Big Top Fringe Tattler

Hey there, time traveller!
This article was published 21/07/2011 (5388 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

ATTENDANCE: The hellishly hot Tuesday weather has finally cooled off fringe ticket sales. Overall indoor attendance through Tuesday is 47,280, compared with last year’s 48,133, a dropoff of 853. Tuesday’s ticket total was 7,262, about 100 fewer than last year on the same day. “As of Monday we were still ahead,” says executive boss Chuck McEwen, “But it’s already the third day of the extreme heat and Tuesday was the worst of all. That 12 to 6 p.m. stretch was pretty tough. I think we can make it up because we got lots of frequent fringers and buddy pass holders have to get to extra shows to use up their passes.”

SO HOW HOT WAS IT? “Hotter than Vegas, hotter than Bangkok and hotter than hell today!” said Kendall Stelmack at the fringe information tent at 8:05 p.m. Tuesday, when it should have cooled off already. It was still a sweltering 32 C — 44 C on the humidex — and everyone at the fest was soaked, but not with rain.

COWBOY TRICK: Clothing designer Andrew Bickford of Lennard Taylor on Princess says he beats the heat in the fringe’s vendor tent area with an old cowpoke trick. “Cowboys used to soak their bandanas in cold water to keep themselves cool,” he says, pointing at the wet handkerchief around his neck. Bickford creates a lot of cool men’s clothes at his chic studio/factory two blocks over, but his best seller at the tent is the cerise “Crystal” dress, “named after my wonderful movie star girlfriend, or at least she will be one day.” She’s an actress, right now working as a stand-in for local movie shoots.

SMOKE’S POUTINERIE: Fringers are poutine crazy! Co-owner Cathy Hudson says they’re going through 2,200 pounds of potatoes per day to make the fries, cheese, and toppings for the crowds lined up out the door at the poutine place near the mainstage. That’s where their first restaurant is located! On the weekends they do “about 1,000 orders of poutine per day,” dishing out as many as 230 poutine orders for lunch alone. Hudson says they’re so overwhelmed with biz they’re scouting two more locations in Winnipeg for the near future, with one likely to be in St. Boniface.

SILENT SMILERS: Once in a while fringe acts tell me they get “silent smiler” audiences, which they claim are the worst. These patrons smile their faces off in the dark, but don’t laugh out loud — it unnerves comedic actors, who think they’re bombing. When the audiences hang around afterward, still smiling, to say how much they loved the show, it’s a bit late. If you think something’s funny at the fringe, laugh out loud!

STANDUP GUY: Spotted: Rumor’s Comedy club headliner Ron Josol, who saw the guys from Full Screen Ahead at their Cavern standup performance Sunday night and went to see them at Pantages Playhouse Monday. According to audience members who recognized the comic, he really enjoyed the show.

WHOSE VOICE IS THAT? What happened to Claire Bestland, the rockin’ blues artist formerly known as Claire Still? Seems she changed names and changed voices. It is rare you see a woman play an electric guitar with as much ferocity as Hendrix, but up until a few months ago Bestland’s voice was no match. So it was an eye-opener and an ear-opener when she took to the outdoor stage Tuesday, belting out tunes at 10 times the decibels she used to manage with a microphone. She confides she now has to re-record all the songs for her upcoming CD “because my voice is so much better.” How did it happen? She’s not saying!

mscurf@shaw.ca