Shelagh Rogers, and the Kingston Writersfest
Just got back from the wonderful Thin Air Literary Festival in Winnipeg and the Kingston Writersfest, in (of course) Kingston Ontario. I had a fantastic time in both spots. One of the highlights was the last night in Kingston, at the Speakeasy, with the fantastic jazz trio “Without Words”. Thought some of you might get a kick out of it. My Best Beloved taped it on his handheld, and the quality’s actually pretty good. You can watch Shelagh’s blush-inducing intro on Youtube here, and then watch me do my Tom Waits’ thing by clicking here. It starts out with a lot of laughing, which I should explain . . . .that morning Merilyn Simonds, Jacqueline Kirk, Shelagh Rogers and I went out to do a little retail therapy, during which they convinced me to buy the dress I’m wearing. There are working zippers along both sides and when I first took the stage I explained this little shopping trip and said if the reading didn’t pan out I’d just unzip the dress in the hopes of distracting the audience. A guy in the second row yelled, “It’s not panning out!” Snort. Ba-boom. These are the jokes people. I’m here all week.
Hope you like it. I had a blast, and was not required to strip, thank heaven!
Hi Lauren, thanks for posting these amazing videos. I felt like I was right there in person. I regularly listen to Shelagh Rogers’ CBC program, The Next Chapter, and she’s an icon on literature.The introduction she gave you was fabulous, congratulations!
And I loved your reading – having the jazz trio accompanying you made it an extra special event. I thought the Tom Waits played by the trio was perfectly aligned with the excerpt you read. Did you spend a lot of time arranging this together? It sure looked and sounded like it.
I’m going to share the links with my bookclub, who are already fans of yours. I’m sure they’ll also love the videos.
best regards, Irene
Thanks so much, Irene. As for the band — we spent NO time working on it together. The leader asked for a copy of my reading about a week before and sorted the music all by himself. We had a five minute sound check and that was that. They were amazing — and I felt like I was one of the musicians. So glad you liked it.
You and the trio performed as though there was much more preparation, congratulations to all of you. The intro by Shelagh Rogers was terrific, and you certainly lived up to the high praise. Your delivery was mesmerizing, have you had theatrical training?
Thanks, Bethany. I’m so glad you enjoyed it. I admit to a few acting classes. Acting, however, is not for me. My personality is far better suited to sitting in a room by myself, surrounded by paper and books. While I thoroughly enjoy popping my head above ground for the occasional appearance, like the one in Kingston, the thought of working with a group of people every day, especially at the level of intimacy one create must to be a good actor . . . well, it makes me break out in hives. Snort.
Loved both videos – great intro and reading. You could tell from the amount of laughter from the audience that everyone was in the groove with you and had lots of fun. Wish I could have been there, when and where is your next public performance?
HI Angela — sorry I just posted your comment now, but for some reason the notification ended up in my spam folder! Bad computer! I’m delighted you enjoyed the videos. Next up is Markham in the evening of Nov. 1st, with the IFOA, and then at Harbourfront (also IFOA) at 11:00am on Sunday, November 3rd. Details are up on the IFOA website — ifoa.org. Cheers!