Minnesota Fringe

Counting down to our departure for Minneapolis, for SPIN’s first US appearance, August 5-15.   Excited to be taking part in the Minnesota Fringe Festival.     Mark Shyzer’s show Fishbowl (directed by yours truly) will also be there!  Watch out,  the Canadians are coming….

SPIN plays at At The Ritz Theatre Proscenium 345 13th Ave NE

Thursday Aug 5, 10 pm
Saturday Aug 7, 1 pm
Sunday Aug 8, 7 pm
Thursday Aug 12, 8:30 pm
Sunday Aug 15, 2:30 pm

Buy Tickets Here!

“part theatre, part musical gig, part spoken-word poetry and part documentary…whatever it is, it is brilliant.” The Toronto Star  (read the very delightful article about SPIN by Catherine Porter here)

Newfoundland wrap up

Sound Symposium = very fantastic.   We had a great time in St John’s:  SPIN went over super well (with thanks to our local bicycle-shop helpers Bills Bicycles, who lent us the light blue ladies Raleigh that played beautifully, and Canary Cycles, for the loan of the mechanics stand) and we have all developed buns of steal from walking the steep and unavoidable hills and stairs of downtown St John’s.

After the show, our last day in town was perhaps the most memorable: we stuck all our tourism into 12 hours, beginning with a hike up Signal Hill (what a completely magical place) on what i think must have been the hottest and windiest day of the year in Newfoundland – so windy they closed Marconi’s tower, and certainly somewhat anxiety-producing conditions for walking on the edges of high cliffs and rocks on the edge of the Atlantic .   Throughly sunburned and windblown,  we then went whale watching from Bay Bulls.   We went out on the boat for a couple of hours, and saw whales, whales and more whales!   So amazing!!   So incredible!   Two humpbacks were within probably 5 feet of the boat, and we traveled beside them for 10 or 15 minutes (or, I suspect, they decided to travel beside us) watching them surface and dive and blow their spray up in the air….such incredible creatures.  Awe inspiring.  The size of a school bus!
Whale watching was followed by the Cape Spear Sound Symposium finale concert/event, which took place as night fell in the World War II barracks at the easterly most tip of the country…a memorable, spooky and atmospheric event, where all the participating artists were given secret instructions in an envelope, which included sound-related tasks to be performed at a certain time during the hour of the event: my personal favorite was getting to scream for two minutes in an dripping, candle-lit, echoing hallway in the underground barracks.

Sound Symposium, St John’s Newfoundland

Team SPIN arrived in St John’s yesterday, and we spent much of today searching for a local bike for our show tomorrow night.  We found a sweet little blue ladies Raleigh cruiser at Bill’s Cycle, and a mechanics stand kindly loaned from Canary Cycle, so we’ve got the goods, and will spend tomorrow wiring her up for show time.    St John’s is so lovely.  We are all still a bit lost all the time, but starting to get a hang of the colourful, winding streets (this town is NOT A GRID) and how to get where we need to go. Ate super-delicious fish cakes at The Ship tonight before the evening Sound Symposium show – which was a very fun evening.  Highlight for me was Aiyun Huang, a fantastic percussionist who presented Tension Study II: Eagle Claw Wu Tsiano Chen Wins – totally inspiring percussion accompaniment / interpretation / study of women in kung fu movies.  Also some great improv performances tonight.

Most hilarious moment of the night (only slightly more hilarious than the live human performance / interpretation of the harbour symphony) was going out to get a drink after the show, and we walked into a bar on Water St which was totally silent. Open, with people in it, but TOTALLY SILENT.   It became hilarious after a moment of standing in the doorway, observing the 5 or 6 people all sitting at the bar texting on their cell phones…no music was playing, no one was talking, it was literally dead quiet, except for me and Brad and Anna who were hoping to, you know, talk and laugh over a pint.   After what felt like a whole minute of continued silence, i cracked up and asked whether we were aloud to talk in here (we wondered whether we had found the Silent Symposium) and then some music went on and people started chatting…and we got our beers and chat and laugh in….

tomorrow we play our show at the LSPU Hall at 8:30, with Daniel Payne at 7:30.

Pride Rescinds

As of Wednesday night, Pride Toronto has rescinded their ban on Queers Against Israeli Apartheid marching in this year’s parade….that initial ban which sparked a shit storm of outrage over censorship of free speech and political expression at Pride, local and international controversy.    I, along with many other performers and activists and community members, had canceled my own participation as a performer at the Proud Voices stage on July 3 because of the ban.

Here is the latest from Pride Toronto about their decision to rescind that ban.

