Month: January 2007

Heart of the World, how it stands and falls down boom

So it’s done, or near enough for rock and roll. We tried to buy an extension, but the terms provided us were impossible.

If it helps, we came closer than we had any right to and failed by only a slim margin.

I refuse to quit, though, when the fight is not over yet. There is still a faint wisp of hope. As far as I can tell, if there’s no other buyer who has the cash, then the deal isn’t dead, just this iteration of the contract. It was pointed out to me that none of this means they have another deal set up or even in negotiation. He’s only asking an exorbitant amount because he can. Until the pay or play date expires, he’s got me over a barrel in terms of demanding extensions. Once it expires, if they don’t have another buyer, I have the upper hand. We get a second chance, with possibly better terms.

Also, my lawyer’s review of the contract indicates that the name of the vendor does not match the registered owner of the Property. The Property is owned by Wescana Pharmacy Ltd. The fact that the vendor is named incorrectly may be grounds for having the contract set aside. We have chances, slim chances, the sort terrible movie plots hinge upon more often than you can change the channel. All of this supposition could mean nothing. I might still be sued for defaulting on the contract. Given another shot, however, and we are better armed with both knowledge and liquid assets, we have an army built to support us and the national news at our back. All I have to do is call to get on the evening news and the morning report. (The CBC radio interviews are now up on Foxtongue.)

(Which reminds me, I want people to know just how touched I am by the support I’ve been receiving from the CBC. After Paul Grant called to follow-up on the radio interview and wish me well, he called back about an hour later, parent-senses tingling, to make sure that I had groceries. (His son is 22, close to my age). He’d put together that I’m young, stressed, unemployed and obviously haven’t been eating. “If you need anything, know you can call me.” It flustered me, not knowing how to thank him without cracking into tears.)

People are still sending me money, more so than before as word continues to spread virally. I think we’re averaging a grand a day. Irritatingly, I’m leaving a lot of e-mail unanswered right now, (which is something I refused to do before), because I’m not sure what to say. I should know by Friday whether or not I need to give the money back or if we have another shot at the darkness. Until then, I’m in a fugue, wavering between being dejected and my righteous refusal to let the miracle worked amount to nothing.

I hadn’t put them altogether before

Pillow-fighting now a sport. Go Canada!

I have no relationship I could call such, but I am surrounded by good people. I have a solid idea and a solid model of it to work from. My voice is strong, my hands clever, and I can state my needs simply. I survive crisis calmly, expect things to be harder than they are, and laugh with tragedy. My body will not be found washed up on the shore. I will survive tomorrow morning, no matter my age or the dye staining my fingers.

Heart of the World on CBC.

Heart of the World in the Globe & Mail.

heart of the World in the Georgia Straight (bottom of the page).

Heart of the World on news1130 with errors it almost hurts to read.

Heart of the World on Beyond Robson.

Heart of the World on Artery.ca, (front page, no less).

Heart of the World on Cinema Treasures.

Heart of the World on Sock Puppets From Hell. (I don’t know them, do you?)

Everything I’ve found after those are cannibalizing each other.

Heart of the World on Flickr
Heart of the World on YouTube.
Heart of the World on Del.icio.us.

I still think that maybe I should leave, go to the club, try to wake up closer to my own bed

Frank Warren of the cult PostSecret answers 20 Questions: “For me this was a great surprise. How courage can be more important than talent or technique in creating meaningful art.“

When I shut the door behind me and glanced at the photographs lining the wall, it struck me that once I was going to live here. Cream walls, a white picket fence in pencil. He called, “When you’re done, can you come help me with something?” The music was comfortable, perfect. I surprised myself by replying, “You’d better be naked,” as I took the stairs two at a time. His smile at his computer screen made me remember why this was going to be my home, what I gave up when plans changed. Strange to love him still, at a distance. I still want to cut a labyrinth into his short cat-fur hair, but the desire to lean into him is gone. We never kept each other awake enough and I could never bear to hurt him again, not in the slightest thing.

Cold outside, I’m not wearing clothes sensible enough. The plan was to go dancing after the movie, but something else happened. A language was spoken under language, the same that hooked me almost home to that other apartment, the one where I still know where everything is. My mother tongue, it echoes.

