One of my favourite literary festivals is the Saints & Sinners fest in New Orleans. It's a whirlwind of events, making it hard to choose this panel over that reading, one masterclass over another. Do I want to catch Christopher Rice discussing the ups and downs of book reviews or attend a reading by an up and coming author I've heard about? A panel on genre or a masterclass by someone like Felice Picano, whose life inspires me as much as his work? The festival is equally rewarding to lovers of writing as much as to us writers, whether aspiring or accomplished. What I love most about this fest, however, is the genuine camaraderie I feel here. (Just being in the city is a bonus.) My highlights of this year's festival were meeting and getting to spend time with three legendary writers from the Violet Quill: Edmund White, Felice Picano and Andrew Holleran. To meet the writers you grew up reading and get to chat casually with them about their works is the writerly equivalent of striking gold. And there has been plenty of that on this trip.
LIVING WELL IS THE BEST REVENGE
Let's face it -- writer's don't make a lot money. On the other hand, I agree wholeheartedly with that line in Babette's Feast, "An artist is never poor." Having friends and an amour who enjoys food as much as I do helps too. My friends are always inviting me out for dinner (or inviting themselves in for dinner -- it's all good when you have a grand garden and a BBQ on the back porch.)
OFF DAYS
What do writers do on their days off? I don't know, I don't get any. But what I often do between writing sessions is indulge in the rewards of other artistic disciplines. Today, for instance, I accepted an invitation to the McMichael Art Gallery in Kleinberg Ontario with actor Geordie Johnson to share his passion for the works of Fredericton-born painter Mary Pratt.
In addition, the McMichael is the adopted site of Tom Thomson's "shack", as it is called today, a wooden cabin where he lived and worked up until his death in 1917.
Although it's not open to public viewing, you can peer through the windows to see the recreation of his studio.
SPRING 2014
Wow--it's been a busy spring! February saw the long-awaited release of Vanished In Vallarta, third in the Bradford Fairfax comic mystery series. For fans of Brad and Zach, I can tell you that the fourth book, Bon Ton Roulez, has been finished for some time, while a fifth book, Havana Club (a prequel to the series) is in the works. Look for both of those over the next two years, with additional books set in Palm Springs, San Francisco and Toronto to follow.
As well, March saw the publication of Pumpkin Eater, sequel to my Lambda Award-winning Lake On The Mountain, and second in the Dan Sharp series. If Bradford Fairfax is the happy me then Dan Sharp is the dark side of my personality. I an currently editing the third book, The Jade Butterfly, scheduled for a spring 2015 release. The fourth book, After The Horses, is also in the works.
I hope that's enough reading for you! Oh, and by the way, I'd love to hear from people who enjoy my books, so drop me a line or find me on Facebook.
CALIFORNIA
Yup, that's where I am.
There are so many great songs about this place, and I've been hearing a good number of them while here. (California Dreaming, If You're Going to San Francisco, and Joni Mitchell's anthem, "Will you take me as I am, strung out on another man? California, I'm coming home.")
My publisher tells me I don't post enough blogs for a boy with another book coming out. ;-) Hmm, well. That's largely because I post fotos on Facebook. If you're curious to see what I've been up to, try me there. All fotos and write-ups are open to public viewing.
Cheers!
Jeffrey
MANON, SANDRA AND THE VIRGIN MARY AT BUDDIES IN BAD TIMES THEATRE
Michel Tremblay is arguably Canada's best playwright and one of the world's great queer writers. Oddly, this play marks his first appearance at Canada's largest queer theatre. The reasons for his neglect are not easy to explain, but the clues are there.
Through the 80s and 90s, Toronto's theatre scene was a jealously guarded and highly competitive fiefdom. At the time, Tremblay was already a big enough name that his work overshadowed that of lesser artists. As well, he'd secured support at Toronto's Tarragon Theatre and because of that he may have seemed too mainstream for an indie theatre like Buddies. Last, but no means least, were his separatist leanings: he didn't like his work to be performed in English, however much English Canada showed a willingness to embrace him.
All of that aside, it's a pleasure to see his work again. He brings a glow and warmth to the lower-class Montreal neighbourhood he writes about in a way that makes Quebec culture charming to those of us who might otherwise find it an enigma. (He would hate that, of course, preferring to remain an enigma to the English "elite." Tant pis!)
Manon, Sandra and the Virgin Mary is Tremblay in his prime. Anger, irreverence and blasphemy crack open the facades of two bitter spinsters: the in-your-face drag queen Sandra and the religious fanatic Manon, neighbours in east-end Montreal, both of whom have quarrels to pick with the world and God.
Coming out of the theatrical revolution of the 70s, where traditional dramatics were being abandoned for a more declamatory style, Tremblay created a series of monologues for his characters to reveal themselves. With minimal onstage action, the drama is all in the words. The contrasts are jarring and explosive, with Manon describing her attempts, sometimes humorous and sometimes frightening, to purify herself for the coming of the Virgin, while Sandra narrates her efforts to purify herself for the arrival of her lover ... dressed as the Virgin.
The result is a mesmerizing collision of values and beliefs, with an apotheosis as moving as the descent into madness of Blanche DuBois, and hinging on a turn of phrase as slight as "the kindness of strangers" was to that femme.
In this production, Richard McMillan as Sandra almost literally takes flight, using little more than Tremblay's words to achieve lift-off, as the abused and misunderstood Sandra reveals her true nature beneath her gaudy fingernail polish and grotesque sexual fantasies. Meanwhile, Irene Poole gives us an emotionally stunted and frustrated Manon, groping blindly in her desperate attempts to find salvation in denying her human urges, while behind them a giant image of the Virgin Mary bleeds into view, overarching everything.
Stunning.
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Manon, Sandra and the Virgin Mary. A Pleiades Theatre
Production, translated and directed by John Van Burek, at Buddies In Bad Times
Theatre. Running until February 2, 2014.
JONI MITCHELL AT 70
For Joni Mitchell fans, there is a rare treat in the December 2013 issue of Uncut Magazine. Known for revealing herself mostly through song, she seldom does so in print. In a remarkably unguarded and candid interview with Q's Jian Ghomeshi, Mitchell spouts some highly quotable comments on her pop superstar status ("We need goddesses--but I don't want to be one."), on celebrity ("...fame is a series of misunderstandings surrounding a name."), on her ego ("I'd rather have a real arrogance than a false humility."), and the creativity of van Gogh ("It's a lie so you see the truth.") The piece is refreshingly brash and fun and outspoken, even when she sounds cranky and curmudgeonly--which is often, but it's also when she is at her most entertaining and revealing. Enjoy this intimate moment with one of the greats.