I’m pleased to commend Pride on reversing that decision (and major kudos to all the people who worked hard to get that to happen) and I’ll be performing according to the original schedule at 4 pm on July 3.   Before that, I’ll be heading up a squandron of cyclists at the Take Back the Dyke March, starting at 2 pm at Nathan Phillips Square- come ride with us!

G20 in TO

Thousands of cops on bikes swarming the city….fenced off downtown…and things are only gonna get crazier.   Here’s a good little message from the inimitable Dave Meslin: some advice about ear protection and sound cannons!

Defintely Not the Opera

DNTO came over to the bicycle studio this morning to tape a little bit of SPIN for the radio! You can hear the podcast here.…you’ll hear “She Rides” played live, plus some bike-instrument samples, plus a little interview with me and DNTO guest host Mio Adilman. Turns out me and Mio both went to the same high school….once again, all roads lead back to Northern….

The road also will soon be leading to St John’s Newfoundland, for the Sound Symposium where we perform July 8th, and then to Minnesota where we perform in Minneapolis, August 5-15th.   We perform the full production in March 2011, at Buddies in Bad Times Theatre in Toronto

Q & A about SPIN on Thursday

Q:  Where can i get advance tickets for the May 20th SPIN performance?

A:  You can’t.  Tickets are ONLY AVAILABLE AT THE DOOR, first come, first served.  Doors will open at 7:45.    Sorry for any inconvenience!   I suggest coming early to get in line, as it seems there are a lot of people planning to attend.

Q:  Why is there only one show?   The last time you did it in October is sold out…shouldn’t you do more than one night?

A:  Yes, we’re planning to…next year!  SPIN will return in March 2011 for a proper, two- week run at Buddies in Bad Times Theatre in Toronto.  This presentation, put on with the very awesome Toronto Cyclists Union to celebrate Bike Month in Toronto is only our second workshop showing.   Between this Thursday and next March,  we’ll be taking the show on the road a bit, working on many of the design and technical elements….and presenting the finished product next year for a real run.  Then, there will be advance tickets.   In fact, if you want to order them now, you can, thru the box office at Buddies in Bad Times Theatre.

thanks for your patience,

love,

evalyn and her people

this week’s SPIN

News today is there’s a great article about SPIN in the Toronto Star! Courtesy of the very delightful Catherine Porter.    We head down the 401  for a show at the London Music Club on Wednesday, and then back in TO on Thursday for our Bike Union show at the Tranzac.

We’ve been rehearsing for this workshop performance in our tiny little rehearsal space all week, jam-packed in there with our bike-instrument up on it’s stand, Anna’s array of effects pedals, harmonicas, accordian, melodica and the wired imbera, my mounting pile of costume changes (bloomers? check!  boater? check!  bowler?  getting steamed and shaped!  Inflatable puffed sleeves? Still waiting to see if they will work…).

Yesterday Catherine from the Star squeezed in on the couch (next to our marvelous director, the patient and inventive Ruth Madoc-Jones) to watch rehearsal;  as we were mid-run thru, Jason from Riddle Films dropped by to pick up some video stuff, and turns out that Catherine knew Jason from high school.  I swear, all roads lead back to Northern Secondary, even all these years later.  She remembered seeing Jason in The Crucible – he played John Proctor – and having a crush on him (like we all did).  I played Abigail in that show – but she didn’t remember me….oh well,  now it’s a whole other kind of play we’re discussing:  bicycling at the turn of the century, rather than witch burning in the mid 1600s.

I’m losing my mind a little bit cause this show really requires some proper technical and production management support and a lot more rehearsal time, and we don’t have either right now.   But I keep reminding myself, this is a workshop.   We try things out in front of an audience to find out what works.  This is all part of the process!   It’s about musical and script development.  THEN… next year!  When SPIN plays at Buddies for a proper two week run, THEN we will really do it up.  THEN!  we will have amazing set and video design.   THEN!  i won’t be running around trying to do the job of 7 people.

There’s Brad, percussing the bike:

Spin…a wee video

Banff!

I’ve been out at the very amazing Banff Centre this past week, teaching at the annual Spoken Word program, with the (also very amazing) Sheri-d Wilson, Bob Holman and Regie Cabico.  What a full and fantastic week.  Mountains of thanks for this inspiring time with all the incredible poets who gathered here to write and learn and dig into the word.   Banff is like Club Med for artists.  It’s amazing that this place exists.
look here to see what i found waiting for me on my first walk around the campus

World Water Day

Here’s Bottle This! for your World Water Day listening pleasure. Spread it around!

regretfully

Evalyn was bitten by a dog this weekend.  Her mouth has a lot of stitches in it, and although she is recovering well, it is with great regret she has to cancel her participation in the Toronto Bike Awards this evening.

