Jazz Festival interlude

A bit of a break from all the Fringe posting, though it isn't what I planned on posting...

I don't always get out to that much at the Toronto Jazz Fest, as the headliners don't grab my attention (and haven't for many years).  Indeed, at the moment, I've done more at the Luminato Festival (You See, Pearle Harbour Walks into a Bar, and then stumbling across a few outdoor art installations).

I did get a ticket to see the Jeremy Ledbetter Trio at the Rex last week (immediately before Pearle Harbour in fact), and I am just back from seeing Kokoroko at the Phoenix.  If I didn't have Fringe rehearsal, I probably would have gone to see Cassandra Wilson (despite her MAGA-leanings), but I didn't.  I did consider seeing Isaiah Collier at Hugh's Room, as well as Ibrahim Maalouf at Danforth Music Hall, but I didn't.  It's definitely just as well that I didn't get a ticket to that, as we switched our final rehearsal to Sat. at 8, so I would have had to miss it.

What I did do is head over to Yorkville and saw Irene Torres, backed by Eric St. Laurent on guitar.  I did get there about 10 minutes late, since I just did not want to leave until I had submitted this massive report to a client, as well as uploaded the Access Guide to our Fringe show.  (There was a lot of small stuff to do for Fringe, like getting some posters laminated and dropping them off at Fringe Central, but I have to go back on Monday because the artist lanyards weren't ready.  I am maybe 35% done putting our program together, so I need to finish that tonight, as well as just get the Equity stuff mailed off.  Sigh...)

I enjoyed the set, though it wasn't straight-ahead jazz, more of a South American groove.  I was also a bit distracted because I was trying to finish up Laura Graham's Rove, which is due back at Robarts (today in fact!).  I got ready to bike over to the Phoenix and found someone had stolen my bike light.  (As it happens, I had outsmarted myself by taking it off in advance, but I hadn't remembered this, and it did put me in a bit of a foul mood the rest of the evening...)

I made it over to Phoenix around 7:40 and got in line.  I've never been to Phoenix.  It was pretty much an even more bare-bones version of Lee's Palace, though I guess the dance floor is even bigger.  (And my goodness the security guards were handsy...)  It was pretty crowded even for the opening act, Witch Prophet, and there was nowhere to sit, as the very small number of seats up in the balcony had been snatched up ages ago.  I really don't like standing for concerts and it is generally making me less and less likely to go.  I was surprised that I was able to read inside up until the music started, and I finished Rove and started in on her Settler Education. 

I'll just cut to the chase and say I didn't care much for Kokoroko.  They were so vocal heavy and basically were playing a bunch of nu soul tracks.  They didn't even play that much off of Tuff Times Never Last, and I don't think they played anything from their latest release, a self-titled EP (which I do enjoy a fair bit, definitely more than Tuff Times).  I'm sure a large part of it was standing for 2 hours before they even came on (and the 30 minutes or so in Yorkville).  And it was even more cramped on the dance floor by this point.  I finally fled to the back where I was able to get some water and lean against the wall.  I guess I stuck it out another 25-30 minutes, but I still wasn't having a good time, and they still were basically playing nu soul, so I left.  It's incredibly rare I leave early from a concert, esp. when I paid for the ticket.  I'm struggling to remember the last time, though I guess my wife and I finally bailed on Stevie Wonder before his second or third encore...  So I certainly won't see them again.  And I am almost certainly never going to go to the Phoenix again either, unless it is a band I simply cannot pass up.

Had I had perfect fore-knowledge, I probably would have stayed in Yorkville and seen the Orbital Ensemble (and skipped Kokoroko).  Oh well.  There is a small chance I will see the Orbital Ensemble on the 30th after work at Sonic Boom, though it likely conflicts with my Fringe schedule.  In addition, they are opening for Tinariwen in Sept.  This is quite exciting, as I wasn't even aware they were coming back.  So I will just have to check my schedule (and clear it if at all possible) and go see them then.

In terms of the rest of the festival, there is a moderate chance I will see the Stuart Brignell Organ Trio at the rock in Yorkville at 5:45 tonight.  Then I'll come home and try to rest up a bit.  I was going to go swimming at Jimmie Simpson, but the pool is closed this week.  I guess I'll see if I can convince myself to get over to the gym for a bit, and I can go swimming on Sat. in Regent Park.  Now Virginia MacDonald is playing a free set at the Pilot tonight at 10:30, but I am not sure I am going to want to get back out for that.  I guess I'll see how I feel in a few hours and how much I manage to get done.

