to garbage. Not only a waste, but the artists have paid good money to have them printed. The Fringe even had garage sale one early year.
Since Fringe is "doing on the cheap", likely many of the troupes are using used, borrowed or recycled material for their shows. It's no big deal, it's just something that happens.
It's not uncommon in conversation with volunteers to find people who will pull things from the garbage. I picked up a halogen lamp when I was on the On the Spot historical walking tour, the lamp was just lying on the sidewalk (and it worked, bulb and all). One year, a woman was a venue manager after just moving to Montreal ("it seemed like a good way to meet people") and I mentioned something about July 1st being a good day for interesting things being tossed out, and she admitted she might be out looking for furniture for her new place. I didn't think she was cheap, I didn't think she was poor, I didn't even think she did it for ecological reasons, it was just something people do. I was so pleased to see her last week.
And maybe that's the best thing. The worst driver I've known couldn't get my point about her driving, yet she'd say "I should give it up for the pollution it causes". Decisons shouldn't be made because of some Grand Cause. I'll pull something from the garbage because I see it, and maybe it does mean I have money for something else that I know I can't find. But I'll buy at garage sales, and I did buy that LCD tv set a month ago (but I bought it on sale). Big Causes tell you to live completely free, when really it's likely a novelty for the promoter. Or tell you to Buy Nothing on the day after US Thanksgiving, yet it ignores the fact that the frugal will always try to buy things when on sale, freeing money for something else.
Or take bikes. It was a few months after Earth Day in 1970 when bike paths hit the island of Montreal. Yet it wasn't for some grand ecological reason, it was to assert the cyclist's right to space on the road. I suspect most people who bicycle are doing it for a variety of reasons, people who change "because it's the right thing" often don't change that much, and resent the change. Hence it's silly to promote the right of the cyclist to the road along ecological reasons, the right is there and has always been there. Demand that right, don't water it down by propping it up for some good cause. Ride your bike because you like to do it, because it's cheaper than buying a car or gas, because it's convenient, and revel in the fact that incidentally you are helping the world.
Lydia Lockett ...Jazz Poetry of the New Beat Generation
I like the form of poetry to jazz music, and I like the fact that Lydia Lockett has tried something somewhat different at the Fringe, taking a risk. But while I can't quite quantify it, I kept thinking "this form could be better".
One immediate thought is that the music was too lout. It sounded to me like it was at the same level as her voice, when I'd say the form has the music more like background (though that may not work so well if you've got a live jazz band performing). The music was also generic (and in some cases, not all that jazzy), which suggests it was chosen to show off the form, rather than have the poetry a reaction to the jazz.
But maybe I've mythologized the form too much. The music becomes a catalyst for the poetry, maybe even the poetry is improvization as a reaction to the music. Here, the music seemed like a novelty, to play the Beat Poet so the music is neither Hot (or Cool), it's just there. I think in listening to John Coltrane in recent years, I can hear the rhythm of On The Road or The Dharma Bums, the go, go, go. I didn't hear that here, though she does fold the poetry into the music. (And how is poetry recited to music different from singing along? Well, with poetry, it really is just spoken word, you are pacing the poetry to match the music, but you aren't changing the tone of the voice.)
I thought I was the only one going in, and I offered her the chance to cancel the show if I was the only one. She said, "wait a few minutes, in case some more people come in" and there were six of us in the audience.
She did get her obligatory Westmount Examiner plug this week, I knew there was another act hailing from Westmount.
One reviewer wondered what the New Beat Generation was. About 20 years ago, there was a pseudo-beat revival, "The Washington Squares" being a visible component. They were neo-folk, but they dressed like the stereotypical beatniks, and they had the right sound. I have the fist album, I actually like it. Jake brought one of the members to one of the Yawps! in the mid-nineties.
One immediate thought is that the music was too lout. It sounded to me like it was at the same level as her voice, when I'd say the form has the music more like background (though that may not work so well if you've got a live jazz band performing). The music was also generic (and in some cases, not all that jazzy), which suggests it was chosen to show off the form, rather than have the poetry a reaction to the jazz.