SPIN

This will be the first official WORKSHOP PRODUCTION of the bicycle show.  OCTOBER 25th, 8 pm at the Hysteria Festival, at Buddies in Bad Times Theatre, 12 Alexander St, Toronto www.artsexy.ca.    We are excited, to say the least.    This workshop is directed by the marvelous Ruth Madoc-Jones.

Click here, or on the poster image to get to more info on the SPIN page!

Anna and Brad and I began rehearsals this week.  Many exciting discoveries with the cello bow and the spokes!   Also the digital delay and reverb pedal is working it’s charms.  So is Anna’s Moog ring modulator.  This Sunday Oct 11th, at my monthly Tranzac cocktail hour show, 5 to 7 pm, we’ll be trying out a little preview of some of the music from the show.

Big thanks are in order to the funding bodies that have made the development and upcoming presentation possible:   the Ontario Arts Council (for support through both the Multi-Arts Program and the Word of Mouth program), the Toronto Arts Council (Music Composition grant), The Canada Council for the Arts (Career Development) and Buddies (where I developed the show through the Ante Chamber playwrights unit, and presenters of the Hysteria Festival) and the Banff Centre Spoken Word residency.

onward summer

It’s almost a week later and i’m still recovering from a great (sleepless) weekend at Blue Skies festival in Clarendon Ont.  Clarendon is a town of a few houses down a dirt road off Highway 509 sorta near Sharbot Lake, which is kinda near Perth, which is in Lanark County, sort of on the way to Ottawa if you were taking highway 7.   Blue Skies is the amazing festival that has been going for over 35 years which takes place on this beautiful, rolling piece of land in the middle of nowhere: the festival sprouts up every summer over the August long weekend, a little village of tents, music and 3000 good souls and amazing musicians jamming around camp fires all night long.   The weather was great, Magoo was the magical presiding MC ( and he once again blew me away with his unbelievable hosting skillz and incredible costume changes – i have a serious case of costume-closet-envy – and there were a bunch of fantastic acts on the mainstage every evening.  My personal highlights being  CR Avery, who just about blew my head off with his closing performance to the festival on Sunday night – lifting spoken word to whole new heights -  and killer ukulele player James Hill with Anne Davison on cello.  Also listening to Jaren Freeman Fox and Emilyn Stamm and Ben Whiteley, aka Goatnote…also dancing to Vancouver’s red hot Deli to Dublin.   My set Saturday night on the mainstage was fun…(check out a couple nice pics here by my friend Jake Morrison) got a load of kids up on stage to play water bottle with me (and please note, no bottled water was sold or available at Blue Skies…a movement is truly happening, friends!)… even more fun than the mainstage for me was the all-acoustic, unamplified spoken word workshop session under the Meadow Tent on Sunday.

About all i’ve managed to do this week, besides sleeping and putting my things away, is get a haircut.   oooo…shaved up the sides…i feel like i’ve gone back to montreal in the late ’90’s.

Oh, as per my stat about bottled water sales being down 3.3%, check out this encouraging article in the Huffington Post.

midsummer

Even if the weather isn’t exactly the best indicator,  it does appear that summer is in full swing:  I have returned from two weeks at a family cottage, full of swimming (sometimes in the rain) and reading, relaxing and rejuvenating…a bit of songwriting, and also i learned to knit while i was there (to date, I have completed one arm warmer, colour: eggplant.  Very good looking).

Now I’m getting ready with the band for upcoming weekend music festivals:  Blue Skies (in Clarendon ON), followed by Summerfolk (in Owen Sound ON) and then Shelter Valley, with a few other stops in between (see the full calendar for details).  Who’s playing in the band this time around, you ask?  This coming weekend at Blue Skies, we’ve got Brad Hart on percussion, Trevor Mills on bass, Dave Celia on guitar and Beth Washburn on the alto tuba.  Summerfolk will be Dave and Brad with Suzie Vinnick on bass.  Shelter Valley, it’ll just be me, and my lovely blue Gretsch guitar.  Can’t wait: music festivals have been part of my summer’s since I was a kid,  I feel lucky to get to now add my music and stories into the mix of these unique gatherings of people and music.   Hope to see some of you out there…

This photo was taken in Whitehorse, Yukon at Arts in the Park – I was up there in the Yukon Territory for two glorious weeks this June (in the glory of the midnight sun).   Thanks to my lovely host Cathrine Morginn for the photo.

Happy 2009!

