05 July 2015
Island Life: 5 July 2015
05/07/15 14:39
Last week I mentioned how hot and dry it has been around here. Well, this week things got a bit more serious. Since Wednesday we’ve seen three wildfires, one on the mainland, one just south of Nanaimo, and one along the highway half a mile from our house. Add to that the fire last weekend on Mt. Benson just above Nanaimo and it’s looking like it could shape up to be a really nasty fire season. Friday they declared a level four drought for Vancouver Island. This actually won’t impact us much. We can only water twice a week, a moot point as we don’t water the lawn anyway, and it bans river fishing, something we never do ourselves. I have no more desire to catch the fish I’m going to eat than I would to shoot the cow I’m going to barbecue. That’s someone else’s job. The logic for the fishing ban is that the fish are stressed enough without anglers stomping around trying to snag them, which makes sense.
http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/british-columbia/vancouver-island-fishing-banned-as-drought-hits-level-4-1.3137599
We found a site with an interactive map showing where the active wildfires in BC are. I think we will be checking it a lot.
http://apps.gov.bc.ca/pub/dmf-viewer/?siteid=5131184402955244847
http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/british-columbia/b-c-wildfires-rage-across-province-blanketing-it-in-smoke-1.3138999
But despite the heat and dry weather, the theatre season has started. A couple of weeks ago I auditioned for the Echo Players holiday show Merry Christmas George Bailey, a radio play version of the film It’s A Wonderful Life. I made it clear that I was auditioning for other plays so I was likely only going to be able to do a couple minor roles. That would also let me do various accents and personas, which is after all what I like best about radio plays. I can be onstage and switch from character to character on the fly. So the Friday before last, we got together for the first read through. Guess what roll she wanted me to do? George Bailey, the central character. The read through went very well. Even though it was the first time we’d gone through the script everyone did a great job. Everyone including me had a couple flubbed lines, but everyone really got into the characters, from the old uncle and nasty Mr. Potter to the seven and eight year olds that play George Bailey’s kids. It was a blast.
Then on Saturday I went to the first audition for Sound of Murder. The first hour or so we did cold readings and improvisation exercises. These are always fun. It’s a blast to take a simple setup and see where it goes, and it almost never ends up where you expected. Then in the second half we read various parts to let the director get a feel for how we’d do as each character. On Monday we went to the second Sound of Murder audition. More work with various parts and scenes, to see how we read the parts and how we work together. At the end of the second audition the director said she has started settling on who will get what part, but things aren’t firm yet. I can’t wait to find out what part I’ll get for sure. One of the possibilities is a real nasty, abusive, egotistical, monster that everyone wants to kill. I would be a perfect fit.
Unfortunately, because it looks like I’ll get a major role in Sound of Murder I had to withdraw from the holiday play. Too bad, it looks like fun but I can’t do a major role in that while I’m rehearsing for Sound of Murder. I did go for an audition on Thursday for a play with the Yellow Point Theatre Group. The play was Filthy Rich and as it runs in October it would not conflict with Sound of Murder. Unfortunately, between the smoke from the wildfires near town, the firetrucks heading toward the fire, people going the other direction to get out of the way, and me not knowing the town of Cedar very well, I never found the building where the audition was being held. Oh well, I figure some things were just not meant to be.
Wednesday was Canada Day. This meant that we worked Monday and Tuesday and then got Wednesday off. Marsha and I celebrated by packing a small lunch and going to one of the Lantzville beaches to enjoy the breeze and the sun. We watched the kiteboarders, the sailboats, and people with their dogs walking along the beach. Eventually we wandered around ourselves, picked up a few shells and enjoyed the day. Afterwards we went to the Pub with Barb to relax. All in all it was a wonderful day. Then on Thursday and Friday we went back to work.
Saturday was of course the Fourth of July. We celebrated by taking in a baseball game. It was even Pirates/Twins, what could be more American? OK it was the Nanaimo Pirates playing the North Shore Twins but still, it was a baseball game. This is VERY minor league amateur baseball. Not even Single A. This is the British Columbia Premier Baseball League. A league for amateurs hoping to catch the eye of a college scout. Most of the players are 16- 18 years old. The season runs from June through July so as not to conflict with school. The games are seven innings and they play mostly double headers to reduce the amount of travel needed for the teams. The stadium was actually much nicer than we expected. Enclosed bleachers with a roof, a concession stand, real bathrooms, and everything. There were enough small town touches to add charm though. Admission was $5 and that got you into both games. With only fifty or so people there we got to sit close to home plate, I mean like forty feet away. Dave, one of the people we saw the game with, ran out into the weeds behind the stadium and found about a dozen balls. We kept the four best. He could do that because they had no problem with you leaving and coming back, even bringing your own food and drink. Between games the ground crew watered down the base-paths with a hose run from the men’s room. The play itself was actually pretty good so the game was a lot of fun, even for someone like me who is not the biggest baseball fan on earth. All in all it was a very pleasent afternoon.
