We’re blushing- Indyish in the Gazette and mad mess stress.

Yes yes tis a day of fun press and mess stress! The local daily, The Montreal Gazette, finally gives Indyish some love! Today Elran, Josh and I are on the cover of the Urban Life section with a great article by Natasha Aimee Hall about the Monthly Mess show and our first year of Indyishing. The best part is the spaghetti part - (enough with the spaghetti already!) - it was actually Serah from Worn I think who said that jokingly to me. I also think the picture is pretty great; as Natasha told us, we were lucky they sent the award winning Gazette photographer Dave Sidaway. At first I wasn’t so sure about the idea of having me, the girl, lying down. I hesitate to perform gender stereotypes, but the photographer is anything but cheezy or sleezy and I trusted him right away. In the end, it looks like us. A lot. And the photo looks beautiful with the gazebo framing and us all smiling, so I’m delighted actually. There’s a tiny detail off (inevitable- the transmission of information requires some amount of error always) - the Unsettlers aren’t performing, not as such- a bunch of members from the Unsettlers will be performing with the Subcollisions. Nitty mcNitpick over here is stoked nevertheless.

Anyway, the article comes just days before our birthday mess, so it’s great timing and we’re really jazzed and tickled about it and everything, but also wildly stressed actually. To be perfectly honest. Kind of freaking out.

Here’s the story: We were trying to pick the best place for the birthday mess when I suddenly got emails from a few different people at the Main Hall inviting us to bring the Mess there. Given their license problems (ie; not having the right one to be doing what they’ve been doing) they had a meeting and decided our show fit perfectly with what they’re allowed. Since we’d launched Indyish at the Main Hall almost exactly a year ago, and since it seemed we’d be helping out, we decided to go for it. And the article proudly annouces it as the birthday party location. So what’s the problem? Apparently, we were a tiny bit misled / collectively confused- where we thought we could have bands at the Main Hall no problem (why would they invite us otherwise? our Mess shows always have bands!) so long as the bands were in the context of a really diverse show and there was no cover charge and no flyers or posters, just webby invites (which is fine, we try to limit our priting for the mess anyway, otherwise a monthly show generates too much waste), it now appears, (following ongoing conversations between Dan Webster at the Main Hall and the constable and with the Main Hall’s lawyers,) that live music needs to be “impromptu or accompaniment”.

Don’t you love the word play?

We think our show still fits with what’s legal, especially given the way Josh has the night arranged with the bands first and the short films at the end so it’ll be quiet. And we can work with “accompaniment” I think, given the musicians will be accompany-ing a painter who’ll be capturing and responding to their work.

We’ll find out today if our accomodations will suffice. If not we’ll have to move the show to one of our other beloved local locations, and just have to bite our fists in frustration at wasted Mess press sending peeps to the wrong venue.

Sigh. Gooooo Mess!

Seriously though- there’s always something. Events are politics. This is part of what makes them interesting- the challenge and chaos and the waiting and hoping things will turn out right, and learning who and what you can rely on in a pinch. That’s life and birthday’s are a good time to be reminded of it. Watch the Mess page: Josh has got video previews of the acts, and we’ll be keeping it up to date with info on locations, as well as posting it here on the blog (http://www.indyish.com/events/monthlymess/). And come find us next Wednesday, the 25th! I promise you’ll love the show, where ever we go…tra lalala on down the road.

(ps- photo by shane o mac)