Sending out the good wishes for a new year with many adventures and much delight.

It’s January and I’m snotty in the cess-pool of mega-city mega-germs, with cold number three in as many months, and a runny nose that just won’t quit. Kleenex and cold FX are my constant companions.   Deep into my bicycle research and found this lovely old advertisement that i couldn’t resist sharing with you: the headline being my chief aspiration.

speaking of brains and conscience, Girls with Glasses hit a few locations around Ontario this end-of-January and early February, keep your eyes peeled (or check out the details in the calendar).

oh politics. oh anne.

Wow, what an exciting week in Canadian politics.  And now parliament is suspended.   Jeez.  It sure is good to see Harper squirming, that little weasel.   And even better, to see the Liberals and NDP (and the Bloc) getting it together and coalition building.  What will happen next?   there’s a rally tomorrow at noon in cities across the country, to show support for the coalition…in Toronto it’s at city hall.  See you there?

In other, totally unrelated news, I was in a show last weekend at Buddies called “Anne Made Me Gay; when kindred spirits get naked”!  Hosted by the awesome Rosemary Rowe - it was SO FUN, like a dream come true, really.   Special for the 100th Anniversary of Anne of Green Gables, this was a tribute that could only be imagined at Buddies.  I sang “The Anne in my mind”, and I also made a little video, documenting my “audition” for the part of Anne – giving Megan Follows a serious run for her money.     Why didn’t they cast me?  Didn’t they appreciate the Anne and Diana make-out session?

Check out some photos of the Anne night here

This one is for

the non-conformers and the system buckers
it’s for the girly men and the lady truckers
the organic farmers, the local food growers
the old-school, mechanical, push lawn mowers
the two wheel riders, the trouble makers
the public-transportation-takers

it’s for the girls who cut their hair, and the ladies who refuse to shave
it’s for everyone who has ever been brave
it’s for the time you didn’t behave

it’s for those who remain hopeful when hope seems lost
it’s for my first year women studies prof
hell, all my patient first year professors, my true hearts,
my midnight confessors, for all the dressers
I’ve ever found at the curbside
and all the things that have saved my backside

it’s for the Michigan Womyn’s Festival founding foremothers
my tranny sisters and brothers
the straight-but-not-narrow
all my ex-lovers
the crunchy granola hippies who dance
aviators, horse back riders, gals who wore pants
before pants were something a proper lady should wear
it’s for the bleeding hearts, and the ones who care
and the ones that march and the ones that fight
the people who bother to write
a letter to the editor, who stand up to their managers
the union organizers, the city counsellors
it’s for everyone that dares and everyone that speaks
for those who listen, for those who can’t sleep
and those who can’t rest
for those who are trying their best
for the freaks and the punks, the misfits and the nerds
for everyone who ever contributed words
and meanings
to the Oxford English Dictionary
for those who know they will never marry
for the rebels and the genderqueers and polyamorous
for my grade 11 boyfriend who drove a VW bus
for the outlaws, and the in-laws who got over their misgivings
and attended their first same sex wedding
for everything with wings

it’s for the radical thinkers and the babies in incubators
for second-chancers, and the morris dancers
for those whom, given the choice, always chose “other”
it’s for Stephen Lewis and all the grandmothers
for the fearful who took to the streets anyway
for the artists who keep going even though it might never pay
for those who light the way
for those who made it through another day without a drink
for all those who think
for anyone who chooses to get things done
for the catholic priests who are handing out condoms
for the improvisers, and the bathhouse raid committee organizers
and the war tax resisters and the brave fighters
for those who go to serve in anyway they can
for the ones who were shot down and for those ran
for those who defied their orders, for the doctors without borders
the single mothers, the sperm donors and the Henry Morgentalers
the crisis phone line callers
for those who refuse to give up and refuse to give in
who won’t shut up
who know it’s not about whether you win
or you lose
but about the scope of your dream and your right to chose
an opinion and your right to change your mind
for those who are kind
it’s for those who hold fast
and for those who are outcast
or downcast, for those who can’t move very fast
for the flags at half mast
for the tired organizers and the ones who outlast
and all those who have already past
this one is for you

this one is for you

this one is for you

to

wield.

What’s up, random autumnal thoughts.

Fall is doing it’s work:  the leaves are coming down, the wind rises…the fear of impending winter is in me but the smell of fall keeps me present to the beautiful melancholy of this season.   We’ve turned on the heat.   We had to bury our dog last week.  The saddest day of the year.   The ground was still soft enough to dig into.  We planted tulips over him.  There is still swiss chard poking it’s green in the back yard.

