Monday, September 21, 2009

Show 18: Toledo, OH

Turnout: 15
Cut of Door: 40, Merch: 10
Personal Injury Report: Kate pulled a muscle or tendon in the collar bone area pretty badly. Shoulder movement impaired for the moment.

Show Description: Our original set up of playing at Gabe's house was combined with another show and moved to an anarchist space called the Black Cherry. This venue is three things: a large cafe slash infoshop on the ground floor, a show space in the basement and soon to be apartments, ten of them, on the second floor. All this is in the more or less construction phase. It could turn out to be a very prosperous space considering the city of Toledo seems to be in need of pretty much any kind of business.

We played with eight other acts. This was quite a night. One of the guys who saw Paint the Town said it was the show he'd been waiting for all summer. Lots of people, possibly fifty, were there.

It went late into the night, and as any feisty party should, it got a little rowdy. We were interrupted twice by a couple of noise guys due to their apparently vibrant and dog-in-heat style love of theater. Surprising, I know. Their lack of inclusion in our set obviously causing quite a bit of devastation, they decided to fuck up our intro by telling us how to do it, and also delay and fuck up the beginning of the play by improving a Power Electronics set right as we started.

Now, I can't speak for everyone, but I tend to think of guys, especially noise guys, that get excited about theater as, how shall we say... "lesser men." I mean, I don't want to have to be cruel, but come on. Really.

I tend to stick with the volume knob as my measure of truth.

You all can think what you want, but let me tell you, a guy that will go as far as attempting to prove himself by saving the play from his assumption of the performer's own mistakes, yelling, "don't explain it, don't!" during the introduction is in need of being saved himself, lest he fall into the depths of the ever-present emasculating theatrical tights.

And save him we did.

I really couldn't help myself. Seeing someone on the precipice of such disaster made me shoot into action running over to him like a god-fearing evangelical to her coming-out son, slamming the top of his suitcase down on his hands, getting the power cut, and after his nick-of-time salvation, demanding he explain himself, since he better know the reason for his action so as to avoid future repetition of this pitiful display.

Obviously too embarrassed directly afterwards to give any good explanation, he just mumbled, incapable of handling audible language for the time being. And who could blame him really, I wouldn't want to admit that kind of theatrical love either. Ruin a guy's career.

That episode behind us, and the adrenaline happily still pumping, the performance kicked ass and the audience fucking ate it up.

We met some great people before and after the show and got to see some who'd been there for Paint the Town last time we came through. This show was, performance-wise, probably the best yet.

Staying at Gabe's was great, as always. He makes Toledo really worthwhile and an extra enjoyable time.

Did you see this show? If you did, write a review, comment, or ask us some questions. We'd like to hear it because we believe in artistic transparency.

3 comments:

  1. Thanks again for coming through again and absolutely killing it! Next time you all come through Toledo, my family and I would be honored to have you over for a meal and conversation.

    Karl

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  2. Sounds like those guys were unfamiliar w/the subtleties of Brechtian theatre. ;)

    --Joey

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