I had a TON of fun this past Saturday and Sunday taking a “Weekend Voice Over Introduction” presented by WCS Voice Spot and facilitated by the very talented Jonathan Love.  I’ve had a bug in my ear for quite some time about getting involved in voice over acting and this was my first step to pursuing it.  Number one lesson from the weekend: I’ve got a LOT to learn.  (But that is pretty exciting on it’s own… I love learning new skills, especially when they involve performing of some kind.)

The main benefit of pursuing this new “career”, or at least adding it to my existing one, is that it allows me to flex my acting muscles with less time commitment than a full stage play.  As I mentioned in my blog post from a few weeks ago, I do very much enjoy the opportunity to work with other people to produce creative work, and “on mic” opportunities often allow for that to happen.

Two days of working in the “classroom” (well, in the hotel boardroom) culminated in a brief stint in a studio here in town recording a commercial that would have originally aired sometime in the 90s.  I’ve included a couple of takes of the same script here - these are exactly as read with no edits. If you have a trained ear for the industry you’ll notice some areas for improvement.  If you don’t… well… you may still notice areas for improvement.

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For now I’m casually hunting for any opportunity to work “on mic” and will see how it goes for the next few months before making any final decision on whether or not to include this skill in my regular repertoire.

On a personal note:  It was great to work with Jonathan again!  He’s also a part of a great music group called The Heebee-jeebees and they are playing the Coke Stage during Stampede.  (Click here for the showtimes.)

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PS:  Happy Birthday, Canada! I was going to get you a card with some money it, but then realized that I paid taxes again this year, so we’ll call it even.

Comedians everywhere are very lucky to be performing at the time that we are.  We can step on stage any night of the week and say whatever we want and not be arrested, fined, or otherwise charged for obscenity or indecency. It was trailblazers like Lenny Bruce and George Carlin (among many others) that led the way for my profession to be free of fear when performing.

This luxury is not limited to comedians. Every North American (and, yes, many other places in the world as well… but not all of them) has the right to speak as they see fit.  I cannot count the number of people that have died to ensure us this freedom, but it is NOT something to be taken lightly.  This is a right guaranteed in Canada by The Charter of Rights and Freedoms as follows:

Everyone has the following fundamental freedoms:

(a) freedom of conscience and religion;

(b) freedom of thought, belief, opinion and expression, including freedom of the press and other media of communication;

(c) freedom of peaceful assembly; and

(d) freedom of association.

Source: http://laws.justice.gc.ca/en/charter/1.html#anchorbo-ga:l_I-gb:s_2

It is the word “expression” in point (b) that is important for this post.  That means, you guessed it, freedom of speech.  There is one exception to this freedom, and that pertains to speech that is considered to be “hate propaganda” (more information by clicking here).  I understand, and acknowledge that limitation, but it does not apply to what has motivated me to write this.

This is what has motivated today’s post:  A new bylaw in Sylvan Lake, Alberta, that gives peace officers the ability to fine people for swearing in public. Without doubt (and regardless of their motivation for passing such a law - which I’ll discuss in a moment) this is an infringement on the freedoms of every Canadian citizen as guaranteed through The Charter.  This bylaw is an insult to the sacrifices made by countless millions.

Yes, this bylaw also creates new fines for activities such as vandalism - which is all well and good.  That is one thing that laws are supposed to do: protect property (public and private).  I would have no problem with this law had it not included the elements that make swearing “fineable”.

Now it seems as though common sense is trying to prevail as stated by one of the Sylvan Lake City Council members, Richard Backs:

“Obviously we’re not talking about some guy who says oh s***, oh eff, or whatever,”

“We’re talking about somebody who gets really quite loud and boisterous and just point-blank refuses to be quiet — if we’re dealing with someone who is obviously being consistent and obnoxious.”

Source: The Edmonton Sun.  Article: Sylvan Lake to pass law against profanity.  Written by Dave Dormer.  Published on June 7, 2009.

The transition in these few sentences is telling.  Mr. Backs quickly changes the issue from cursing into a matter of “loud and boisterous”.  If it is loud and boisterous behaviour that they are trying to eliminate then there are already laws in place to do so. Fines for disturbing the peace or public drunkenness already exist.  This $150 fine for cursing does not curtail loudness… it curtails freedom of expression.