Heart of the World seems to have bought an extension. I do not know how long a one yet, I will find out early on Monday morning, luckily before the CBC TV interview.

shaman ache

“And so it is that we, as men, do not exist until we do; and then it is that we play with our world of existent things, and order and disorder them, and so it shall be that non-existence shall take us back from existence and that nameless spirituality shall return to Void, like a tired child home from a very wild circus.”

–Principia Discordia, pg 00058

Robert Anton Wilson died this morning, age 74.

CBC update

from Paul Grant,

“The interview we did yesterday (well, an edited version) will air this (Wednesday) afternoon between 3:45 and 4:00 pm on the Radio 1 program On The Coast (690 on the AM dial). It runs about five and a half minutes. I also filed a shorter piece to our national arts report, and that will air either Thursday or (more likely) Friday morning on Radio 2 (105.7 FM) between 8:50 and 9 AM.”

Well tah-dah. Who’s up for being an early-riser?

Toren kicks ass for the lord

LINK

The Darkest of the Hillside Thickets, Vancouver’s only H.P. Lovecraft band, is kicking off DEAD SPACE GOD CENTRAL–their official merch store–with a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity: The Thickets One-Of-A-Kind, Artsy-Fartsy Charity Prize Pack (TTOOAKAFCPP) which contains:

* a copy of our new CD “The Shadow Out of Tim” autographed by the band*
* a custom made, one-of-a-kind Thickets t-shirt**
* a full complement of five buttons, including the Big Robot Dinosaur, SpaceCorp, and The Math Song (Y=X/5) button, plus stickers.
* dozens of back issues of The People of Innsmouth, the official fanclub newsletter.

* (released in Spring 2007)
** (no black or dark shirts; Toren will work with you to design the shirt of your dreams/nightmares!)

All proceeds go to Vancouver’s Heart of the World multi-disciplinary arts facility – trying to raise half a million bucks for a down payment on the theater! – www.foxtongue.com

(package may be delivered in conjunction with the release of the CD, depending on your location or shipping choice).

visit the online store at http://stores.ebay.com/Dead-Space-God

swan song

Dear everyone,

&nbsp &nbsp We stand at the beginning of the very last week Heart of the World has to make itself a reality. From here we can only see a brief dazzle of seven days before the fateful Monday that makes or breaks our dream. From here we must stand back and seriously consider how close we stand to our goal.

&nbsp &nbsp And where we stand is quite close.

&nbsp &nbsp If anyone was waiting for just the right time to bring in a Hidden Ace or a Secret Master Plan to win it all, this is exactly it. With one week to go, Heart of the World needs all of us more than ever. We stand near enough to the purchase of the space to smell the sawdust and the fresh paint.

&nbsp &nbsp There’s still plenty that needs to be done. Shares can still be bought by anyone with a couple hundred to spare. Men and women can still set out to spread the gospel of this grand design. Lonely corners of the internet can still be told. Somewhere out there may be the person, place, solution, or idea that gets this place built.

&nbsp &nbsp If you’ve been waiting for later to get involved, later is now.

&nbsp &nbsp Heart of the World is in all probability the first arts center buoyed by the global community. Men and women, artists and audiences, professionals and amateurs from the human multitude have already given their hours, dollars and wishes to this dream. We are all of us carrying the hope and message that human beings care enough about art and each other to come together and create a place like this. For a lot of us, this dream we’re nursing is far, far away in some distant corner of the world we probably haven’t even thought of until this idea came along. Many of us will never see it once it’s built.

&nbsp &nbsp But we will hope and we will dream because none of those details matter. Art matters. Community matters. The Heart of the World matters.

&nbsp &nbsp We have a week. Send us your ideas, your grasps at straws, your clever last minute plans, and yes even your (or your friends’/contacts’/etc.s’) money for a share. This is where it all comes down. This is where the dream becomes real.

&nbsp &nbsp Thank you for your time, your love, and all the hope you’ve given us.

— Jhayne Holmes and the Heart of the World volunteers

http://www.foxtongue.com