Stephen Harper is back in his seat, the election proves only that we need a better system for accurately representing the real opinions of the people.  Next up:  what will happen south of the border?

I am doing a lot of writing, working on the bicycle show, which has its next performance next weekend in Ottawa at the Storytelling Festival.  Reading and researching and writing like a mad woman.   I bought a crazy new guitar.  It hasn’t been initiated to the stage yet, but it will soon, since i’m having a mad love affair with it and have to show it to the world soon.   But now is the season of drinking tea and cooking new creative things in my home.

Had a predictably sleepless and music-filled weekend at the annual OCFF conference, great fun and so many new discoveries of wonderful music. Penguin Eggs has published my poem, “This One is For”, in their fall issue. Played a beautiful show at the Church of the Holy Trinity a couple weeks ago, the most wonderful acoustics of anywhere I’ve ever played.  That’s where the Cowboy Junkies recorded that first album – and no wonder.  I will organize another show here before long.

Off to keep writing things about bicycles, and drink a cup of coffee to ward off the increasingly skimpy temperatures.

Amos, the best little dog

Amos, our beautiful and beloved little pug, had to be put down this past Monday afternoon Monday. Suz and I are quite heartbroken.   it came as a huge shock to us also, and happened very fast, as life (and death) sometimes does.
On the Saturday, Amos was strangely lethargic and disinterested in food – and he was NEVER disinterested in food, that dog – then on Sunday, he just became more and more lethargic, and then actually passed out, and we rushed him into the emergency vet. We were told he was extremely anemic, and was actually bleeding internally, losing a huge amount of blood. He had to stay in the intensive care unit over night, and get a blood transfusion. The prognosis was not good: Immune-mediated hemolytic anemia, which means his immune system was destroying his red blood cells.

The blood transfusion gave him enough renewed energy to have a last visit with us in the morning, which we’re so grateful for. He didn’t appear to be in pain, just exhausted and weak, and so happy to be with us. An amazing gift to get to be with him right to the end.

I feel like this little ball of fur taught me such an incredible amount about love, in such a profound and simple and direct way. I’ve never been attached to a pet in the way i was to Amos, though there have been others animals in my life over the years. Amos was the first dog that Suzie and I had together, and he became a part of our family from the first moment we brought him home. He had such a special spirit. I never really knew it was possible to love a little creature so much. He made my heart bigger.

We adopted him when he was five years old, from this great organization called Pugalug. We had the amazing experience of watching him come into his own as only a rescued dog can: over the two years we had him, he transformed from being a pretty timid and submissive little pug to being confident and playful and friendly to strangers and other dogs. He loved little kids, and kids loved him. Especially our nephew Kai.

Amos made us laugh all the time: the little dance he would do before meals, working himself into a frenzy of excitement for food; his weird sneezes and noises and snorts, especially the “snort of love” that he would give when you’d rub his chest in a certain place. The sighs of satisfaction, the way he like to rest his chin on something when he slept….I could probably write all day about all his little Amos-ness. He was a lot of dog, a lot of love and a lot of personality wrapped up in a small package.

Good bye Amos, our little friend, truly and deeply missed.

Election Time

Get your vote on, Canada – anything but a Conservative majority government.  Check out the Department of Culture,  an organizing body who do not endorse a particular party, but who are committed to saving Canada from a conservative majority under Stephen Harper…the website has lots of good info and fact sheets and also hilarious and great videos and inspiration and artistic political goodness going on.   No question that Stephen Harper’s Conservatives are bad for the environment, bad for arts and culture, for heath care, for social services, for women…and they do not in any way represent the kind of country that I want to live in…

Given the choices of who else to vote for, and strategic voting, etc, it’s not easy to make a decision about how to make your vote count.   Here’s a little link i found interesting, if you are thinking environmental issues:  www.voteforenvironment.ca

I feel lucky to live in a riding with a truly amazing MP, Peggy Nash, who i want to see stay in office. Go Peggy!

Speaking of Peggy’s, here’s a link to a good article about Harper and his position on the arts (that artists are a bunch of fancy – elite-party-going-wine-sipping whiners) by Margaret Atwood.

And here, Toronto friends and colleagues who run a political theatre event The Wrecking Ball, have posted some really inspired writing by Wajdi Mouawad, head of the French NAC.  Also scroll right down to see his incredible “Open Letter to Prime Minister Harper”.

See you at the polls…

Workin Summer

Hillside Festival and Home County were both wonderful weekends full of fun workshop collaborations with great musicians, and hearing lots of good music…sharing stages with The Brothers Creegan, The Acorn, Rae Spoon, James Gordon, Jenny Whiteley, Oh Suzanna, Catherine McClelland, Melissa McClelland, Coco Love Alcorn, Brian McMillan…and getting to play with my whole band at Hillside, what a treat.

