Nuit Blanche: the far, far, far fun edge of Fringe

Today's the last day of the London Fringe Festival. Saw only five shows; meant to see more, but that's how it went this year. 

Planning to see Bookworm tonight, which has been on my "must see" list. Fortunately it's the Impressario Show for venue 7 tonight, so I should have a chance to get a ticket, provided I arrive early enough.

Another "must see" was Debris, staged by Passionfool, however, didn't see it because the last few shows were cancelled. Was told they were cancelled because Eva Blahut had to have emergency eye surgery. 

Eva's been having problems with her eyes for years; so please send her your prayers, if you will. 

Here's to you, Eva - wishing you a speedy and complete recovery!

If all goes well, we have it on good authority that a couple of performances of Debris will be scheduled at The Arts Project late this month, after Eva has recovered. 

Note: everything Passionfool touches is excellent; so be sure to get a ticket early when they go on sale. This will be a sell-out.

LONDON'S 2012 NUIT BLANCHE

Had fun last night at London's Nuit Blanche, the far, far, far fun edge of the Fringe. Here I am at the "Red Couch Diaries" venue, having my photo taken, which was uploaded to Twitter.

Started out at Museum London. Heard the Nihilist Spasm Band live for myself. What can I say? It's an experience.

The first piece was not pure cacophony and my husband - who heard them when they started out in 1962 (or whenever it was) - remarked that "they sound better than I remember," but that first, softer piece was short lived. 

There was a reason that a large earplug dispenser was next to the wine bar.

Basically, this was loud noise without a beat or a melody. Think the non-genre experimental music of Yoko Ono sung by a male voice. Grating, yes, yet the comparison stops there, as Ono was - I think - direct and sincere in her protests.

Not so with the hoax hammered over our heads by Bill Exley's campy delivery of a spoken word protest about killing animals and eating meat.

The thing is, these guys are not vegetarians. Add that fact to the tone of the delivery and it's seems pretty clear that this performance piece was a satire of protest poetry about seal killing, hunting, eating meat and the like. 

But that, I guess, is the essence of the Nihilist Spasm Band. It satirizes everything and seems to say that every opinion, every sentiment, every human endeavor is just noise. 

Still, have a glass of wine and work on a little art piece, and you can happily enjoy the "happening" for a few minutes, even without earplugs, as I did.  

Upstairs, Hubby and I took turns sitting in the Emoti-Chair - a chair hooked up to a computer and a keyboard - to feel the vibratory equivalent of a musical composition.

Created to provide deaf and deaf-blind musicians and interactive artists with a new medium for expression, the chair is VERY cool. Hooray for the scientists, researchers, inventors and technicians who create cutting edge technology like this. What a great world this is.

Hubby to Me: "I wouldn't mind having one of these in at home. These keys here (he plays them over and over) give the lower back a nice massage."

Me to Hubby: "Yeah, I'm sure Ryerson University will be happy to send a copy of this prototype home with us for a few million dollars in endowments."

Hubby (to the guy guarding the chairs): "Just looking."

Drumroll...next sound group up was... feedback.

The band consisted of three guys twitching electronic gizmos around and around in front of small microphones. I was game for listening, since one of the guys is a neighbor of ours (a sweet one), but I got the tap on the shoulder from Hubby and a thumb indicating the door as he rose.

Afterwards, as we headed down Dundas on this gorgeous, windy and warm night to orange fire, anvils, and the striking rhythms of blacksmiths paired with a trio of electric guitars, I told Hubby: rather than calling that last group a "band," perhaps it would be more apt to call it a "bandwidth?" 

Ah, well. What's the saying? "One man's meat is another man's poison." 

I can't say I liked any of what I heard. I didn't. But I was amused by it, and that's worth something. 

I was also fascinated that these people would put so much time and energy into making this noise that, for me, had no value at all. 

So, although I'll never buy mp3s of this stuff, I love the fact that these guys are in the world. I love that they have perspectives that are so completely different from mine as to be almost unrecognizable.

I know I'm conservative, careful, measured.

There are a lot of people like me, too. And what we need - desperately - are  people at the outer fringes of creative expression to give us the courage to break out and try something different, something fun, something outrageous and daring.

So we are wise to respect the audiences that appreciate these weirdos - and I use that word with affection - because they give us the permission to do our own thing. 

They show us that we need not stifle our own creative expression. We have permission to experiment and see what happens. We can produce what pleases us without shame because experimentation is what life is about. 

In fact, the further out others are - and the more humour and appreciation we have regarding them - the better for everyone because conformity and criticism are the twin killers of creativity.

Besides, with 7 Billion people in the world, it's likely that someone out there will like your art or music or writing, no matter what it is.

Isn't that great? The world is so vast and so diverse, you can be you - and create what you want to create  and someone will think that's great.

At the very least, it will at least serve to give your audience a chuckle, and maybe even a better and clearer idea of what they like to see or hear or create themselves, based upon having experienced your stuff.  

So, if you're a writer, do not hesitate to add your contribution to the mix. 

Some will love it. Some will hate it. Some won't care. But that's not really important.

What's important is that you will be more you by having taken the risk to see what's inside wanting to come out.