#Café Glockenspiel

[coffeenewstom]

Kaffeereise: Linz

Eine Taxikundin brachte mich auf die Idee nach Linz zu fahren. Schließlich – so ihre Behauptung – müsste ich nicht bis nach Wien um in tollen Kaffeehäusern zu sitzen. In Linz gäbe es die nämlich auch. Also machte ich mich auf den Weg und machte die Probe aufs Exempel. Meine Kundin hatte recht: Ein Streifzug durch Linz ist auch ein Streifzug durch die verschiedenen Café-Kategorien. Dafür, dass…

[travelingare]

1.Cochem,Germany @maesters.nl

2. Munich,Germany-Café am Glockenspiel by @the_veganrainbow_blog

[uniquetyphoonmiracle]

Por cierto ..CERATI dijo esto sobre cd AHI VAMOS y que reproducen justo antes que la llamada a FERNANDO SAMALEA que fue al día siguiente a grabar bajo un DILUVIO en BUENOS AIRES coincidiendo con el HURACAN KATRINA que SUMERGIO "NEW ORLEANS" [ciudad que visite este 2024 justo antes que MEMPHIS O GRACELAND y su río WOLF donde se ahogo y desapareció Jeff BUCKLEY que solo había publicado cd GRACE incluyendo una versión de HALLELOUJAH de LEONARD COHEN que versiono VIRGINIA MAESTRO con la SUPERLUNA de fondo porque se la enseño su profesor mexicano de canto en Operacion TriUnFO Miguel MANZO y el padre de JEFF BUCKLEY o TIM BUCKLEY compuso SONG TO THE SIREN popularizada por THIS MORTAL COIL con la que HEROES DEL SILENCIO empezaba sus conciertos]:

“Más allá de lo que yo tuviera pensado o intentara concretamente –dijo-, el universo se va disponiendo de cierta manera y si uno no se contrapone a ello y no fuerza demasiado las cosas, es cuestión de estar con los ojos abiertos. Siento que el cosmos se confabula para algo y si uno no se pone en contra de eso, las cosas te llevan y aparecen los viejos amigos, los mimos que necesitás y las cosas que estás buscando. Lo digo más allá de un sentido místico; es real y por algo ocurren”.

Fernando Samalea, el baterista que recuerda en primera persona

En su libro Mientras otros duermen (Sudamericana, 2017), el segundo de su trilogía autobiográfica, el Samalea cuenta muchos detalles de la época de Ahí vamos.

“Atendí a un número privado mientras desayunaba en el café Manías, de la avenida Caseros y Anchoris.

'¿Fer?', escuché tras atender. Era Gustavo Cerati. Llamaba desde su estudio Unísono para comentarme que junto al coproductor Tweety González habían pensado en que yo tocase en una canción de su nuevo disco. 'Acá estamos, grabando. La situación es así: tenemos una balada rápida, medio steelydanesca, onda García. ¿Te animás a grabar la bata?'. 'Obvio, ¿cuándo?', grité saltando de la silla y haciendo temblar el plato del tostado que tenía en la mesa. '¿Podés mañana?'."

Ese martes 23 de agosto de 2005, poco después del mediodía, bajo un diluvio torrencial que hubiese preocupado al propio Noé, abordé un taxi desde Constitución. Cargaba solo mi tambor Supraphonic, el glockenspiel, el tam-tam marroquí y palillos 2B Metal, ya que Bolsa González oficiaba de drum-doctor y habría elementos de sobra.

Bajé del automóvil cargando mis bultos. Esquivando charcos, toqué el timbre en el portón blanco. Me recibió Leandro Fresco. Me asomé tímidamente por la puerta del control. Tweety y Gustavo giraron sus cabezas hacia mí, sonreímos y nos dimos un abrazo. (...) Yo había llegado casi de colado, como cuarto baterista o como un viejo amigo que se acercó a grabar, sin demasiado protocolo ni compromiso.