But maybe I've mythologized the form too much. The music becomes a catalyst for the poetry, maybe even the poetry is improvization as a reaction to the music. Here, the music seemed like a novelty, to play the Beat Poet so the music is neither Hot (or Cool), it's just there. I think in listening to John Coltrane in recent years, I can hear the rhythm of On The Road or The Dharma Bums, the go, go, go. I didn't hear that here, though she does fold the poetry into the music. (And how is poetry recited to music different from singing along? Well, with poetry, it really is just spoken word, you are pacing the poetry to match the music, but you aren't changing the tone of the voice.)
I thought I was the only one going in, and I offered her the chance to cancel the show if I was the only one. She said, "wait a few minutes, in case some more people come in" and there were six of us in the audience.
She did get her obligatory Westmount Examiner plug this week, I knew there was another act hailing from Westmount.
One reviewer wondered what the New Beat Generation was. About 20 years ago, there was a pseudo-beat revival, "The Washington Squares" being a visible component. They were neo-folk, but they dressed like the stereotypical beatniks, and they had the right sound. I have the fist album, I actually like it. Jake brought one of the members to one of the Yawps! in the mid-nineties.
Frankie Nominations announced?
Up at the Beer Tent last night, the Frankie Nominations were up. So is the press release up at the Fringe website? If not, then fifteen years of internet strategy hasn't gone anywhere. Internet doctrine since 1996 is that press releases should be released to all, it's an easy way of providing informationg (since it's already done) and you don't know what someone might do with it.
The list is odd, since it was up at the Beer Tent while the first Piss in the Pool show was going on, yet the show was on the list, twice. How can you nominate something before you've seen it? Also, the 303 prize has tended to be about a specific piece rather than show, so listing Wants & Needs is premature.
Tantalizing too is that suddenly out of town shows are on the 303 prize list. The specifics have always been vague, but in the past it's been about local shows, so if that's changed, we should see details (or someone like me questioning the change). It was also oddly about "up and coming" (I forget the exact wording); "oddly" because so many of the dance shows have either been at Studio 303 or come through there in some way, so the prize is a return rather than a step up. How can an out of town act justify coming back to do a show at Studio 303, where fewer people will see it than at the Fringe? Tangente isn't that much bigger.
One year, when Studio 303 was having some problems, Tangente stepped in, and that too was a vague prize. It seemed to be about all the dance acts, or maybe even just the out of town acts, and then when the winner was announced, the prize had morphed and the winners (there was a runner up) were local acts. That likely had to do with logistics/cost, getting someone here, the cost of travel and even getting together the participants, is likely too high for many.
Another thing to consider. Once upon a time, the Fringe did issue a list of the Top Ten shows that were selling well. I even copied the list once or twice and posted it to the internet. The Fringe was all set to put the list on their webpage about 2000, but never did. CAM was acting up that week, so I think the list got lost to flakey access. And then the Top Ten list disappeared.
Do we want a return to those days? Showing the nominees, especially this early, is tantamount to saying "go see these shows, the others aren't worth it". "Festival of Discovery", like "community", is not a cute marketing phrase, it's an action. What's to discover when the various juries for the prizes have now announced what they consider the important shows?
At least the Top Ten list had the value of showing what shows might be sold out, so if you wanted to see them, you'd need to get to the venue early.
The list is odd, since it was up at the Beer Tent while the first Piss in the Pool show was going on, yet the show was on the list, twice. How can you nominate something before you've seen it? Also, the 303 prize has tended to be about a specific piece rather than show, so listing Wants & Needs is premature.
Tantalizing too is that suddenly out of town shows are on the 303 prize list. The specifics have always been vague, but in the past it's been about local shows, so if that's changed, we should see details (or someone like me questioning the change). It was also oddly about "up and coming" (I forget the exact wording); "oddly" because so many of the dance shows have either been at Studio 303 or come through there in some way, so the prize is a return rather than a step up. How can an out of town act justify coming back to do a show at Studio 303, where fewer people will see it than at the Fringe? Tangente isn't that much bigger.
One year, when Studio 303 was having some problems, Tangente stepped in, and that too was a vague prize. It seemed to be about all the dance acts, or maybe even just the out of town acts, and then when the winner was announced, the prize had morphed and the winners (there was a runner up) were local acts. That likely had to do with logistics/cost, getting someone here, the cost of travel and even getting together the participants, is likely too high for many.