His use of the word “obviously” also troubles me.  Is this (or his) interpretation of the law “obvious” to those enforcing it?  If it is obvious then why mention cursing at all (especially when loudness seems to be the main issue)?  This wide breadth of interpretation should be of a major concern.  Inaccurate laws create problems later when they are misinterpreted or abused.

It appears as though the intent of the law is to create a more affable environment for vacationers and the argument could be made that cursing in public hurts this environment.  The rebuttal to this argument is simple: too bad.  You DON’T have the right not to be offended.  In fact, you’re likely going to be offended by something or someone everyday.  You DO have the right to freedom of expression.  You DO have the right to leave when being offended.  Exercise the rights that you DO have, and let me, your neighbour, and that f-bomb-droppin’ punk in Sylvan Lake do the same thing.  Our freedom of expression is more important than your social comfort while wake-boarding.

My friends have questioned why I have attacked this topic with such gusto.  They lament that, “it’s just Sylvan Lake.”  While this individual bylaw is a mere pebble in the landscape of our society I urge you all to remember that societies (like people) trip over pebbles, not mountains. The rights of people are not always taken away with one fell swoop… but sometimes by the culmination of “acceptable” changes over a long period of time.  So while, yes, Sylvan Lake is a mere pebble, this particular topic warrants a mountain of our attention.

Saturday night was the closing night gala of Tuesdays With Morrie and since then I haven’t been quite sure what to do with myself.  Yes: I get back to being a magician, comedian, and speaker, this weekend… but the last couple of weeks have been so dominated with the play that there are now lots of hours in a day.

Several friends have been asking, “Are you sad it’s over?” And, yes, I am.  There is nothing quite like working with other performers and creating something special to share with an audience.  So much of the performing that I normally do is solo work.  I write by myself, I rehearse by myself, and perform on stage by myself (even when there are other acts on the show).  The opportunity to “play” with like-minded (and ridiculously talented) people is a rarity that I will surely miss (and already do).

Fortunately, the memories of the experience will last a very long time… and the skills that I learned and developed will last even longer.  Speaking of memories (how’s that for a segue?), there is now an online scrapbook of the show available with pictures, newspaper clippings, and some other “souvenirs” of the event.  You can see everything that is online by clicking here.

I look forward to my next venture into acting (whenever the opportunity arises) and am using these few days off to switch gears back to my work as a solo performer.

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Oh, and I would like to point out that I achieved my goal of making this week’s blog post “on time”.

In the past when a blog post was delayed (from posting on Tuesdays) for some reason I would make an apology… that time is past!  It is my blog - it’s my decision.  (It’s not like anyone has ever complained about the delay.)

The reason for the “two days late” post today is the run of Tuesdays With Morrie.  We opened on Sunday night to a sell-out crowd and have been performing nightly ever since - with no break until after Saturday.

I must confess that I am enjoying the process of going to the theatre nightly.  It is a very different atmosphere than the normal venues that I appear in and it is a wonderful experience and a great change of pace.  That said, I did decide to take off to the mountains yesterday for a coffee, some lunch, time with great friends, and a short hike.  It refreshed me and I’m ready to go for our final three shows this week.

If you haven’t made it the play yet, tickets are still available tonight through to (and including) Saturday.  (www.CalgaryTickets.com)

Next week’s blog post might actually be “on time” - but no promises.

We’re now less than a week away from the opening night of Tuesdays With Morrie.  Rehearsal yesterday was smashing and we’ve got just a few left to put the finished touches on the show.  There are still tickets available online here:

www.CalgaryTickets.com
(there are no service fees)

It has been an absolute pleasure working with such amazing and talented people for this show including my co-star Richard Michelle-Pentelbury and our director Christopher Hunt.

A big thanks also goes out to my friend Andrew Delong for stepping up and stage managing the show.  He had a lot to cover in the last few weeks here and he has done a marvelous job.

And, of course, none of this would be possible without the generosity of M&M Meat Shops - providing the sponsorship necessary to make this show happen and ensure that we raise the most money possible for The ALS Society of Alberta.

I do hope that if you are in Calgary you’ll be able to see the show one night from June 7 to 13 (that’s this Sunday to Saturday).  There’s a Facebook event page also created, click here to view it.  And tickets are all sold through this site.

Happy Birthday to me! Yep, today is the big day and I’m looking forward to receiving a pile of Facebook wall posts as a gift.  (In fact, those have already started to roll in.)  I shall do my best to respond to them all… but if you have had a birthday whilst on Facebook you know it can be an intimidating proposition.