[ynwa4eva]

i feel like i remember u saying u live(d?) in munich n im going there on holiday this summer!! i was wondering if there was anything u would recommend to do? xx

Anon i am munich born and bred 🫡🫡🫡 EYE would recommend the basic centre city shopping tour: go from sendlingertor (the metro that stops there is u3/u6; also try to use the metro because i truly after 18 still dont understand the bus system and the metro is quite good; maybe theres a weekly tourist ticket because the monthly one is quite expensive) to marienplatz, then fuck about in the Salvador-passage and if you want to you can check out the hofgarten and residenz near odeonsplatz... From there you can walk to münchner freiheit (but its ugly there imo) so id go toward stachus...... If you find yourself wondering wow... This "old town" part sucks and is so small and theres construction everywhere... Welcome to munich <3

Now the non shopping related areas are the theresienwiese (theres also construction there happening always, rn theyre building the stage for ed sheeran for the euros looool) and then like 10 minutes away is my favourite park the westpark.... Its a bit lame but theres a cute café and idk it has its charm <3 if you have the time id highly recommend going to the olympiapark also, a lot of 70s architecture (i think the Olympiastadion has been proclaimed as like unesco cultural heritage??) and i WOULD have recommended going up the olympia tower BUT ITS GONNA BE RENOVATED AND CLOSED for the next like TWO years 😭😭😭💔💔

Lastly id recommend just walking along the isar.... Theres this little pier like part of the route where you walk above it, its near the landtag (state parliament, also pretty) and this little statue.... Its near Maximiliansplatz (here dont go to the actual place because its ugly but fuck about near the isar loooool); if youd like to go SWIMMING id HIGHLY recommend the maria-einsiedel-bad which is just a little caged off part of the isar where the water is filtered off and the tickets are quite cheap :) just try to go not on the weekend! Can get quite full

If you want to go somewhere cheap to eat munich is NOT THE PLACE TO GO. NOTHING IS CHEAP! but there are good restaurants near the train station, typically middle eastern etc! But yeah just evade the usual tourist spots (though at marienplatz theres this restaurant called café Glockenspiel which is alright, but again often full)

[tonin-terets]

The Algonquin Bridge from AllaKinda on Vimeo.

While hurrying to catch a ferry from Toronto Island, a bald man in a fancy white scarf falls off his bicycle and spends a day contemplating why we rush and where it is we’re trying to get. With design and animation by Alla Kinda and an original orchestral score by The Holy Gasp, this little cartoon will leave audiences laughing out loud about their own hurried lives and the choices made in the name of time.

Audience Choice Award at Cannes Short Film Festival 2023 and Best Animation Award winner at London International Short Film Festival 2023.

Written and Produced by Benjamin Hackman Directed by Txesco Montalt Illustrated and Animated at Alla Kinda by Txesco Montalt & Mayte Sánchez Composed and Orchestrated by Benjamin Hackman & Anthony William Wallace (SOCAN, 2022)

Conducted by Maestro Robert W. Stevenson

Narrated by Benjamin Hackman

The Woodwinds: Abigail Neale ~ Flute Naomi Higgins ~ Clarinet Greg Bruce ~ Alto Saxophone Conrad Gluch ~ Bass Clarinet

The Brass: James Rhodes ~ 1st Trumpet Gabi Charron-Merritt ~ 2nd Trumpet Karl Silviera ~ Trombone

The Percussion: Jared Goldman ~ Drum Kit Chris Hull ~ Bass Drum & Crash Cymbal Timothy Francom ~ Tambourine Daniel Morphy ~ Xylophone Ètienne Levesque ~ Glockenspiel & Vibraphone Kris Maddigan ~ Tubular Bells, Bongos, Temple Blocks, Ratchet Nathan Petipas ~ Bicycle Horn & Bicycle Bell Benjamin Hackman ~ Dog Bark, Ferry Whistle

The Violins: Jaron Freeman-Fox ~ Principal Elise Boeur Yanet Campbell Qiyue He Katrina Johnson Crystal Lee Emily Misura Molefe Mohamid-Mitchell Cassie Norton Zoë Santo Emily Yarascavitch