Another thing to consider. Once upon a time, the Fringe did issue a list of the Top Ten shows that were selling well. I even copied the list once or twice and posted it to the internet. The Fringe was all set to put the list on their webpage about 2000, but never did. CAM was acting up that week, so I think the list got lost to flakey access. And then the Top Ten list disappeared.
Do we want a return to those days? Showing the nominees, especially this early, is tantamount to saying "go see these shows, the others aren't worth it". "Festival of Discovery", like "community", is not a cute marketing phrase, it's an action. What's to discover when the various juries for the prizes have now announced what they consider the important shows?
At least the Top Ten list had the value of showing what shows might be sold out, so if you wanted to see them, you'd need to get to the venue early.
Thursday, June 16, 2011
Tidbits for a hot summer Bloomsday
Yes, it isn't yet summer, but it is hot. Maybe even ice cream hot. But it is Bloomsday, June 16th the day on which all of James Joyce's "Ulysees" takes place, and some literary types celebrate it. I try to remember it, since it always falls during the Fringe, though at one point there were some local events to mark the day.
Someone tried to seduce me into "Shlong Form Improv", whispering in my ear the magic word. I assume they didn't have that much audience in the early evening of Wednesday. That can be hard, artists need an audience to perform at peak, things like comedy and improv count on audience. Though, I suspect just trying to lure in passersby on Prince Arthur isn't the way to go, either target the pool of fringe goers, or be more obvious away from the Fringe. It's not clear if anyone has had much success luring in people at random to a show.
There was a bigger audience for the On the Spot historical walking tour on Wednesday. I'm sure that works better for them, and of course a nice day is likely to draw an audience more than that after the rain day I went.
I wonder if John Sebastian will make a surprise visit to the Beer Tent later? He's here for the folk festival. The other main player of The Lovin' Spoonful was Zal Yanovsky. I remember Bill Brownstein doing a column about Nikki Yanofsky some time back, and I at first wondered if she was Zal's daughter, but then the difference in spelling of their last names became obvious. Zal was married to Jackie Burroughs for a bit, yes, "Aunt Hetty" from "Road to Avonlea". Of course, he had that problem with the law over drugs, which was more of a problem for him since he was Canadian in the US, and he ended up "squealing" and that caused a boycott of the band, though the story goes his naming names didn't cause any real problem to others. And that's when the US Beatles broke up, well Zall left and it was only a matter of time. Zal released an album or two, then moved to Kingston where he opened a restaurant, Chez Piggy, in the late seventies that he ran until he died a few years ago.
Speaking of Woodstock (well, John Sebastian was at Woodstock, painting rainbows all over your blues), according to one of the books published on the fortieth anniversary, P.J. Soles was there, going with then boyfriend Joshua White (of light show fame). P.J. Soles was one of the MPs in "Stripes" that interact with Bill Murray and Harold Ramis, though I'm not sure I've ever figured out which one is which. Anyway, she was backstage making and/or passing out cookies and sandwiches to the performers.
Passing out the large number of chocolate chip cookies she'd made, Jack Casady of the Jefferson Airplane took one and asks "Is there anything in them"? And PJ Soles says, "No. They're made with love. They're pure". (Reminds me of when someone asked a few years ago "are these brownies 'special'?" and I said "All brownies are special, but not the way you mean".) Anyway, Jack Casady ate a few, apparently she used organic ingredients. Then years later she met him again, asked him if he remembered her, and he said "Yes, those were the best chocolate chip cookies I've had in my life!"
I almost saw Jack Casady perform once. When Peter Gzowski briefly had a late nate tv show on the CBC in the late seventies, I ended up with a ticket to a local taping. And then it turned out that Hot Tuna (with Jack Casady and Jorma Kaukonen, who had also been part of Jefferson Airplane) were scheduled. I have no idea why they were in Montreal, or why they were booked for the show. This wasn't that long before they broke up for a while, selling the Tunamobile. But somehow I got lost finding my way to Cite Du Havre where the CBC had a studio for a while, and I turned around and came home, since I'd not get there in time. Then I dutifully watch the show that night, and no Hot Tuna. They'd run out of time and the band had been bumped.
