pass it on

Tuesday at the Media Club!

An impromptu evening of acoustic music with a multimedia showcase of locally shot concert footage by Joel Flynn from the Vancouver indie media collective “the karmafia”. First acoustic set at 8pm followed by a video presentation in support of featuring concert footage from The National, Joseph Arthur, and The Tragically Hip. A second acoustic set will follow at 10 pm, and a potential open acoustic jam for any interested players.

The evening will be in support of “The Heart of the World Theatre” project, see www.foxtongue.com for more info on HotW. Cost $5 or cash donation at the door.

the clock is ticking PASS IT ON

VANCOUVER NEEDS YOU

To Build it a Theatre

To Give it an Arts Scene

TO SAVE IT FROM ITSELF

We Have One Week Left.

Time is running out! Join the good fight with local hero Jhayne Holmes as she and her band of rebels, miscreants and true believers take on the forces of apathy, real estate and city hall to build this city a future! There’s an old theatre on commercial drive: it can be torn down to make another parking garage, a self-help day retreat for middle managers, or even more housing for the rich. . .

OR IT COULD BE SOMETHING YOU ACTUALLY WANT.

THE HEART OF THE WORLD will be a place where any old artist, actor, film maker, hip kid, kindred spirit, and idea monger can find an outlet (and, more importantly, audience) for the creative endeavour of their choice! There is only one week left to make this idea a reality. Thousands of dollars are being committed and even that may not be enough! Spread the word! Buy shares! Nag your rich friends! Make the city scream for it! The Heart of The World arts centre is a place by the people, of the people and for the people.

AND THE ONLY WAY IT GETS BUILT IS YOU!

(who else is gonna bother? The government? Starbucks? Oprah?)

Join us! The Heart of the World is waiting!

soon there will be pictures, too

Heart of the World in the Globe & Mail. The tone’s a little unfortunate, (like how I’m not sure why the seats were picked on – they’re red and comfy, actually), but I deeply appreciate the exposure. People have been contacting me, as did the CBC.

We have 10 days left to find investors. If you can think of anyone you haven’t told yet, do so now.

hey mister pin stripe suit, there is no polite way to remove your underwear in an alley


trying to shut you up
Originally uploaded by Foxtongue.

-prelude-

New Years EVE Skytrain Dance Party at VCC Clark. Meet at 7:45 on December 31st, bring everything – music, costumes, party favours, instruments, etc. “At 8pm we hop an Accordion Train to the Future.” Total Trip time 1hr. 8pm to 9pm.

Act 1.

The Dancing Fields. A movement, they kiss. Every smile is a line inscribed. He makes her laugh. This is not a new thing, but another attempt. Her distance allows for the illusion of successful intimacy. This is the first time he’s met her at the door with his hands.

Act 2.

Heart of the World news. The current owner has put the Bollywood films up for sale on Craigslist. The letter of my contract says As Is, meaning, everything in the building is coming with the building that was there when I saw it. I’m sure that it was implied somewhere that this was to mean only fixtures, but I’m willing to kick for a discount off the price. I think we can roll with this. The realtor, though he seems nice, as it is his job to do, is still going to receive a silly amount of money, no matter, so I don’t feel I’m cheating anyone by complaining.

I’m also thinking about what it would mean to us if we bought them off Craigslist ourselves. Currently the films are stacked all over the theatre in big spilling reels and awkward tin boxes that we’ll have to organize, box up, sort, etcetera. If we buy them off Craigslist, not only will we be paying less for them than if they’re included in the theatre price, that will all be taken care of for us, and we’ll have to spend significantly less time cleaning the space up for performances. It might be worth a shot.

-intermission-

W.C. Fields began his career as a juggler, so good that he performed for royalty and heads of state. A portion of his routine was committed to celluloid in 1934’s The Old Fashioned Way. There’s a clip of it up on YouTube.

Act 3.