I know there are people out there that view their birthdays as a major event.  I’ll tell you right now: I’ve never really done that.  This birthday in particular has snuck up on me and with a busy schedule of performing and preparing for Tuesdays With Morrie in under two weeks (have you got your tickets yet?) I won’t even really get a party in.

As with most North Americans the time surrounding my birthday is filled with questions about gifts.  I consider myself very lucky; having want or need of very few material things.  (But thanks in advance for the socks, Mom!) So these questions are tough to answer.  When I think about the things that make me smile I am far more focused on experiences.  Events that give an audience (even an audience of one) a sense of joy.  The more remarkable, the better.  I suppose this is what I see as the true value of entertainment, and the reason that I do what I do.

A few weeks back (maybe going on a couple of months now) my friend Cory Mack shared this YouTube video with me and it is a perfect example of what I am talking about.  Imagine being one of the people to witness this event as it happened.  How could you not help but smile for the rest of your day? I just watched the video for the up-teenth time and I know that’s how I’ll spend the rest of my birthday.

This Thursday night is the opening night of the new Yuk Yuk’s Comedy Club in Edmonton, AB! (For those of you that thought this post was about Tuesdays With Morrie: don’t worry, still lots of time to get your tickets for our June 7 to 13 run.) And guess who is on the show?  That’s right… it’s Nikki Payne!  Oh, yeah, and I’ve been given one of the coveted opening spots on the show.

I’m quite honoured to have been selected for this and have been obsessing about my set for that night.  (And by “obsessing” I mean “putting in about twice the work I normally would for a show”.  And by “twice the work” I mean “showering”.)

Having seen Nikki Payne (the headliner) several weeks ago I can tell you that it’s going to be an unforgettable night.  If you’re in Edmonton and looking for tickets all the details about the show are online here.  Also, Nikki created a Facebook event for the evening.

While it is a little strange being a Calgarian and playing the new Edmonton club before the new Calgary club I trust the audience up there won’t hold it against me.  (And if you are surprised to hear that there is a new Yuk Yuk’s in Calgary: it’s a great new club in the Elbow River Casino with great acts coming through all the time.  Click here for details.)

See you in Edmonton!

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PS:  Part of the reason that you might not have known that Yuk Yuk’s in back in Calgary is that they haven’t got approval for a sign on the casino to promote themselves.  The city has held them up in red tape.  So, to do my small part, I created a petition a few weeks back that I would love for you to sign.  It’s online here, only takes a minute, and is free to sign. The petition isn’t so much about comedy as it is about the rights of local businesses.

I’ve been obsessing about this week’s blog post.  Quite frankly, I had no idea what to write about until I sat down and started typing.  I feel accountable to have a weekly post on this site (with rare exception).  This forces me to be writing and creating content every week.  You may ask, “Why?”.  I’m glad that you asked.

While I wish my motivation was noble, the true motivator for me is fear.  This is the same motivator that keeps me writing new material for stage, keeps me working on new magic routines, and forces me to take part of my day to work on getting the next gig.  It’s not a fear that the phone will stop ringing.  It’s a more personal fear that the well will run dry.  It’s a fear that I could run out of ideas.

Creativity is not something that can be scientifically analyzed and this ephemeral quality adds to the fear.  I think about how I created my best comedy material and my most amazing magic and honestly can’t provide an answer.  “It just happened.” The inability to cite specifics in regards to this process scares me a little.  I can’t (without more than a little doubt) point to one method or technique that produces results.  (No one in a creative industry can.)  So, it gets scary.

Fear isn’t a bad motivator. While some may view the emotion as negative it has had huge evolutionary advantages to our species.  (I typed that assuming that we are of the same species.  Any walruses reading this should not take offense.) Fear can make us run faster and fight harder.  Turning that fear into a positive result is what a lot performers do every time they take the stage.  Transforming nervous energy into a more energized show reaps huge rewards.  In the same way, fear motivates me.

While I can’t point to a specific method to achieve success on stage I can take steps to ensure that something good is produced every now and again.  Hence this blog.  Hence the daily writing.  It’s just me fighting the fear.

So, what are you afraid of?