Artists must never forget the importance of personally meeting the potential audience. Someone doing Reciprok was working at the info booth the other day, and she mentions her show, which caused me to look at the blurb and see that it was a show put on by recent ConU dance students there's a long tradition of people graduating from the program and putting on a Fringe show.) I'm not sure I'd have caught that without the interaction, their flyer is actually the flip side of Body Slam. For that matter, if I'd not met the woman doing The Naled Project postering at the Beer Tent last Wednesday, it's less clear if I'd have bothered to take in her show. Yes it's work, but it does provide results, maybe especially for those sort of borderline, aware of the show but not completely certain.
My rhythm is off this year, and some of it is trying out blogger. I've wasted so much time fighting it to put in links, it trying to be helpful and fixing what I'm trying to do. Though perhaps there is logic to it for someone coming from a different direction. Yes, when I did it by hand I'd forget the end tag to turn off italics or bold or something, but having to do all the work gave me better control.
It would seem the Gazette is doing a lot less reviewing this year. It does seem down, though it's hard to completely tell. No reviews of dance, I don't think that's going to happen. Oddly, there didn't even seem to be the annual "The Fringe is Coming" piece, that has often been a trigger for me to write the paper about the coverage (which have never been published, but seem to have influence). For a while they did review dance,sporadically, and even have a preview piece. The contempt the dance writer has for the Fringe seems pretty strong, at least some times in recent years the paper has had the former dance writer (now covering "festival and kid's beat") doing some preview and/or review of dance at the Fringe, but nothing this year.
I'm tired of the fight, especially when some of the fight was always with the Fringe.
Pat Donnelly isn't even blogging as much as last year I'm not sure I liked it that she was putting more content on the blog than the paper last year since the blog is a different medium and just because people read the paper doesn't mean they'll jump to the blog, but better blogging than nothing. Maybe she's twittering this year? (What's the point of doing that from the Fringe for All other than scooping the others? The notion of dynamic content at the Fringe website is to draw in people using the spontaneity of the Fringe, though that happens less these days. But while it's important to record the Fringe for All, I've even posted the list of who performed some years, how many are going to rush down to see it because Pat Donnelly is twitting about it right now?)
I checked ConU again, and still no "summer" issues of the student papers, so I guess that isn't happening this year. It always seemed a surprise to stumble on them, and then find Fringe articles in it, but I guess it's harder to justify a paper printing these days. They do have some Fringe content u on their websites, I can't remember if it was The Link or the Concordian, or both.
On the other hand, if you have a show in the Fringe and you are from Westmount, it's practically guaranteed that you'll get a mention in the Westmount Examiner, even as the paper slowly fades away. Last week Keir Cutler had his obligatory article. But the upstart (and now better paper), The Westmount Independent, briefly mentions Keir and Jessica Salomon (who apparently grew up in Westmount).
Repercussion is doing MacBeth this year (they should have brought back Rick Miller for a double bill, after all, he dreamed up MacHomer waiting backstage at Repercussion). But, apparently Lady MacBeth is played by Anana Rydvald, who performed way back in 1999 at the Fringe with "Mask On". The troupe was "Random Acts", but the next year they'd changed their company name to "Mask On!" and did "Tripping Through Oz". It's hard to believe it's been over a decade, I remember them so well.
The Fringe mugs are back, apparently packing more punch this year (something about saving some money on later purchases of beer). They didnt' seem too popular last year so I thought they were gone. This means I can buy another one, so I have one to use and one as a souvenir.
Just for Laughs made their annual visit to the Beer Tent on Wednesday, with flyers for their festival. The Zoofest is still not a Festival of Discoveries, even though they continue to call it that. Weren't The Pyjama Men at the Fringe a while back? Kahlil Ashanti certainly was twice at the Fringe, coming from LA, and he's doing Basic Training at the comedy festival. I seem to recall he won the comedy fest prize at teh Fringe one year.
Mike Paterson dropped by the Beer Tent, outgoing as ever. So did Robby Dillon, somehow thinking I'm some Fringe legend for sticking around all these years.