An Italian cafe, Cafe Calabria. Double-consonant beverages and nude white statues of mythical heroes with santa hats perched on their faux-marble heads. A Mediterranean cover of Bryan Adams’ Have You Ever Loved a Woman, “Lei mai ha amato una donna?”, piped past hanging cakes that frame the renaissance revival ceilings. Two nights in a row I sat there, nursing a delicious hot chocolate to within a drop of its life, and waiting for friends who never walked through the door. Tonight, the second night, I winked at the man behind the counter who called me “bella” and decided to try to be a regular.

that thunderclap threatehed to break my window

Alastair’s footage of inside the Raja theatre has been put up on YouTube.

I can’t tell if enthusiasm about Heart of the World is flagging because of the holidays or from the misconception that we’ve managed to get the down-payment together already. To clarify, we’ve raised the $48,000 deposit, not the $500,000 down-payment. Until we get it together, we’re dead in the water. I recommend writing anyone you think might be interested in financing the project. Every little bit helps.

I really like this song

Heart of the World now has a rough Flickr.pool.

If you know of someone who should be contacted regarding Heart of the World – this is critical – you do not require my permission, so stop asking. Take initiative! This includes friends involved in community radio, parents, nice waiters, favourite baristas, interesting looking strangers on the street, and your place of employment. Post it to groups, message boards, communities, mailing lists, whatever. We need to be slash-dotted, farked, and on BoingBoing. Anywhere you can think of, it’s important. The Globe & Mail interview won’t be out until January 5th, it’s not going to help as much as you can.

Remember, our deadline is January 15th. We raise half a million dollars by then and we’ll have a new venue. This is not impossible. Even ten dollars from everyone who visits Foxtongue.com would be a significant amount. We can do this, we just have to work. (And pass this on).

in this rain, I miss someone more than I thought I would

The trip into the theatre today went well, in spite of my almost complete lack of sleep. My interview with Dorothy from the Globe & Mail went far longer than I expected it would, as did their attempt to get the perfect “girl gazing vaguely over the red chairs” shot. This means I didn’t get a chance to go over any of the theatre with the people who came with me, but something, more certainly, was accomplished. It’s just that I’m a little too tired to figure out precisely what, exactly.

Or write a sentence that doesn’t take three or more commas to read correctly.

Adam, my webmaster, has uploaded his pictures already, here.

I didn’t get a chance to take any, but Scott and Alastair did.

I’m sure their photos will be posted soon too.

not sure what to

HeartOfTheWorldLogo

I would do terrible things to have a website this good.

It’s been a strange week, cradled in stressful days. I walked a city block today with my eyes shut and didn’t make it into work. Tomorrow I will, tomorrow I will be farther away. The Globe and Mail want to talk with me.

Wednesday I’m going to the Penny Arcade Child’s Play 2006 Dinner Auction.

Thursday, a group of us are going into the theatre building.

It’s the small carved lines that I still see, like when I look at him with my glasses on, all I can see is his age – the distance between us for all that we’re very much the same.

as soon as the sun sets, all bets are off

According to Jason: “Jhayne Holmes has long been a fixture in the Vancouver progressive arts community, energizing flash mobs and zombie walks alike. Seeing the Raja Cinema building go up for sale drove her entrepreneurial initiative towards creating a next-generation arts space. A relative newcomer to running a business, Holmes has been able to turn ingenue into ingenuity in opening Heart of the World by launching a website to harness the power (and dollars) of the web 2.0 world.”

I’m impressed. Also, tired.

The next step is to shop the business plan out to investors and raise a minimum of $500,000. Not as bad a goal as one might think, when that’s only 2500 shares. Two thousand shares and some change, that’s what we have to sell. If we can raise more, getting the theatre on its feet will be a lot easier, but I’m not counting on it. Our numbers have been worst case scenario for a reason, not only out of pragmatism, but to count on having less than expected, so when we succeed, we will already be ahead.

Re: already sold shares. Can everyone who sent me money send me their address? I’m slowly working through my e-mail to match deposits with people, but it’s slow going. If you send me your info, you’ll get yours first.

And for those people still asking – yes, you can still buy shares. It isn’t too late. I’m sure they make great gifts too.