And now a bit of BC culture for those of you with small kids. The song is called 3000 Miles and it is a great, easy to sing, relaxed catchy tune that reflects life in this part of the world. I think it would be a perfect song to teach kids. A camp song, or a song for around the fire pit, or something to sing together on long road trips. Imagine in a few years, your kids going to school and teaching 3000 Miles to their classmates, or performing it in a talent show. It would be so Cute!!!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6qudrc04NUU
Doug & Marsha
PIX: Canada Day. Fourth of July
http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/british-columbia/vancouver-island-fishing-banned-as-drought-hits-level-4-1.3137599
We found a site with an interactive map showing where the active wildfires in BC are. I think we will be checking it a lot.
http://apps.gov.bc.ca/pub/dmf-viewer/?siteid=5131184402955244847
http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/british-columbia/b-c-wildfires-rage-across-province-blanketing-it-in-smoke-1.3138999
But despite the heat and dry weather, the theatre season has started. A couple of weeks ago I auditioned for the Echo Players holiday show Merry Christmas George Bailey, a radio play version of the film It’s A Wonderful Life. I made it clear that I was auditioning for other plays so I was likely only going to be able to do a couple minor roles. That would also let me do various accents and personas, which is after all what I like best about radio plays. I can be onstage and switch from character to character on the fly. So the Friday before last, we got together for the first read through. Guess what roll she wanted me to do? George Bailey, the central character. The read through went very well. Even though it was the first time we’d gone through the script everyone did a great job. Everyone including me had a couple flubbed lines, but everyone really got into the characters, from the old uncle and nasty Mr. Potter to the seven and eight year olds that play George Bailey’s kids. It was a blast.
Then on Saturday I went to the first audition for Sound of Murder. The first hour or so we did cold readings and improvisation exercises. These are always fun. It’s a blast to take a simple setup and see where it goes, and it almost never ends up where you expected. Then in the second half we read various parts to let the director get a feel for how we’d do as each character. On Monday we went to the second Sound of Murder audition. More work with various parts and scenes, to see how we read the parts and how we work together. At the end of the second audition the director said she has started settling on who will get what part, but things aren’t firm yet. I can’t wait to find out what part I’ll get for sure. One of the possibilities is a real nasty, abusive, egotistical, monster that everyone wants to kill. I would be a perfect fit.
Unfortunately, because it looks like I’ll get a major role in Sound of Murder I had to withdraw from the holiday play. Too bad, it looks like fun but I can’t do a major role in that while I’m rehearsing for Sound of Murder. I did go for an audition on Thursday for a play with the Yellow Point Theatre Group. The play was Filthy Rich and as it runs in October it would not conflict with Sound of Murder. Unfortunately, between the smoke from the wildfires near town, the firetrucks heading toward the fire, people going the other direction to get out of the way, and me not knowing the town of Cedar very well, I never found the building where the audition was being held. Oh well, I figure some things were just not meant to be.
Wednesday was Canada Day. This meant that we worked Monday and Tuesday and then got Wednesday off. Marsha and I celebrated by packing a small lunch and going to one of the Lantzville beaches to enjoy the breeze and the sun. We watched the kiteboarders, the sailboats, and people with their dogs walking along the beach. Eventually we wandered around ourselves, picked up a few shells and enjoyed the day. Afterwards we went to the Pub with Barb to relax. All in all it was a wonderful day. Then on Thursday and Friday we went back to work.
Saturday was of course the Fourth of July. We celebrated by taking in a baseball game. It was even Pirates/Twins, what could be more American? OK it was the Nanaimo Pirates playing the North Shore Twins but still, it was a baseball game. This is VERY minor league amateur baseball. Not even Single A. This is the British Columbia Premier Baseball League. A league for amateurs hoping to catch the eye of a college scout. Most of the players are 16- 18 years old. The season runs from June through July so as not to conflict with school. The games are seven innings and they play mostly double headers to reduce the amount of travel needed for the teams. The stadium was actually much nicer than we expected. Enclosed bleachers with a roof, a concession stand, real bathrooms, and everything. There were enough small town touches to add charm though. Admission was $5 and that got you into both games. With only fifty or so people there we got to sit close to home plate, I mean like forty feet away. Dave, one of the people we saw the game with, ran out into the weeds behind the stadium and found about a dozen balls. We kept the four best. He could do that because they had no problem with you leaving and coming back, even bringing your own food and drink. Between games the ground crew watered down the base-paths with a hose run from the men’s room. The play itself was actually pretty good so the game was a lot of fun, even for someone like me who is not the biggest baseball fan on earth. All in all it was a very pleasent afternoon.
And now a bit of BC culture for those of you with small kids. The song is called 3000 Miles and it is a great, easy to sing, relaxed catchy tune that reflects life in this part of the world. I think it would be a perfect song to teach kids. A camp song, or a song for around the fire pit, or something to sing together on long road trips. Imagine in a few years, your kids going to school and teaching 3000 Miles to their classmates, or performing it in a talent show. It would be so Cute!!!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6qudrc04NUU
Doug & Marsha
PIX: Canada Day. Fourth of July