There isn't much that grabs my attention at the Jazz Fest on Sat., but Sun. after our tech time at Alumnae, I may try to see the Tak Arikushi Trio at 5 (@ 55 Bloor St. W), perhaps the Charley Rose Trio at 6:30 in Yorkville, and much less likely the percussionist Agneya at 8:30.  The Jen Lo will be playing a free set at the Pilot on Sun. at 10:30, and I'm more inclined to see that, but again it just be one too many things going on.

There is a Herbie Hancock show at Massey Hall in late July, which is sort of associated with the Jazz Fest.  I am leaning towards going, as he is really getting up there, but I haven't picked up any tickets.  And with that, I need to get back to work...

 

Back from the Printers

Last night, I got dragged into a meeting right before I had to leave to pick up all the posters and post cards from the printer before rehearsal.  I left the meeting a bit early, but this really through me off my game.  Also, I had the large backpack with me, in addition to my already full pannier.

I ran upstairs to the printer and suddenly realized I didn't have my pannier!  I guess because I am used to having one thing or the other.  I had them ring me up and ran back downstairs.  That would have been quite tragic had the pannier been stolen, as it had the script, my second pair of shoes and my laptop.  I can't quite imagine what explaining this to IT would have been like if the pannier had been stolen.

The printer liked the poster quite a bit, and said they wished they could stay at the Bed and Breakfast.

I biked over to rehearsal, not having enough time to go to the Indian place after all.  I stopped in a tiny variety store on Symington, but I don't plan on going back after they gave me so much grief about using a debit card.  Rehearsals are almost over anyway.\

I thought rehearsal went well.  We are running about 8 minutes long, but if the actors really get their lines down and we pick up the pace, we should be fine.  Fingers crossed.

I managed to get the whole cast (minus Victoria, our stage manager) to sign one of the posters. 

I distributed a bunch of the larger posters and most of the postcards. 

This is what I have left:

I wonder if I am going to have to do another run of postcards.  I guess that's fine as long as it actually leads to some people buying tickets.

Anyway, we have one more rehearsal Sat. evening (and maybe I will finally get to that Indian place near Lansdowne that evening), tech on Sun. afternoon, then a night of running lines Monday evening at my place.  And then it's three days or so before our opening.  It truly is right around the corner!

Happy Fringing!

The Fringe poster out in the wild

I do apologize for posting about almost nothing except Fringe these days.  I'll see if I can sprinkle in a few other topics, but mostly Fringe is going to be all-consuming for three more weeks, so check in after that if you are looking for a change of pace...

I will be picking up the larger posters and the postcards today from the printer.  We actually have a run with a mis-spelling of my name, which I could live with, and "playright" instead of "playwright," which I couldn't.  But I guess they could become rare collector's items.  If you want to put in a bid for a misprinted poster, just let me know.

I was going to put up a few on the Danforth on my way over to Robarts yesterday morning.  I even bought a mini-stapler from Dollarama, but the darn thing refused to unlatch and swing open.  So frustrating!

After hitting up Robarts, I made an extra stop at Staples on University and found a stapler that will work.  I put up a couple of posters downtown, and then one in Regent Park and two by Riverdale Library.

 
I even put one up on my front gate.  It does look awfully small at this distance, but I thought I would show off that after many years, I finally managed to train the flowers to start crossing (partway at least) over the trellis.

The only other thing of note is that I had to call this IRS this morning to prove my identity.  Nothing's ever smooth with them, but it could have been a lot worse.  I managed to sew up a tear in my shirt sleeve while on hold.  (One of many small tasks that keep getting deferred while I am gearing up for the Fringe...)

P.S. We've jumped from 80 tickets to 100+ tickets.  Maybe joining Instagram helped, or maybe it was the mention in the Stageworthy podcast, or maybe it's just that we are getting closer to the time people make their last-minute picks for Fringe.  Don't be left out!  Tickets here.

Dueling posters (and a podcast shout-out)

Through a strange chain of events, we actually have a second poster design now.

It is definitely a cleaner, more polished and professional look, though perhaps the original poster captures the inherent chaos at the Bards' better.  

I like both, though of course I am biased towards the original, as I was much more involved in creating it, even taking the photo.  (No AI here...) 

Anyway, let me know your thoughts in the comments.