It takes a LOT to get me frustrated to the point that I will vocalize it.  And, a LOT more than that for me to sound angry.  But a couple of weeks ago one of my best friends pushed my buttons on a particular topic and definitely received an atypical response from me.  (What else are friends for?)

All it really took was one sentence: “There are no arts in Calgary.” Now, I have heard this lament from many different people and yet all I see every day of my working life is Calgarians producing great art in all different forms from theatre, to comedy, to music, to visual arts, to dance, etc.  Now, I will make some concessions about the local “arts” scene:

1. Art is not as visible as it is other places in Canada.  Larger cities often have more of an “arts” sector - you can see it everywhere you walk when you are downtown (or wherever that section of the city happens to be).  Calgary’s scene is more spread out, but that is no different than the rest of our civic planning.  (And these days I admit the phrase “civic planning” is more oxymoron than government division.)
2. The Alberta Government is not as supportive as other provincial governments.  While this may be changing (they have created new programs and positions) it has been very true since Klein’s government.  What is more amazing to me is that despite a lack of government support - great work is still being produced.

To avoid my stress level increasing every time I hear that Calgary is “artless” I have come up with a new response: “Really?  How many artistic events have you gone to in the past year?”  If this hypothetical person answers with “None” it may seem like a victory for their argument.  “I haven’t been to see any artistic events because Calgary doesn’t have any.”  But that is a gross exaggeration… and a heck of a good way to lose the argument.  (If I learned anything from that friend of mine that took debate in high school.)

Walk into The Epcor Centre for the Performing Arts in downtown Calgary any given week and at least half a dozen different theatrical productions are going on.  I can’t begin to count the number of music venues in town and I’ve definitely seen a number of art galleries.  That is all without even picking up an arts-focused newspaper or doing a Google search.  In fact, if Calgary had only one arts event a year it proves that Calgary DOES have the arts.

Perhaps this misinformed idea of “no arts” has more to do with the visibility.  The mainstream newspapers in town (whose names don’t deserve the press in this blog), have very few artistic-type articles.  The largest theatre companies in town have to fight for the press… so the “little guys” don’t really stand a chance.  As mentioned above, the community is more spread out than in other places, which makes it slightly more invisible, but you CAN find unique and wonderful events if you take a few seconds to look.

Pick up a FFWD (they are free every week) and cover a wide range of arts.  There are tons of event listing websites.  Pay more attention to your radio station’s PSA segments.  And maybe, just maybe, say “Yes” to one of those Facebook invites that you receive.

On the flip side of the coin: don’t look for any of it.  But, in doing so, remove the phrase: “There are no arts in Calgary” form your speech.

OK.  There’s nothing to “win”, but tickets for the upcoming production of Tuesdays With Morrie sponsored by M&M Meat Shops and starring Richard Michelle-Pentelbury and me are available online now!

For those that don’t know, this show is based on the true story of Morrie Schwartz (played by Richard) and his student Mitch Albom (played by myself).  After graduating university, Mitch loses touch with his professor only to be reunited 16 years later when Morrie is diagnosed with ALS (a degenerative nerve disease).  The wisdom that Morrie imparts to his former student became the basis for the best-selling book, hit movie, and this theatrical script. It truly is an inspiring story and I’m glad to be a part of it not only for the challenge of presenting the production, but also because a portion of proceeds will be going to the ALS Society.

The show runs from June 7 to 13 nightly at 8:00pm in Motel (in the Epcor Centre for the Performing Arts) here in Calgary.  On June 7 (opening night) tickets are on a “Pay What You Can” system and on June 13 tickets are $30 for the closing gala (there will be wine!).  Otherwise, tickets are $20 with GST included.  (Ticket sales are being handled online through Karamatix.)

Click Here to Purchase Tickets Online

I hope to see you out at one of the shows.  I should also answer some common questions:

• Yes, this show isn’t a comedy… I like to branch out every now again.  (Although there are some funny moments.)
• “Motel” is a new(ish) arts space in the Epcor Centre that seats 56 people.  It’s on the second floor just up the stairs that are beside the coffee shop and cafe.
• We’ve got a local director helping Richard and I make the show the best that it can be, his name is Christopher Hunt and he’s adding a TON to the production.
• The title of the show may sound familiar to you because of it’s exposure on Oprah.  (She LOVED the book and it’s message so much that she was the producer of the movie.)

That’s all the details that I can think of right now.  So… go buy some tickets!