Speaking of which, there have been some odd occurrences of people I truly don't recognize saying things to me. Almost as if someone put a picture of me up somewhere again.
It's a shame I can't control the Fringe's website. They clearly haven't checked over the links to blogs. "Heart Strings" was a great show last year, but since they aren't in Montreal this year, they are hardly going to blog about the Fringe. Davyn at Dee Arr hasn't posted for a year, there's no sense in having the link up this year. Meanwhile, some are out there posting, though it seemed slow. Since I'm not showing up in a blog search (even using specific text from here as the searchwords), I can't help but think there may be some default setting that needs fixing, even though the setting seems to default to making the blogs searchable.
Someone tried to seduce me into "Shlong Form Improv", whispering in my ear the magic word. I assume they didn't have that much audience in the early evening of Wednesday. That can be hard, artists need an audience to perform at peak, things like comedy and improv count on audience. Though, I suspect just trying to lure in passersby on Prince Arthur isn't the way to go, either target the pool of fringe goers, or be more obvious away from the Fringe. It's not clear if anyone has had much success luring in people at random to a show.
There was a bigger audience for the On the Spot historical walking tour on Wednesday. I'm sure that works better for them, and of course a nice day is likely to draw an audience more than that after the rain day I went.
I wonder if John Sebastian will make a surprise visit to the Beer Tent later? He's here for the folk festival. The other main player of The Lovin' Spoonful was Zal Yanovsky. I remember Bill Brownstein doing a column about Nikki Yanofsky some time back, and I at first wondered if she was Zal's daughter, but then the difference in spelling of their last names became obvious. Zal was married to Jackie Burroughs for a bit, yes, "Aunt Hetty" from "Road to Avonlea". Of course, he had that problem with the law over drugs, which was more of a problem for him since he was Canadian in the US, and he ended up "squealing" and that caused a boycott of the band, though the story goes his naming names didn't cause any real problem to others. And that's when the US Beatles broke up, well Zall left and it was only a matter of time. Zal released an album or two, then moved to Kingston where he opened a restaurant, Chez Piggy, in the late seventies that he ran until he died a few years ago.
Speaking of Woodstock (well, John Sebastian was at Woodstock, painting rainbows all over your blues), according to one of the books published on the fortieth anniversary, P.J. Soles was there, going with then boyfriend Joshua White (of light show fame). P.J. Soles was one of the MPs in "Stripes" that interact with Bill Murray and Harold Ramis, though I'm not sure I've ever figured out which one is which. Anyway, she was backstage making and/or passing out cookies and sandwiches to the performers.
Passing out the large number of chocolate chip cookies she'd made, Jack Casady of the Jefferson Airplane took one and asks "Is there anything in them"? And PJ Soles says, "No. They're made with love. They're pure". (Reminds me of when someone asked a few years ago "are these brownies 'special'?" and I said "All brownies are special, but not the way you mean".) Anyway, Jack Casady ate a few, apparently she used organic ingredients. Then years later she met him again, asked him if he remembered her, and he said "Yes, those were the best chocolate chip cookies I've had in my life!"
I almost saw Jack Casady perform once. When Peter Gzowski briefly had a late nate tv show on the CBC in the late seventies, I ended up with a ticket to a local taping. And then it turned out that Hot Tuna (with Jack Casady and Jorma Kaukonen, who had also been part of Jefferson Airplane) were scheduled. I have no idea why they were in Montreal, or why they were booked for the show. This wasn't that long before they broke up for a while, selling the Tunamobile. But somehow I got lost finding my way to Cite Du Havre where the CBC had a studio for a while, and I turned around and came home, since I'd not get there in time. Then I dutifully watch the show that night, and no Hot Tuna. They'd run out of time and the band had been bumped.
Artists must never forget the importance of personally meeting the potential audience. Someone doing Reciprok was working at the info booth the other day, and she mentions her show, which caused me to look at the blurb and see that it was a show put on by recent ConU dance students there's a long tradition of people graduating from the program and putting on a Fringe show.) I'm not sure I'd have caught that without the interaction, their flyer is actually the flip side of Body Slam. For that matter, if I'd not met the woman doing The Naled Project postering at the Beer Tent last Wednesday, it's less clear if I'd have bothered to take in her show. Yes it's work, but it does provide results, maybe especially for those sort of borderline, aware of the show but not completely certain.
