Recently in reviews Category
Friday went well. Fifteen eaters including myself and dad, spread of pork tenderloin with spicy peanut sauce, nasi goreng, bahmi goreng, sambal boontjes, plain rice, plain beans, eggs in garlic and sweet soy, kroepoek, cucumbers in vinegar, mixed veggie pickle from Susan, and deli sprouts- which is pretty moderate for a rijstaffel. I did most of the cooking. Riet promises I can help prepare and consume a proper table (20+ dishes) if I ever visit her in Holland.
Just in case any of my readers are unfamiliar with the concept (for example, perhaps an adorable but poorly educated labrador puppy assaulting the keyboard accidently found his way here), a webcomic is a comic (a series of images with or without text that tell a story, frequently organised in longer serials; typical formats are strip, book (magazine) or graphic novel) published on the web (a network of interconnected computers).
Least exciting title ever. Heh heh heh. I can backdate entries and pretend they've been up for weeks (this was actually posted 08/09/04). Anyhoo, these is me thoughts on some of the artists at the Canmore and Edmonton fests this year:
Beolach (Can. & Edm.)- Bland, generic Cape Breton celtic. Like the sad majority of maritime acts, traditional and contemporary, too cutesy-downhomey-wholesome-sugary-obsequious-quaint to be likeable. No teeth.
Arlene Bishop (Edm.)- Has teeth, to be sure. Reminds me a little of Veda Hille, but not quite as absorbing. I really enjoyed the first workshop I saw her in, but her shtick was pretty much the same session to session and it wore thin. Not too bad though, all around.
And it was mostly very good. But now I'm back. I helped move some furniture and now I need a haircut and to re-validate my student ID and reserve a locker (there's been some shit about registration but I'll put that in another post). Warning: very long entry, this one.
On Friday (July 30th) we stopped by Joyce's to retrieve garage-door opener then on across the open road. Rainy and very, very windy outside Regina. Made it to a motel in Swift Current by nightfall.
In morning car started but refused to get in gear, so cruised downhill to Canadian Tire, where guy said we had no transmission fluid, possibly due to crappy seal. I waited in schoolyard playground with a book, though we were soon on the move again, stopping every 1-200 kliks to top up the leaking fluid. Not a big problem until Calgary, where being stuck in traffic heated up the motor and it started smoking. We retreated to the city limits and after much angsty peaking at car's undercarriage decided to stay at nearby Econo-Lodge and let it cool off completely overnight. Realised after hauling stuff into room that there was a campground up the hill where we could have gone, but too late. Watched horror movies on tv. Missed the first night of Canmore Folk Festival.
Fringe has been going well. I've got another day off, then performances every day from Thursday to Sunday. Houses have been pretty small so far and today's Free Press review was less than glowing (though from an arguable angle) but it could have been a lot worse. Nothing has caught fire yet. Our tech, Ian, is very professional and fun to work with and the venue is comfortably air conditioned. Sharon is also, as some people apparently still don't believe, professional and fun to work with.
Haven't had time or energy to do much off-hours Fringe cruising, so the only show I've seen (besides Camel, obviously) is R.O.C.: Republic Of Confusion, about Taiwan, identity and politics. Very well written and performed, entertaining and thought-provoking. Even the program is funnier and smarter than some whole shows I've seen before. It's also in venue 9, so we've met Zoe, the writer/actor, in the dressing room a few times. Great woman. Highly recommend the show. Will try to see a few more by the end of the festival.
Now that it's all wrapped up, I'd like to express my opinions on the artists and other aspects of the 31st annual Winnipeg Folk Festival (which is actually the 30th anniversary but they celebrated that last year because they can't count).
Volunteering: Volunteering adds another dimension to the festival. I suppose it depends what crew you're on, what benefits and drawbacks you recieve: I, for instance, on the music store cash crew, missed most workshops and chunks of mainstage, or recieved them only muffled, but had shelter from sun and rain, got almost all my meals provided, and could run across the tent to stake first claim on newly arrived artist merchandise. It's a decidedly better gig than volunteering at Fringe: festival admission, park access, backstage pass on a lanyard, good food and beverage, free bus to hotel, after party, many oppurtunities to hobnob with artists, t-shirt and program book for 16 hours time commitment is better value than t-shirt, button, a can of pop per shift and comp tickets depending on number of shifts worked for 5 hours times however-many-shifts. Plus I feel more appreciated at Folkfest than at Fringe and run into more people I know. The biggest way I think the experience could be improved would be to share it with friends (next year, hint, hint).