The Cellos: Benjamin David Louwersheimer ~Principal George Crotty Mansur Kadirov Peter Ryan

The Basses: Andrew Furlong Ben Heard

Audio Recording Produced by Anthony William Wallace and Benjamin Hackman

Mixed and Mastered by James Paul at Rogue Music Lab Edited by Anthony William Wallace and James Paul

Recorded in Toronto, Canada, at Revolution Recording Studio (2022)

The Engineers: Stephen Koszler ~ Lead Engineer Luke Schindler ~ Senior Engineer Anthony Wallace ~ Foley Engineer Christine Stoesser ~ Assistant Engineer Kohen Hammond ~ Assistant Engineer Creighton Clarke ~ Assistant Engineer

Made possible with the generous financial assistance of The Toronto Arts Council, The Ontario Arts Council, The Canada Council for the Arts, and FACTOR, and by the generous support of Joe’s Fruit Market, Café Pamenar, Ozzy Burger, Abu Humus, Pantry Foods, The Historic Kiever Synagogue, and Revolution Recording.

Audio for the soundtrack appears on "...And the Lord Hath Taken Away" by The Holy Gasp, courtesy of Roar Records Inc. Available on vinyl and everywhere online music is sold and streamed. theholygasp.bandcamp.com/trac...

[aboutanimation]

The Algonquin Bridge from AllaKinda on Vimeo.

While hurrying to catch a ferry from Toronto Island, a bald man in a fancy white scarf falls off his bicycle and spends a day contemplating why we rush and where it is we’re trying to get. With design and animation by Alla Kinda and an original orchestral score by The Holy Gasp, this little cartoon will leave audiences laughing out loud about their own hurried lives and the choices made in the name of time.

Audience Choice Award at Cannes Short Film Festival 2023 and Best Animation Award winner at London International Short Film Festival 2023.

Written and Produced by Benjamin Hackman Directed by Txesco Montalt Illustrated and Animated at Alla Kinda by Txesco Montalt & Mayte Sánchez Composed and Orchestrated by Benjamin Hackman & Anthony William Wallace (SOCAN, 2022)

Conducted by Maestro Robert W. Stevenson

Narrated by Benjamin Hackman

The Woodwinds: Abigail Neale ~ Flute Naomi Higgins ~ Clarinet Greg Bruce ~ Alto Saxophone Conrad Gluch ~ Bass Clarinet

The Brass: James Rhodes ~ 1st Trumpet Gabi Charron-Merritt ~ 2nd Trumpet Karl Silviera ~ Trombone

The Percussion: Jared Goldman ~ Drum Kit Chris Hull ~ Bass Drum & Crash Cymbal Timothy Francom ~ Tambourine Daniel Morphy ~ Xylophone Ètienne Levesque ~ Glockenspiel & Vibraphone Kris Maddigan ~ Tubular Bells, Bongos, Temple Blocks, Ratchet Nathan Petipas ~ Bicycle Horn & Bicycle Bell Benjamin Hackman ~ Dog Bark, Ferry Whistle

The Violins: Jaron Freeman-Fox ~ Principal Elise Boeur Yanet Campbell Qiyue He Katrina Johnson Crystal Lee Emily Misura Molefe Mohamid-Mitchell Cassie Norton Zoë Santo Emily Yarascavitch

The Cellos: Benjamin David Louwersheimer ~Principal George Crotty Mansur Kadirov Peter Ryan

The Basses: Andrew Furlong Ben Heard

Audio Recording Produced by Anthony William Wallace and Benjamin Hackman

Mixed and Mastered by James Paul at Rogue Music Lab Edited by Anthony William Wallace and James Paul

Recorded in Toronto, Canada, at Revolution Recording Studio (2022)

The Engineers: Stephen Koszler ~ Lead Engineer Luke Schindler ~ Senior Engineer Anthony Wallace ~ Foley Engineer Christine Stoesser ~ Assistant Engineer Kohen Hammond ~ Assistant Engineer Creighton Clarke ~ Assistant Engineer

Made possible with the generous financial assistance of The Toronto Arts Council, The Ontario Arts Council, The Canada Council for the Arts, and FACTOR, and by the generous support of Joe’s Fruit Market, Café Pamenar, Ozzy Burger, Abu Humus, Pantry Foods, The Historic Kiever Synagogue, and Revolution Recording.