My rhythm is off this year, and some of it is trying out blogger. I've wasted so much time fighting it to put in links, it trying to be helpful and fixing what I'm trying to do. Though perhaps there is logic to it for someone coming from a different direction. Yes, when I did it by hand I'd forget the end tag to turn off italics or bold or something, but having to do all the work gave me better control.
It would seem the Gazette is doing a lot less reviewing this year. It does seem down, though it's hard to completely tell. No reviews of dance, I don't think that's going to happen. Oddly, there didn't even seem to be the annual "The Fringe is Coming" piece, that has often been a trigger for me to write the paper about the coverage (which have never been published, but seem to have influence). For a while they did review dance,sporadically, and even have a preview piece. The contempt the dance writer has for the Fringe seems pretty strong, at least some times in recent years the paper has had the former dance writer (now covering "festival and kid's beat") doing some preview and/or review of dance at the Fringe, but nothing this year.
I'm tired of the fight, especially when some of the fight was always with the Fringe.
Pat Donnelly isn't even blogging as much as last year I'm not sure I liked it that she was putting more content on the blog than the paper last year since the blog is a different medium and just because people read the paper doesn't mean they'll jump to the blog, but better blogging than nothing. Maybe she's twittering this year? (What's the point of doing that from the Fringe for All other than scooping the others? The notion of dynamic content at the Fringe website is to draw in people using the spontaneity of the Fringe, though that happens less these days. But while it's important to record the Fringe for All, I've even posted the list of who performed some years, how many are going to rush down to see it because Pat Donnelly is twitting about it right now?)
I checked ConU again, and still no "summer" issues of the student papers, so I guess that isn't happening this year. It always seemed a surprise to stumble on them, and then find Fringe articles in it, but I guess it's harder to justify a paper printing these days. They do have some Fringe content u on their websites, I can't remember if it was The Link or the Concordian, or both.
On the other hand, if you have a show in the Fringe and you are from Westmount, it's practically guaranteed that you'll get a mention in the Westmount Examiner, even as the paper slowly fades away. Last week Keir Cutler had his obligatory article. But the upstart (and now better paper), The Westmount Independent, briefly mentions Keir and Jessica Salomon (who apparently grew up in Westmount).
Repercussion is doing MacBeth this year (they should have brought back Rick Miller for a double bill, after all, he dreamed up MacHomer waiting backstage at Repercussion). But, apparently Lady MacBeth is played by Anana Rydvald, who performed way back in 1999 at the Fringe with "Mask On". The troupe was "Random Acts", but the next year they'd changed their company name to "Mask On!" and did "Tripping Through Oz". It's hard to believe it's been over a decade, I remember them so well.
The Fringe mugs are back, apparently packing more punch this year (something about saving some money on later purchases of beer). They didnt' seem too popular last year so I thought they were gone. This means I can buy another one, so I have one to use and one as a souvenir.
Just for Laughs made their annual visit to the Beer Tent on Wednesday, with flyers for their festival. The Zoofest is still not a Festival of Discoveries, even though they continue to call it that. Weren't The Pyjama Men at the Fringe a while back? Kahlil Ashanti certainly was twice at the Fringe, coming from LA, and he's doing Basic Training at the comedy festival. I seem to recall he won the comedy fest prize at teh Fringe one year.
Mike Paterson dropped by the Beer Tent, outgoing as ever. So did Robby Dillon, somehow thinking I'm some Fringe legend for sticking around all these years.
Speaking of which, there have been some odd occurrences of people I truly don't recognize saying things to me. Almost as if someone put a picture of me up somewhere again.
It's a shame I can't control the Fringe's website. They clearly haven't checked over the links to blogs. "Heart Strings" was a great show last year, but since they aren't in Montreal this year, they are hardly going to blog about the Fringe. Davyn at Dee Arr hasn't posted for a year, there's no sense in having the link up this year. Meanwhile, some are out there posting, though it seemed slow. Since I'm not showing up in a blog search (even using specific text from here as the searchwords), I can't help but think there may be some default setting that needs fixing, even though the setting seems to default to making the blogs searchable.
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