This week, on Augst 7, the SummerWorks Festival opens in Toronto — a festival of independent theatre and music which i have been involved in over the years (it’s where Clean Irene & Dirty Maxine premiered, and won the jury prize — so of course i have sweet associations..). This year, i am taking part in the festival with three different things, all of which i am pretty stoked about:

Number one! The festival is doing a music series this year for the first time, so on August 15th, I am playing (with band) as the opening act for Rock Plaza Central.

Number two! I am directing a show by my friend Morgan Jones Phillips, called The Emergency Monologues. It is all about his experience working as a paramedic in Toronto for the last 5 years — and his stories are AMAZING. you will pee your pants laughing, and be horrified and amused and amazed.

Number three! I am acting in The Pastor Phelps Project: a fundamentalist cabaret. Speaking of horrified, amused and amazed….I play Shirley Phelps-Roper, daughter of Pastor Fred Phelps, and a leader of the Westboro Baptist Church of Topeka, Kansas: the hate-mongering, homophobic church who picket AIDS funerals and dead soldiers funerals…who will apparently be in attendance at the opening of the show this Thursday, picketing at our production (!) en route to Alberta where they’ll be picketing at a production of the Laramie Project. See their press release: 20080801_pastor-phelps-project-toronto

Check out the media frenzy that has happened since we discovered the Westboro Baptist’s intention to picket the show:  The Toronto Star, The Globe and Mail, CityTV, Global TV all covered it…and then they didn’t show (The Toronto Sun reports).

Come check out the live action: the show takes place in the back room of The Cameron House, August 7-17 www.summerworks.ca

Report from the left coast…

I’ve returned from such an amazing tour out west. Without a doubt, the highlight being the trip to the Yukon, and the very special and beautiful Atlin Festival.…back in Ontario now, i’m missing those long long days that never seem to end…walking home at 3 am wondering if it’s finally getting dark, or if it’s actually getting lighter….

Also a treat to be return to Edmonton, Vancouver, Vancouver Island, and Whidbey Island WA; plus first visits (but not the last!) to the Sunshine Coast BC and Canmore AB. Incredible physical beauty was a recurrent theme of the landscapes we drove and flew and sailed through…as well as delicious, wonderful and generous hospitality from so many old friends and new friends along the way.

When i have a few minutes, i will be posting some more writing and stories about the trip…for now, I am coming down from the west, followed by a lovely weekend at London’s Home County Festival, and getting ready for the big Hillside weekend.

Lots of nice press along the road, too: if you’re interested, check out the articles in the Georgia Straight and The Edmonton Journal

Happy Pride!

Pride Week officially begins in Toronto ..happy queer christmas, to one and all Let the rainbow-flaggin’ and the booty-shakin’ and street partying begin!

Begin? Where to begin? Well …for starters, check out the fun little video story that Xtra Magazine has up on their site, about me and my thing, promo-ing my upcoming western tour…

While still in Toronto for the big weekend, I’ll be performing at Cheap Queers at Buddies on Thursday the 26, and on the Proud Voices stage on Sunday the 29th at 5 pm, at the James Canning Gardens… though I’ll tell you, i feel I’ve been living and breathing the Pride spirit for weeks now,because of PrideCab, the big year-end youth cabaret show at Buddies- which, incidentally, sold out around the block last Wednesday! I’ve never seen such a long line up at Buddies, even on club nights. More than 100 people turned away! What a smash success — another great show by a great gang of youth: this marks year four that I have directing the project, and also my final year. Next year i take a step back from the youth programme, to concentrate more on my own work, and wear a new hat at Buddies: that of “Associate Artist”. I’ll be directing the Young Creators Unit again, directing Mark Shyzer’s new show “Fishbowl: a concise, expansive theory of everything” as part of the 30th Anniversay season, and…working on my own writing and other projects…actually i’m going to be writing a play for Buddies for 2009/10. So it’s exciting times for me. Sad to be letting go of the apron strings of my beloved youth programme…but the time is right. Chy Ryan Spain takes over, and that’s all good.

