I know, I know...

It's been a "super long" time coming, but I have been busy - busy deciding whether I should buy a shitty van or spend loads of money hiring vans from city to city on this tour. I have decided on the latter! Eric's van died recently, so the wheels we thought we had for the whole tour are no longer, and the tour I planned on has suddenly become a lot more expensive. Never mind... not when you find Fringe Buzz that says the following, right?:

"That Girl" approached us on Sunday afternoon to promote her show like most artists do... but she had that special kind of charisma, sweet, witty and simply adorable.

We fell for it and just went to the show. It's been the best we've seen so far (out of 6).

Rich, poignant story, full of jokes, funny props and such a performance at all the accents.

Puppets, shadows, talking dentures and more... seems a weird combination? Well, not so much when so artfully and appropriately done.

What do you like in geriatric?... the answer might be long to come, but the answer is worth waiting.

Thank you for having come to us, that was the best surprise of the weekend!


So, that was nice! The show sits so much better in a fringe or arts festival, and has some really nice buzz about it (2 standing ovations with several delightfully French "Bravo"s thrown in), but no reviews as yet. I have found my touring family, too. Or rather, they found me. Thank you Penny Ashton, for making everyone look out for me (I believe they said "trouble"?)! First day I ran around like a mad woman trying to set up a phone (OMG - RIP OFF!!!! No one is allowed to call me between the hours of 8am and 6pm weekdays), a bank account, and checking the state of the puppets and set before packing them into a van-taxi to the theatre. I met my most wondrous tech, Caisy, who is working with old equipment, but is generally being fairly flawless in her tech abilities. We teched in the requisite 3 hours, then I headed down the street to the beer tent where I saw the most bizarre sight of a bunch of performers manically taping hundreds of posters together in preparation for the running of the bullish posterthon. Unlike festivals in Oz, Artists here aren't allowed to poster before a specified time, that is, 6pm on opening night! So I took some photos of the bloody scene that followed once the gates opened at 6pm, mainly because I thought it hilarious, and I knew, being a solo artist that there was no way I could compete with the army of posterers I saw before me, while I casually stuck tape up here and there where I saw a square centimetre available. They postered EVERYWHERE!!! On the tables, on the chairs, on THE GROUND!!! There are even posters hanging on the trees in the garden!!! The noise from all the tape being pulled was almost deafening and I overheard several people complaining of "tape mouth" after they swallowed tape during the session. I know I should be going poster crazy too, but I hate postering, and I personally think there should be a limit to it all! So while I was postering in my casual way, I found some of the other solo acts - Jonno saw me straight away and I enjoyed a lovely and mighty hug from the other Melbournite on our tour, then Candy saw me, squinted her eyes and cautiously enquired whether I might be Lana, Penny's naughty friend. From then on, I kept finding people that Penny had told about me, and I discovered my family here: Jonno, Candy, Sharon, Jimmy, and my new and funniest, most delightful friend and billet sister, Tamara. I feel so lucky and blessed actually. My billet, Julie, is also a delight, having found me a bike to ride here, (which I guiltily have never used, cos I always have to carry around a puppet or two) but we live in Verdun, which is a 40 min bike ride from Rue St Laurent, where we need to be, and it is what I like to call the the "Frankston of Montreal" - the suburb that all the comics make fun of! Which I personally think is hilarious. Considering I might have to use the reference myself - except that I live there. Sigh.

So the shows have been going well, small but appreciative audiences, and I have to admit to really loving this crazy bilingual city (even though most of it has been spent in theatres, internet cafes and VERDUN!). Moi, j'adore parler en Francais and English as well. The people are cool, very friendly (except for when they are swearing at you for not buying a lemon of a van that you got inspected) and respectful in general. Also, ummm... did I mention the men have a particular love of redheads? I am getting a lot of attention here. The other night was a bit of a joke actually, when I was surrounded by no less than 4 men at The 13th Hour, the late night fringe talk show at "Juste Pour Rire" that we head to every night. I MAY just have to move here... I even actually ate Poutine, the national dish of chips, gravy and curd (ughhhh). Martin, from the delayed airplane took me for Poutine, le vrai Poutine, not the fake grated cheese poutine, and I curse the extra curd that must now be lying on my thighs. It's been lovely to see some of the people on my delayed flight attend the show. I must remember to thank American Airlines for the tickets they unwittingly sold for my show while we were all unhelpfully delayed for hours. Best publicity ever!

On the first night, too, there was a "fringe for all" where the artists come on and do 1 minute of their shows (1 MINUTE!!!!!!) to promote it. I danced with Hershy, of course, but it was hard to do only 1 minute. Then on the 13th Hour a couple nights back, the hosts interviewed m and hershel on the couch which was quite the success, and tonight, there are 2 minute sets for people to do, so I MIGHT try doing a tight 2 of standup. But I've never done such a short time before so we'll see how it goes.

Saturday, I do a show a 7pm, then have to bump out, load the hire van, and drive to Ottawa (only 2 hours) for an early tech on sunday morning. But Tamara has been making me drive her car, so once again, I am getting used to driving on the wrong side of the road, even though the windscreen wipers get more of a workout than the indicators. Family, take note, I am getting up very late in the day, so am wide awake for night time driving! PLEASE don't stress!!! I am also taking Jem Rolls, poet extraordinaire, with me for the ride, so he can remind me about driving on the right. In rhyme.

xxBanana