joy riding

I feel like I am chugging up to the precipice of a rollercoaster. I am travelling more and more steeply towards the moment when gravity will take control. Soon I will hurtle through christmas, parties, presents and all, career sideways around the summer holidays, slip, slap, slopping on the way and then plummet several thousand metres towards the Fringe. Time is rushing up to meet me like a rhinoceros. I must remember to take a breath.
I am getting close to having enough confirmed to go to the printers. The plays are being cast. There's a few new ideas. Ziggy emailed me about some original music he would like to perform inside a giant picture frame in Cambell Park. Holly Ewens and collaborator Andy Hummel have come up with a bit of a twist for her second music event. I don't want to give any suprises away but it's now called 'The Blind leading the Blind'.
I am so pleased that we have such a good balance between music, writing and visuals. I would like there to be more installations though. Any wacky or weird ideas out there. I know some great places to put stuff.

rain makes it green

whilst I am sitting at the computer and talking on the phone today the rain is swelling the ground and growing that lush greeness out there.
I am already having a good day. After playing a bit of phone tag I got to speak to Lorraine from R-30, 'comedy for those who would rather have a nice lie down'. They are now confirmed for Sat 24th Feb. Another night I am looking forward to. Details and pictures will be on the website soon. I also had a chat with Artis who wants to put a blackboard music event on in the sand dunes. He is chasing the right permissions and logistics. I will hear back from him on Sat and will post any news.
I just got a phone call from Lewis Scott who had read an article in the Capital Times about Paekakariki's fringe. I was a bit suprised because I didn't know we had an article in it. He said I should speak to Apirana Taylor and Lynsey Rabbitt about a performance poetry gig with him. So I just did and they are going to look at the dates. So there you go.

torture!

As my 11yr old daughter said to me the other day, "there's only one torture about living in Paekakariki. On the way to school you can see the sea but you can't go swimming because you're going to school". Today I decided to go swimming, well walking actually, on the beach. Mr Tui was singing to me too sweetly to stay indoors.
So I haven't got much to report. I got a few emails. I sent a few too. Tidied a few glitches and that sort of thing, but I will be back tomorrow with something exciting to say I'm sure. There is this huge pile of stuff waiting to be unleashed and wrangled - the printing, the publicity. Today is just a lull before that storm.

Keep Talking

This morning I was pleased to see Holly Ewens and Shona Holborow arrive at my front door. We enjoyed a coffee and discussed my play The Blue Flower. Holly is playing Parsi the young runaway and Shona is playing Abbi the wily old lady of my piece. They came up with the lovely idea of having Janet Holborow play her Cello live for the transitions between live action and film. It is such a rich melancholy sound that will fit perfectly.
Then tonight I met with the Community Board Trust or the Community Trust Board to get them in the loop. They all seem to be happy about the ideas that I put forward. At the end of the evening I had a chat with Steve Burgess about the Youth Group helping out. A couple of them may bomb some signs and the Fringe Truck (Fruck), the infamous orange hotrod from Paekak. That would be cool. I would like them to help decorate the space with us so they have a sense of involvement and ownership in the whole thing. Then Mary Cornwell approached me with a very generous offer of help with the costumes for the play. She is a professional and worked for TV ONE for a long time. That will be another enriching layer to the whole piece.

Major Update to the Paekakariki Fringe Calendar

Lots of new dates have been added! Still time to submit your proposals.

VJ night Saturday 17 Feb 2007

Put it in your diary. We will light up the Paekakariki night with projected fantastics.

Calendars and Cabarets

Well tonight/tomorrow I am going to get up our provisional events calendar. I know I will have to change it quite a lot, but it will give everyone a flavour of what will be happening.
Had a good chat with Dempsey Woodley about the Comedy Night and the Cabarets. He has agreed to compere for us, which is great. I know he will make the night real good fun no matter what is thrown at him. I can see a dressed-up St Peter's Hall, full of people in comfy arm chairs with standard lamps and cocktails, all having a good time. A little Gypsy Jazz from Steve Sherry, a few laughs, a song and who knows what. All kept abuzz in Dempsey's capable hands. And all on my doorstep.

lights

Well we are filling in the diary and starting to confirm more and more events. I am starting to feel really excited. It's going to be a really full-on, fun three weeks. I spoke to Ben Fulton today about a narrative/musical/play about Nick Drake he would like to put on. It sounds really intimate and interesting. I also got an email from Claire Ashton who has two plays she would like to put on. Then got in touch with Julian from Pukerua Bay who works with projected stuff and VJs. There will be quite a few VJs. A three girl umbrella out of Raven vs Pony, Simulacra and possibly Renan from France. There will be a VJ/projection night on 17 or 18th of Feb. Julian is also interested in working with Emily Boonen on a homage to the old pub with a projection of the pub onto the old building.

full head

My head is very full. Full of Fringe stuff that is. A play in the back seat of a ford estate, VJ's, printing budgets and all kinds of crazy ideas are mixed up with strong coffee and the rest of my life. At least I haven't got time to do crap things like shopping and cleaning. However out of the maelstrom a schedule of events is coming together and I might even get it all to the printers on time. For now I am very excited about everything and will fill this space in with all the definates soon. So many people are so enthusiastic from Earl and Robyn in the cafe to Rozel from the Community Board and from James at Bats to Rita at Kapiti Coast District Council who all said 'What a great idea'. Only one person (whom I shall not mention) has been negative so far. Thank goodness Debbie is around to make sense of all my scribbled notes and keep things on track. Vanessa is doing great things drumming up advertisers and maybe even a big sponsor (cross our fingers) which will make things a lot easier. Loads of exciting artists, performers, writers, musicians and others are getting invoved. Plans for a 'Launch Party' are coming together. Pony vs Raven are going to let the whole event spill out of thier shop and provide a venue for three lady VJ's to light up the evening. From 4pm there will be tasters of some of the events and performances to come and other things to entertain: extracts from the 'Conversations with Girls in Cars', songs from Holly Ewens, Rythms from Marbeth, spoken word performances from a Melbourne trio, street theatre, stalls, horse vaulters and good food and drinks. I can't wait.

Holly comes on board

  
It looks like Holly Ewens songstress and actress extraordinaire will be taking part in the Paekakariki Fringe. She will give us a taste of rich, poetic lyrics and velvety voice at the launch party and then later on in the festival we will see her music set in a new play that she has written.

New Website

We've not even broken cover with the first web site and we are already on our second! The new web site is shaping up at http://paekakariki.fringe.googlepages.com The first web site was hosted for free by microsoft's office live but it quickly proved not up to the task. The google pages are still free and allow us to include a richer experience.
Now we just have to get everything we want to say onto it. WATCH THIS SPACE!