After we’re all done with being proud…next week I head out west for a two week music tour with the marvellous David Celia; he’ll be my one-man back-up band, and we’ll do a series of double bills together:  can’t wait.   Then back for more festivals back in Ontario. I am SERIOUSLY excited about the line up for my Hillside band: we had a jumpin’ show at the neighbourhood joint Not My Dog on Friday night, and it made me really really excited…there is a new sound developing, with David Celia on electric guitar, and the addition of upright bass (ahhh…the lovely Trevor Mills is back in the band!) and Beth Washburn on her little mini-tuba as well as the cornet…and of course Brad Hart playing drums. Adam Warner will actually be playing drums at Hillside, since Brad is on tour with Claire Jenkins Avec Band for a month…so Brad will be missed but Adam will be a great addition. With the new instrumental elements, and several new songs, i think things are really coming together in a slightly new and definitely exciting direction…and you know how i love new and exciting….

mystery of the crumbly spelt and…

Alright, three things.

Number one is that i was doing a bit of internet research about baking bread with spelt flour, and to my great delight, i discovered why my two previous attempts to make bread using spelt were extremely crumbly, and not as great as i thought they should be, considering my past bread baking successes. Those were always with wheat flour — and i had (mistakenly) been assuming that spelt flour functions very much like wheat flour. Oh, i knew that rice and soy and buckwheat and kamut and all those were really different to bake with – my partner is allergic to wheat, so for many years we’ve been using alternatives — but my past experience of cookies or cakes with spelt have been very easy! Seemed like it was very wheat-like. But apparently, the internet tells me, it’s not good to KNEED your spelt bread dough too much (unlike wheat dough, which you can kneed almost indefinitely, if you want to); it makes it crumbly. Because it’s gluten structures are fragile! Do not over-kneed! Mystery of the crumbly spelt bread… SOLVED! If you know me, you know how incredibly pleased i am when i solve these small but mysterious little every day mysteries. So the happy ending which i felt compelling to share, here, on my blog, is that i just made the best loaves of spelt bread EVER. I hope those of you who have been similarly plagued with spelt bread failures will be as excited as i am. Here’s the recipe i found, it’s good.

Okay, number two. I got a lovely piece of mail yesterday, which was a letter and a cheque from the Ontario Arts Council supporting this spoken word thing I’m working on. Hazah! Two Wheeled Words (the working title) will get a little workshop performance at the end of September….and i’ll get to spend some of the summer and fall working on it. Exciting. This is the piece that uses a bicycle as percussion, and metaphor. Ideas related to “spin” and “cycles”, that’s what I’m working with. You can see that I really must be pleased about my spelt mystery solving, since number two really is so good, it could be number one. Thank you Ontario Arts Council!

Number three: this is my laugh of the week. There is a nice little review of my record, Small Theatres, in Shameless Magazine this month. I really like Shameless, it’s an awesome publication, so i was pleased to be reviewed in there. What is hilarious is just one small but funny editorial misinterpretation. There is a comment about the song Honey, which is I sometimes introduce, when i’m playing live, as being a story told to me by my uncle-in-law, Rod, who was a wrestler with the WWF. That is, the World Wrestling Federation. You may be familiar with it. Anyway, in the review it mentions “a man who wrestles bears for the World Wildlife Federation”. Heh heh. I thought that was funny.

february

Well there’s been some “issues” going on with the website for the last few weeks — hope you haven’t been looking for things you couldn’t find…and hopefully i’ll have everything working all hunky-dory again soon. I’m heading off to see Veda Hille’s cd release tonight, can’t wait. It’s been a jam jam jam packed few weeks for me (perhaps the website’s problems are like a virtual representation of the inside of my head: too many things going on! everything gets jumbled! nothing links properly anymore! malfunction!) but it’s all been pretty fun. Girls with Glasses completed our tour, The Aunties held a very successful and fun fundraiser, and I directed a show at Buddies for the Young Creators Unit which had it’s one-night presentation last night as part of Rhubarb!. Extremely fun…and i’m a tired cookie. Now i hunker down and get writing.

Basket No. 2

F is for FEBRUARY and FUNDRAISING!

MONDAY FEBRUARY 11th The Independent Aunties present
The “Up Your Auntie” Fundraiser
at The Theatre Centre, 1087 Queen (at Dovercourt, entrance on Dovercourt, south of Queen)
Doors @ 7 pm
Clean Irene & Dirty Maxine @ 7:30 pm
John Millard and Happy Day @ 9 pm
followed by cheap beer, cupcake bake sale and good times.

Tickets are by donation
(Suggested donation of $20;  all donations of $25 and over will receive a charitable tax-receipt.  This event is an effort to fundraise for the Auntie’s upcoming production “Breakfast” at the Theatre Cenre in May 2008.  Any and all donations are gratefully accepted.)

to reserve email info@independentauntie.ca  or call 416-538- 0988

About Clean Irene & Dirty Maxine:
Written and performed by Anna Chatterton and Evalyn Parry, directed by Karin Randoja and designed by Sherri Hay, Clean Irene has toured to great acclaim from Halifax Nova Scotia to Dawson City, Yukon…it’s our last time doing it EVER in Toronto!

