We get by with a little help…

It’s true - we’d be nothing without you. A few examples:

1. Indyish went into maintenance mode for about 30minutes today when we discovered that our database servers had made a mistake and pushed themselves over capacity. We rebounded pretty fast, but it would have been worse if Sheila from Celtx hadn’t noticed minutes after it must have happened and sent up some sparks. At first, we were kinda appalled that our sponsors were the first people to notice the blaring bug on our front page. Oy. But turns out I think it’s ok, you know? I think we’re all still wrapping our heads around what it means to be operating in an open source economy where it’s increasingly ok to acknowledge that bugs happen when we’re all so interdependent, and that they get fixed by people acknowledging them. Which is a relief frankly, because I’m the queen of bugs. Elran calls me the world’s greatest beta tester, with reference to my magnetic and uncanny ability to point my mouse straight at the one broken bit of a new design before even batting an eye at the gorgeously functional bits. It’s a gift. What can I say. I’m drawn to the chaos.

2. I think I bring my chaotic bugbility into event coordination as well. In fact, given that with Josh, euphoreador, at the helm we help produce a show called the MonthlyMess, and with Tessa at the helm we do the Assembly, and a few people have said to me in emails “I know how you love chaos” I think this may be a well established fact. Ahh well. My interest in bringing together a lot of different people and seeing what they’ll do without much controlling their creativity tends to over ride my desire to produce a ‘professional’ event. But with a good team poking me we’re evolving a balance. And I’ve seen the list Josh has put together for this month’s Mess - a mix of really cool bands, some who are getting into Indyish, performance, photography and awesome poets - and I’m so excited about it. I think it’s working! And we’re teaming up with Tricycle Media this time to put on the show in their art loft near the Bell Centre - yet another example of how we get by.. with a little help.. sing it if you know it… He’ll have info on all that coming up soon.

3. These days, Tessa, Tristan and I are calling and emailing back and forth between Fringe Fest and POP Montreal a lot, plus a number of different event producers and venue managers, trying to get our ducks in a row pre-June. It’s interesting to see that we all have communication complexities, and that all of us with our big dreamy dreams and ideas wouldn’t be able to do much without exceptional teams of volunteers or people working for pennies. Art relies on this = aside from everything else they’ll, do people will sometimes work together on stuff for free just to make it good. It blows holes in some economic theories, but it’s a fact, and thank goodness for it! We all know this is conditional: it has to feel real right for us to give up our time for things, and we have to financially be able to do it, but when those stars align a whole lot of power is unleashed and I think that’s when human beings are at their most amazing. There. That’s my bombastic thought for the day. Now I’m going to go sit outside on a patio in the sun, and I’ll drink a cheers to you!