To Arrrrrrrrr is to Pirate

Pirates, policemen and flappers! Oh my! This weekend was the successful debut of "The Pirates of Penzance" at the Rebecca Cohn with the Gilbert and Sullivan Society. I was rather nervous about how this was going to go off, as I had missed the Liverpool show while I was in Montreal but it went off without a hitch! (If you ignored the pair of glasses that flew into the orchestra pit in Act II last night.)

For those of you who don't know the play was written in 1879 by Arthur Sullivan and W.S. Gilbert and is a comic opera involving pirates, a dutiful pirate apprentice, a major-general, his beautiful daughters and a clumsy cast of policemen. I have the integral role of "prop girl" and movie clapper board girl. I get to wear a hat. It's pretty sweet.

My folks came last night with Ali, Dan and Kathleen in tow and based on their "trained" and "valued" opinions it was apparently a huge hit. Mom's quote was something along the lines "I wasn't really expecting it to be that good" which of course totally warmed my heart. Dad spent Sunday playing the record (yes he owns it on vinyl) and singing the songs heartily in the living room. Both of them intend to become avid G & S fans. I'm a little scared at what I might have started.

I had a huge blast with all of this and it certainly isn't ending any time soon. We're going on the road next weekend. We'll be playing in Windsor on the 26 at King's Edgehill and in Annapolis Royal June 2. Next week I intend to bring my camera so more updates will be coming soon. (Yes I totally cut/pasted this pic from facebook. Thanks Katrina!) If you want to read an article about it there was this in the Chronicle Herald this week....

Delirious over Jeremy Fisher

This is my newest addiction; and since I don't have the album yet I'm just constantly hitting the play button on Youtube over and over and over again. Jeremy Fisher is a musician I heard briefly months ago on the CBC (on Freestyle may it rest in peace) and he has recently re-emerged in my attenions.

Thank you Scallion. Enjoy.

p.s. Check out his website and make sure you listen to "Scar that Never Heals." It is actually my favourite but it doesn't have a cool home-made video on the internet yet.

Le Stad et le biodome

Today was the second day I ventured downtown on the subway, on my own. Unlike yesterday I did not get yelled at in french by old women ( I still have no idea what that was about). Yesterday I went down to the shopping district around Peel and St. Catherine's and checked out the cool underground malls. I found a Winner's three stories below ground level and got lost only twice.

Today being my last day in Montreal I decided to try to check out some more cultural stuff. I hit the websites and picked a cool attraction to go to: the Biodome! This was also apparently next to Olympic Park so it was like hitting two birds with one stone. Or lighting two birds on fire with one olympic torch.

The only problem I ran into was that I forgot my memory card in my laptop and my camera apparently doesn't take any pictures without one (thanks for the warning Alison.) And seeing as how I was actually in a tropical forest and saw a polar ecosystem I decided to recreate it all for your viewing pleasure. In fact my drawing is even better than the real thing, since I was by myself you wouldn't have even seen a picture with me in it.

Sacre-bleu!

This weekend I am vacationing in the cultural mecca that is Montreal. It has been called the "coolest city in all of Canada" (by Jan) and I'm finding it to be quite interesting. Yesterday I arrived (ungodly early) and have been poking around ever since. Mind you tomorrow is my big adventure day in downtown but I've still managed to uncover a few interesting tidbits about Quebec.

• There are gas stations/convenience stores called "Couche Tards." You buy your chicken at "Le Coq." Shoppers Drug Marts are called "Pharmaprix." Who said the french didn't have a sense of humour?

• They have IGA's up here. *Gasp!*

• Labatt beer labels have an interesting anomaly. Instead of the maple leaf being above the logo, there is a fleur-de-lys. My friend Steve calls it "seppie" beer. See above picture for evidence.
  

• If you want to order a "tall" coffee at Starbucks you have to ask for a "mezzo". Anyone who can figure out the reasoning for that translation should get back to me.

That's all for now; I'll keep you all up to date as I act as the foremost ambassador of good times for Nova Scotia in Quebec.

There's no business like show business

Life has been pretty mundane around these parts lately and on looking back over the last month I realized I haven't updated this thing in a while. I've been busy working teaching out in the far reaches of HRM and going to musical practice twice a week.

What's that, you ask? Musical practice? You??

That is correct my dear friends. I am about to enlist on my theatrical debut in The Pirates of Penzance by the Gilbert and Sullivan Society of Halifax. I have an integral role; no singing, dancing or speaking. Rather, I am the prop girl who runs out on stage a few times during the show in a pirate hat (that's right I get to wear a costume) and I also get to wave a movie "clapper" board around when the "director" yells action! We're performing at the Rebecca Cohn in May and going on the road to Windsor and Annapolis.

I got sucked into via my roommate Kathryn. You might remember her from such stories as "the girl who cut her thumb in half" back in November, and "the girl who got scared and called the police canine unit to our house" in March.