“..beneath the show’s whimsy lies a subtle, satirical sting that spares no one.” ~ Eye Magazine”

“Wickedly funny…great physicality, smart satire and snappy, spot on performances!” ~ NOW Magazine

“You’d be hard pressed to find a better pairing of performers on stage than Parry and Chatterton.” ~  THE GLOBE & MAIL

“ …just the right mix of deadly earnestness and naughty knowingness.”  ~ The Toronto Sun

More about us at  www.independentauntie.ca

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About John Millard and Happy Day

“like a mixture of the Lone Ranger and Kurt Weill” ~National Post

“The music rolled out like a ballerina and a soldier from a Swiss clock, like a hodgepodge of stone and wood and rusty tin and cracked glass that somehow fit perfectly together. And the sound? Country and Kurt Weill, mazurka and bluegrass, Celtic ballad and marching band music, all at once. ” ~Globe and Mail

I say, hearing is believing — John Millard rarely plays in these parts, and although his performance with Happy Day really defies description,  it’s got to be both the happiest and the saddest music ever, one of the most original and wonderful things you’re likely to hear this February!

www.johnmillardandhappyday.com

Girls with Glasses 2008!

Catch the last of the GWG 2008 tour Feb 8 in London! Feb 9th is sold out! Karyn Ellis, Eve Goldberg, Allison Brown and I have had good times and great shows in Peterborough, Creemore, Toronto, Kingston, Montreal and Ottawa… we’ve got ourselves a nifty Facebook group, if you’re the Facebook kind, you can join, and see photos and things…

bicycle band

A very fun show was had at the Tranzac Club in Toronto: with band and bicycle: ..the opening set was trying out a new series that I’m working on called “Two Wheeled Words: a spoken word cycle” or maybe it’s a song cycle, I’m not totally sure yet what it is, but it includes playing the bicycle as a percussion instrument and it’s all about the idea of “spin”.

Brad Hart plays the bicycle like a pro!  Second half of the show was songs with the band.  David Celia, his beautiful voice and magic guitar were a brilliant addition…Jenn Gillmor did birthday bass duty, and Suzie Vinnick sat in for a couple of songs on the fly.   Always a treat to have the mini-tuba, played by Beth Washburn.   Thanks to all who  played and those who listened for a lovely time.  There will be a monthly show in 2008…find out all the details here.

newfoundland

Leaving St. John’s later this afternoon. I’ve spent a beautiful and relaxing week on the rock, my first visit out here… which will certainly not be my last.

Arrived last Tuesday: played a show at the Ship Pub Wednesday Folk Night. Super fun.
Crazy buckets of rain only added to the adventure of visiting the Battery home of my friend Chris Brooks, home of Battery Radio; along a tiny, windy street on the other side of Signal Hill, a cluster of little colourful houses clinging to the rock on one side, ocean on the other. Torrents of water pouring down the rock outside his narrow, tall wooden house, making you feel like your inside of a ship. The sound of the fog horn in the distance.

Who knew St. John’s would be home to the best Montreal-style bagels (better than in Montreal), croissants and artisan breads: The Georgetown Bakery, yes my dear, that little place makes the most ridiculously delicious baked goods, I’ve been eating them like they are going out of style….breakfast lunch and dinner, while catching up with my friend Leah (her brother happens to own the bakery — just one of the many points that will be covered in the song I am writing a song for her called “Queen of Newfoundland” ). Dinner party, neighbourly visits (in St. John’s, it appears artists can afford to own houses!), a lovely evening of jazz courtesy of local darling Mary Barry, dinner and a brunch at The Sprout (very good veggie food). (Funny random fact: St. John’s has the most supermarket’s per capita of any city in Canada.) Lots of hiking around with Fogo the dog, and Iorek the Puppy:  Signal Hill, Ladies Lookout, Cuckolds Cove trail; the incredible, endless view over the Atlantic ocean on the one side, all rugged coast, rock, sea and sky….and city of colourful wooden houses on the other side.

Friday, a drive out to the picturesque, coastal town of Brigus. A few cases of talking to people who might as well have been speaking another language for all I could understand — I love the Newfoundland accent, and I especially love that feeling that suddenly, as you’re listening to someone, you’ve lost all ability to comprehend the english language. Beautifully disorienting. Beautiful island. A week of putting the ocean inside me.