Raunchy fringe songwriter crushes on Trudeau look-alike

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This article was published 27/07/2015 (3959 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

SPEAKING OF JUSTIN TRUDEAU: Shirley Gnome, the comedian songstress famous for the blue lyrics in her Winnipeg Fringe Theatre Festival show, Shirley Gnome: Real Mature, had a great time teasing a man in her audience who looked like federal Liberal Leader Justin Trudeau. Before her Wednesday afternoon show at the U of W’s Eckhardt-Gramatté Hall, word was out that Trudeau was walking through the fringe fest area, glad-handing and posing for selfies with fans.

“Is that you, Justin?” Gnome asked, peering into the darkness, wearing a cowgirl outfit and sparkly pink Stetson. Soon the lights were up halfway, and she squinted, as if she weren’t quite sure it was the handsome politician.

At the end of her act, she batted her eyes at the Justin look-alike and offered sexy merchandise “free to members of the Liberal party.”

After the show, she said her Winnipeg audiences had changed from the opening shows, where some people were so shocked and disgusted they walked out. Eventually fringers knew the score, the audiences changed to a 20s and 30s crowd and they were much warmer and accepting of her raunchy act.

 

ET VOILA, MON AMI! Doug Stephen, grand fromage of Wow Hospitality, proudly opened Mon Ami Louis restaurant and nightclub on the Esplanade Riel on July 21 with a happy-hour bash for Winnipeg who’s who.

So, who is Stephen’s special pal Louis?

“This restaurant’s named after Louis Riel,” he says with a laugh.

The restaurant is in the space left by Chez Sophie, and Salisbury House before it, alongside the Provencher Bridge. How does Mon Ami Louis plan to stay open in this difficult location, especially in the winter?

They don’t. Mon Ami Louis will be open to the public in warm weather months, but will become an “event centre” for private parties and a catering location in late fall and winter, Stephen says. The restaurant plans to be open to the public all of September and as far into October as the weather holds.

Stephen confesses he’s “frustrated” the city has not granted him all the patio space he wants on the esplanade’s pedestrian and bicycle route.

“I really wanted 40 seats on the sunny side with a view of the river,” Stephen says. “The city engineers say they need all that space for the pedway. I just want seven feet of it, and I will fight for it. Winnipeg deserves to have this.”

The restaurant will also have a dance club called Pont de la Nuit — Bridge of the Night — on Saturdays from 9 p.m. to 2 a.m., with DJ Triple Threat (Marc, Anthony and Panda) spinning.

“If we find it’s successful on Saturdays, we’ll expand to Fridays as well,” says Stephen.

 

SPOTTED AT THE OPENING: Kerri Irvin-Ross, the province’s minister of family services and Stephen’s partner; busy executive chef Luc Jean; general manager Samantha Haas; 99.9 Bob FM’s morning hosts Beau and Heather; Maverick Media owner Nicole Harris; Shaw-TV producer Tracy Koga; City TV’s Ben Lucas; and Clearwater Social Media’s Elizabeth Mitchell. Also making the scene were LM Sales’ Lorri McInnes; artist Judy McInnes; Bernie Bellan, publisher of The Jewish Post and his wife Meachelle Bellan of Crisis Response; Kathryne Grisim of The Media Chef food blog; Doug Grisim of Gordon Food Services; plus Ciao! magazine’s Joelle Kidd and Kathleen Cerrer. Politicos Jenny Gerbasi, Dan Vandal and Premier Greg Selinger arrived the day after for the official opening.

 

THE ONI SHOW: The Oni fringe show should have been called Oni for Adults.

Shadow puppeteers Daniel Wishes and Seri Yanai had to deal with a 13-year-old boy attending their July 22 evening show with a parent.

At the beginning, they made broad hints it would be inappropriate material for the boy, but the family had copped front-row seats and were apparently not moving.

“I felt my timing was a little off because of it,” Wishes said after the show. He would like audiences to heed the clear warnings such as “sexy” or “bawdy” in the program. The rest of the audience clearly loved the titillating puppet show, but likely wondered what got cut out of it at the last minute.

This international performing duo hits the Edmonton and Victoria fringes later this summer with their X-rated show. Then they head to Japan for school-season gigs, where they do a kid-friendly Japanese-English show for the kindergarten crowd using marionettes and glove puppets that teach English.

 

FOUR MEDALS PLUS: Local singer Paul Kelvin Ong told yours truly he wanted to “bring home the bacon for Winnipeg” at the World Championship of Performing Arts competition in Los Angeles. Instead, the singer brought home the entire frying pan.

The 26-year-old Winnipeg resource teacher won three gold medals and a bronze and won the overall champion award of the world division, which earned him a two-year scholarship at the New York Film Academy.

Contestants from all performing arts disciplines came from more than 60 countries to compete for world recognition and medals.

 

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