Just 4 Laughs

[LUCKY DIAMOND RICH]

Well it is the second day of the just 4 Laughs festival in Montreal and it is all good on the streets!
I woke up today to see my mug on the front page of the main Montreal News paper!
Then I went down to the site to do an interview with Master Lee,were he broke a wooden board with 1 finger (Unbelievable)while i was holding it with my 2 hands!
I am sharing the pitch with Piromanca (Fire Dancer)from Holland,and after ironing out a few tecnical problems with the sound system all is running well!
There is alot of other great acts ,

Chalk Master Dave (Canadian Calk Drawer)
Lurk (NZ Stilt Walker)
Oka (Japanesse Jugglers)
Edo-Daikagura (Music group Australia)
Hot Nuts and Popcorn (The 2 Funny ones of the 3 Canadians)
High Strung (3 foxy woman acrobatic trapeeze group)
Master Lee ( Out of Retirement N.Y s finest)

It has been great the festival so far and Kelly the festival organiser has been a pure pleasure to work for!
I will keep you posted on any updates on the festival and its happenings!
Eric (aka Hot Nuts) has a huge building that he has inherited and he is turning it into a theatre,across from the PUSSY CORPE Strip Club!
Wow



LDR

[Stephon]

Hey LDR, please tell Master Lee I said hello and I hope to see him in Maryland next month.

[gazzo osborne]

HE is no Master
and Bords Don't hit Back

[Butterfly Man]

And this is coming from a guy who drools because of teeny blood clot!

Tai Kwan D'oh

[Pyromancer]

Yes! The festival is getting better every day... The first two days were kind of rough, but the magic is back again... Just for laughs, it's the bottom line.

[Pyromancer]

It's been quiet on this section... I guess because everybody was too busy to find the time to write lenghty reports. Well, I am back in The Netherlands again, having problems sleeping - jetlag. So lots of time here now.
What a festival it was... Sharing pitch with Rich, who made me dream of a crowd of all tattooed men having a go at eachother about who actually was the most tattooed guy from them all. Including an adult softenon baby that forgot to tattoo the skin between what should have been the fingers of his ugly deformed left arm - No surprise who won that discussion.
And the shows... Somewhat unpredectable crowds. Some very willing to give you a good show, others giving you a hard time. Consumers versus participants, the last ones granting me the shows I was looking for. I refound the joy of performing, which I had strangely lost for a couple of weeks. It's just a matter of keeping your lungs clear! Or was it the brain?
Montreal is a great city. American cornyness meets European style in a great mix that is way too sexy for my eyes. But I decided to be a dutchman. "Kijken niet kopen." - don't touch, just watch. But the gentle touch of hot air kept me breathing.

Anyway, it was lots hard work, lots of fun and it sucks to be back home. But there's some festivals approaching that I'll be working overhere. And later on, I'll be catching that damn plane again. I swear!

[mommaK]

Back on the homefront again, gearing up for yet another 4 festivals ahead of me. Montreal, a city of beauty, held much magic during our stay.
Granted we all had our rough spots, up and downs, but that comes with each festival that passes.
I must thank each and everyone who made my job easier and helped me survive those 12 days.

Senji & Senmaur Kagami Edo-Daikagura - you guys are superstars to me, full of karaoke and sushi!

Pyromancer - thanks for the talks and for letting us use your room to consume full bottles of Grey Goose

Lurk - once again, a pleasure Martin. All the best to your family...

High Strung - such beautiful ladies, and thanks for the daily group hugs! big kisses to you all...

Chalkmaster Dave - you always rock. and thanks for John Denver.

Lucky Diamond Rich - thank you for your kindness and concern for my well-being. i'm looking forward to the rest of the summer!

Master Lee - William, what can I say? thanks for teaching me how to play poker , this time sober! much respect to you and much love.

OKA - my boys, I will always love you to pieces....Stu, Matty, Chrisso, Geoffro, and the wonderful Sue-Anne.

Hot Nuts & Popcorn - 2 people in my life who are wonderful friends and constant support to me.Big love to you both. Thank you and I feel honoured that you worked with me in your last years...


Big thanks again to everyone for all of their hard work. You were all a pleasure to work with.

much respect
Kelly

[martin ewen]

Well it was a 10 day gig in Montreal and we were on the bottom rung of a gynormous comedy festival. So no real pressure but a fair share of improvised marginalisation. (which is where I live, its safe here, no-one bothers me)
And French culture perculated through a north american filter.
I've always thought of French culture as a sort of aggressive but well meaning transvestite roaming about sneering at the straight people while putting on good parties his/herself and below the bluster being quite a kind and romantic sort defended by almost nuclear disdain.
We get on.
Didn't get to see much other than the street stuff as the work precluded it but there was quite a bit apart from us happening in the street, some of it fun, some of it twee, some of it strange, most of it had some sort of humour attached (even if it was blatant pretention giggling all the way to the bank)
The afterhours stuff was as hardcore as anyone could wish,(try free drinks every night from 3am till 7 at the performers bar) so I'm told.
Great accom, single rooms with kitchen bathrooms smack dab in the seedy part of town where tall thin ferocious prostitutes with small boys bottoms roamed.
10 days, you have to pace yourself and we did, Eric and Deric from hot nuts organised bits and pieces (CBC TV party, we breezed in there like slumlords, ignored everyone, inhaled food and drink, didn't get offered a single sit-com, then left)
I've got a great idea for one as well, a bunch of funloving marines in a camp off cuba, some suicidal arabs and a bikini-model with a talking cyst. All done in whiteface...brilliant!
Anyway I had fun and it was good to meet up with old friends and some new ones and for next year I'm going to apply for lots of the ambient theatrics because deep down I'm french and if I need to wear my girlfriends underpants to prove it then so be it.

[ 07-23-2003: Message edited by: martin ewen ]</p>