Aaaaah – what a great day. Tons of variety, lots of movement, and a sizeable “fuck you!” to my liver.
My fiftieth show of the year, the Zephyr Quartet’s CD Launch at the Wheaty, was gorgeous. For some reason it felt like a relief – almost like the last show of the season! As I sat there, mesmerised by the music, I could feel myself physically unwinding.
- The Dead Ones
- Miss Conlin Confesses
- Life in Miniature
- Zephyr Quartet CD Launch – A Rain From The Shadows
- Alan Sharp: Careful What You Wish For
- Marcel Lucont’s Cabaret Fantastique
I had the “delight” of reading Friday’s ‘Tiser while I visited Dad in hospital today; I was genuinely surprised at how disappointed I was with its Fringe section, especially the sad lament about how some reviewers couldn’t get into Leo without their tickets. So, let’s just attempt to cover the issues (in a post-Fringe-Club-closing drunken state):
- Reviewers couldn’t get in without their tickets. What? Their gratis tickets that they hurriedly applied for on the basis of early word-of-mouth, coming out of the artist’s pocket, weren’t acquired using the “normal” channels that provide media tickets?
- Why couldn’t the Gardeners use some initiative and just let the reviewers in anyway? After all, they were card-carrying certified reviewers! Maybe the reason is because there are around five hundred Media passes floating about… What’s the capacity of the Vagabond? What do you expect would happen if half of those passes showed up at the same time, demanding entry on the strength of that green stripe atop their proud pass?
You know what I did with my media pass tonight, rather than try to barge my way into a show? I went and hung out with artists. Bought them drinks, talked about tons of stuff. Had some off-the-record fun. But mostly just revelled in the presence of these creatives, told them how much I loved what they did, and just tried to be nice.
Just sayin’.
Oh no. I’m going to have to find last Friday’s tiser now.
Last Fringe I had an interesting conversation with an artist that went something like this:
Him: “So, you’ve got a media pass. That mean you can just show up to anything and see it?”
Me: “No, I would never expect to be let in. I only use it if I’ve put in a request or been invited.”
Him: (I assume trying to drop a hint) “Well … if someone showed up at my show with a media pass I’d certainly let them in …”
Me: (trying to drop a hint back) “I just wouldn’t be comfortable assuming I was welcome. If someone invites me that’s another matter …”
Never did see his show.
This sort of thing really annoys me, because Artists – the people who should be celebrated at every moment at this time of year – are the ones who are always going to get screwed.
They’re clamouring for attention in a crowded space, and so they feel obliged to leverage freebies to get media coverage that will hopefully get bums in seats – and, as we’ve discussed before, there’s five hundred “card-carrying certified” media peeps.
But it just feels like the artists are being conned – they already have to surrender “judge’s comps” to be in the running for Fringe Awards, and now they’re almost forced into providing more comps just to become visible. That scares me a little; I can’t see how the lesser names, in lesser venues, can ever hope to make a buck.