Live from the Fringe tent: Could it be rain?

Five minutes ago, right outside the Indyish tent at Parc des Ameriques, Tristan came running up to me and shouted, “Lise! Rain! Go!” One glance up at the sky and the wicked wind turning the leaves and I was on my feet, running and bringing down the walls of the tents as others ran around tables of relaxed Fringers with full cups of beer to cover the amps and equipment and even the hot dog stand collapsed to protect the food. Phew! Now we’re sitting in wait. The breeze has died down, but don’t they call it “the calm before the storm” for a good reason?

Guess we’ve learned a lot since last year, when we were all taken by surprise with a torrential downpour. At least the Art Markets aren’t here this weekend!

It’s been a long afternoon and I’m starting to feel that late-in-the-Fringe-day demand from my head: Please lie down, or feed me something that isn’t Red Bull. I guess I didn’t really learn that lesson from Friday after all.

Skipping rapidly over that failure, here are some highlights from my day holding down the Indyish tent-like fort while I wait for that darn thunderstorm…

Willow Rutherford’s duet with Poe. Poe is a small child, an adorable and lucky boy who gets to spend Fathers’ Day with his dad at the Fringe! And then to go up on stage for an impromptu duet with Willow and her accordion — even his sea monster toy got to be on stage! If this kid can remember the lyrics he’s learning on the spot via whispers from Willow, maybe there’s hope for the rest of us after all!

Shaun’s critique of present society: “Do you really need your coffee cup to warn you that the contents may be hot?”

Seeing Tristan’s photos from the free jam with Sun Ra Arkestra on Friday — get ready for some wonderful images to come! (This was especially exciting as we weren’t sure we could save them from a serious formatting issue with the memory card. Go raw images!)

Doing the Sunday NY Times crossword with floating crowds of people. This all began while I was trying to find someone who knew Harry Potter (I don’t — so sue me!) to figure out a clue. Thanks, Tim Rabnett and Mike Paterson for saving the day!

Impromptu comedy from the Harry Potter-knowing, gay cowboy-lovin’ duo, Tim and Mike.

Discussing digital cameras with a few snap-happy Fringers as I continue my quest to make these posts more interesting with illustrations. The picture I have above was taken with my computer’s camera. This one down here? It’s an LOLcat I made the other day of my cat Scarlett. (Yep, you caught me being super-nerdy.) But it’s annoying toting it around as a makeshift camera! Grr. I’m getting me a more compact somethin’.

Tomorrow: I start seeing actual SHOWS! Hurrah for the power of scheduling!