Well, here I am in Bannock. Call me sentimental, but I like a place I can frequent and call my own. Well… I’m not quite there yet – we’re not dating or anything, but let’s just say the place comes to mind more than others when I need to write and I’m downtown.
It’s 2 in the afternoon. I sent emails out this morning and set up another meeting. Ian also was nice enough to email some advice on places I should check out and people I should see. Gonna get started on some research tomorrow. Be like Santa Clause making up a list to see who’s naughty and who’s nice – then ask ‘em both for writing gigs.
I’ve got a two month window to meet as many people as I can and make a positive impression. Shit starts happening at the end of January and I want to be riding someone’s coattails by then. I am also pleasantly surprised to see that ‘coattails’ is one word.
Leach was great, but her show was awful. Choreography was good to excellent at times, but the audience was left sitting in the dark for minutes at a time while the company changed wardrobe between numbers. The Choreographer also had these videos playing of himself, talking about how great he thinks he is. There was no unifying theme, no unity between numbers, and definitely NOT enough of Leach on the stage. If she wasn’t the best mover, she was top three and the Choreographer left her out of numbers in favour of his ‘favourites’. Thirty-four dollars for that piece of crap and definitely not enough bums in seats to pay the production costs. My theory is that the Choreographer’s mom paid for the room. Who else would tolerate such unprofessionalism?
The evening wasn’t a total loss. Frankie invited me downstairs to have supper and drinks with his Mom, his cousin Tonia, Donna (from upstairs), and Barbara (from downstairs). Donna and Barbara are Polish widows. Older, full of life, and a bit nuts. Frankie’s mom is such a mom. With Tonia there, I felt like I was adopted into some kind of Toronto family. So much warmth in that room. We all went to Leach’s show and had lots to talk about afterwards.
I am now left to write this last paragraph with wonderings full of thoughts about how I’m gonna tie all these random scribblings together into a nice, neat, little ending. I mentioned the possibility of a script reading with Frankie and family (and Leach). Everyone liked that idea. Maybe showing my work around a table with the people in my Toronto life will make for a nice way to end the day (and this article)?
Stay tuned.
The Mind of Jarrett 