In other exciting news, we have a very, very brief shout-out as a production that caught someone's eye in this Fringe preview podcast from Stageworthy!  We're mentioned right around the 39:30 minute mark.  I'm almost certain that two of the five critics (and hopefully three, since I know Phil Rickaby pretty well) will make it out.  Of course, we hope they like it!  

We're back to rehearsal tomorrow, getting ready, and our Tech date is this Sunday.  Fringe will be here before you know it!

 

More Fringe rehearsal

Tonight was overall ok, though not all the actors were off-book.  A few swore they would be by Wed.  Let's hope so.

Taking notes at the end

One thing that is gratifying is that the actors are helping to start promote the show, taking some of the smaller posters and agreeing to take a bunch of postcards.  (I mean one would certainly hope they believed in the show by this point; I think a few of them are excited about it.)  

Ted has been helping out a lot on getting the final images together for the posters and the postcards, and then Alex created the QR code to get added to everything, which adds that professional touch (and will hopefully lead to more ticket sales).

Lynn is taking charge of getting matching polo shirts for herself and Brian (to be a bit of a uniform for the Bards) as well as the cast t-shirts, so that is all quite cool.

We've sold 80 tickets (though a few are going to reviewers!).  I think if we manage to sell 300 tickets we'll basically break even, aside from the stipend I plan to guarantee the cast and crew.  It might take more like 400 tickets to cover that, and the math may still not work, but it isn't really about the money, for me at least.  If you are interested, you can use this link (since I am behind the times on QR codes...).

Cooking Interlude

Sunday was an interesting day.  I started off making a pancake.  This was on the smaller side, partly because I didn't throw in a banana.  This was a cherry-blueberry pancake.  I thought I would try to keep it a bit more modest because we were going to try this African place near the LCBO.

Thus, I got a bit of a late start, not making it to the gym until right before noon.  I did a compressed workout and did the grocery shopping, and was back by around 1:30.

We set out, only to find that due to "technical difficulties," whatever those might have been, the restaurant was closed until sometime next week.  This was incredibly frustrating, and I debated just giving up and rescheduling, but we ended up wandering down to Queen.  

After some debate, we went into BKK Thai.  I ordered the curry noodles and a Thai iced tea.

It was tasty, but it was pretty soupy and would have been better with some rice to soak up the extra broth.  I had thought it was something else with silver noodles, and I'll just have to ask what that was the next time I am there.

We didn't get back until 3:30!  So I had a bit of time to try to get a few work things done, including laundry, though I did not manage to get the Fringe brochure finished, sadly.  I also only got halfway through cooking my red lentil dish. 

Then I went off to rehearsal, making it just in time.  It is close to an hour bike ride away!  I'll share some posts from rehearsal in the next post.

On the way back, I had hoped to stop at an interesting Indian place at Bloor and Lansdowne.  Given, I don't think I'll be back this way that often after next week, I thought I might as well check it out.  (There are two Indian places next door to each other on Bloor between Christie and Ossington, and I finally made it to one, and it was quite good, but I will be going back and forth to the Paradise a lot more often than west of Dufferin!)  Anyway, this place is only open until 9 pm, even in the middle of the week, so maybe what I'll do is hit it up on Wed. before rehearsal (and pick up extra napkins!).

Anyway, I continued on and dropped in at the burrito place.  The young woman at the counter was there again.  It seems Sunday evening is one of her regular shifts.  She asked what I was reading today, and I told her it was more poetry.  She said she was reading Harpman's  I Who Have Never Known Men, which sounds like a total downer.  I'm really not sure this is something I would ever read.  She said she was a bit addicted to buying books rather than getting them from the library, At some point, I showed her the picture of my bookshelves, and she was a bit overawed.  If I am not too pressed to do other things, maybe I'll make one more stop next Sunday and take her a few things from the Little Free Library out front.  I think Frayn's Headlong is still there and Findley's The Telling of Lies.

I got home and talked with my son who wished me a Happy Father's Day, and I tried to pin him down on when he will be back in Toronto and which day he plans to see the show.  Sadly, I fell asleep without finishing the red lentil dish, but I finished cooking it this morning.  It should be fine, though I will need to try to finish it early in the week, as sometimes the sweet potatoes go "off" a bit.

So those were my Sunday culinary adventures.

At Home with the Bards: the Poster

I think this looks pretty snazzy. 

I'm off to try to get a bunch printed off and have them (and a huge stack of postcards) ready by Wed.  Ticket sales aren't much higher than they were last week, but still decent for this far before Fringe starts.  Still, if you want to make sure you don't lose out, tickets can be purchased here.