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Saturday, June 14, 2008

winnipeg gothic or reunions on the plains.

steve and angie abound with prairie hospitality. today we took it easy, ate bagels, stayed in and set up office in the dining room. steve and i worked on our computers while aitor unflattered steve with a portrait and worked on his illustrations for the next issue of the pilot pocket book. this went on for hours as little rain showers passed by.



by evening, we were getting ready for the very spooky friday the 13th improv show i came here to do (with steve, lee white and robyn slade). we set up the chairs, made a loose game plan and then crossed the street to eat together at mondragon - the world's best collectivist vegan restaurant (to my knowledge). i had a meal that felt like the perfect antidote to american road food - a "b"lt and hearty beet borscht. if you go through winnipeg, i think you should eat there. even aitor liked it (although you wouldn't know it from the picture below) and he is a big fan of flesh eating.


bellies full, we went back across the street to the exchange community church to get ready for our show. i wish the pictures were more exciting, but we were "warming up" in a church basement that kind of looks like a grim train station or hospital in pictures. we also "warmed up" by playing with all the kids toys down there. except aitor; he had no need to warm up since he wasn't performing so he made purple turds out of play-dough. we will be listing those on etsy as soon as he can settle on a price (and proper shipping).









the show was a lot of fun. my partners on stage are some of my favorite people/improvisers and i hardly ever get to see/work with them. we went nuts playing around, being goofs and trying to spook the audience. mostly the plot lines just descended into gore, treachery and grossness (of the best possible kinds) but i did get to tell my real-life ghost story and think i might have actually spooked a few audience members with that. it was a great joy to be able to indulge in unbridled silliness on stage again. it has been a while; that's not really the prevailing trend in toronto comedy these days. oh yes, and winnipeg crowds are pretty great.

we spent the later hours socializing at the homestead as many of my winnipeg favorites stopped by. i was especially happy to get a chance to catch up with jefferson and doctor dave. jeff has been cavorting in korea for what seem like forever and doctor dave is a chemist (among other things) who works with the rcmp processing illegal drug operations across canada - so they were both full of stories. i always like to grill dave about what new horrors are arising in canadian drugs. this time he reports that most of the cocaine in western canada right now has been cut with an antibiotic used to deworm pigs. apparently this is less of a threat and more of an curiosity but i am always fascinated by his canadian drug updates, danger or no. people are weird and they make weird things into drugs.

this post had nothing to do with crafts, buttons or the sweetie pie press. i guess winnipeg is a mild vacation from that. although, i might try to visit some stores over the weekend if possible. then it's off to bruno, saskatchewan. but that's a whole other story...

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