Audio for the soundtrack appears on "...And the Lord Hath Taken Away" by The Holy Gasp, courtesy of Roar Records Inc. Available on vinyl and everywhere online music is sold and streamed. theholygasp.bandcamp.com/trac...

[einereiseblog]

1. Schloss Nymphenburg Eines der beliebtesten Sehenswürdigkeiten in München ist Schloss Nymphenburg. Es ist ein eindrucksvolles Barockschloss, das im Jahr 1664 erbaut wurde und heute als Museum dient. Seine prächtigen Gärten und sein weitläufiges Gelände machen es zu einem der schönsten Schlossparks in ganz Deutschland. Das Schloss ist auch bekannt für seine reiche Sammlung von Gemälden und Kunstwerken, die von berühmten Künstlern wie Rembrandt, Rubens und Canaletto stammen. Außerdem beherbergt es einige der wichtigsten Sammlungen von Porzellan und Möbeln aus dem 18. Jahrhundert. 2. Marienplatz Der Marienplatz ist das Herzstück der Altstadt und eine der meistbesuchten Sehenswürdigkeiten in München. Er ist ein großer, offener Platz, der sich über mehrere Blocks erstreckt und viele wichtige Gebäude wie das Rathaus, die Frauenkirche und das Alte Rathaus umfasst. Der Platz ist auch bekannt für seine täglichen Glockenspiele, die viermal am Tag stattfinden. Es ist eine beliebte Touristenattraktion, die jährlich viele Besucher anzieht. 3. Englischer Garten Der Englische Garten ist ein weitläufiger Park, der im Jahr 1789 eröffnet wurde und heute eines der größten und schönsten Grünanlagen Europas ist. Er umfasst mehrere Seen, Wiesen, Wälder und Gärten. Der Park ist auch bekannt für seine zahlreichen Freizeiteinrichtungen wie Surfen, Radfahren, Segeln und Reiten. Es gibt auch einige Restaurants und Cafés, in denen man sich nach einem anstrengenden Tag im Park erholen kann. 4. Olympiapark Der Olympiapark ist ein weitläufiges Gelände, das für die Olympischen Spiele 1972 erbaut wurde. Heute ist es ein beliebtes Ausflugsziel für Touristen und Einheimische. Der Park beherbergt einige der wichtigsten Sehenswürdigkeiten Münchens, wie das Olympiastadion, das Olympiaturm, das Olympiasee und das Olympiazentrum. Es gibt auch einige Museen und Galerien, die den Besuchern einen Einblick in die Geschichte der Olympischen Spiele geben. 5. Viktualienmarkt Der Viktualienmarkt ist einer der ältesten und beliebtesten Märkte Münchens. Er befindet sich im Herzen der Altstadt und bietet eine Vielzahl von frischen Lebensmitteln, Blumen, Kunsthandwerk und Souvenirs. Der Markt ist auch bekannt für seine zahlreichen Cafés und Restaurants, in denen man eine Vielzahl von lokalen Gerichten probieren kann. Es ist ein beliebtes Ziel für Touristen und Einheimische, die nach einem authentischen Einblick in die lokale Kultur suchen. 6. Deutsches Museum Das Deutsche Museum ist eines der größten und bedeutendsten Museen der Welt. Es beherbergt eine Vielzahl von Exponaten, die die Geschichte der Wissenschaft und Technik beleuchten. Das Museum beherbergt auch einige der wichtigsten Sammlungen von Maschinen, Fahrzeugen, Werkzeugen und Instrumenten. Es ist ein Muss für alle, die sich für Wissenschaft und Technik interessieren. 7. Hofbräuhaus Das Hofbräuhaus ist eines der berühmtesten Bierhäuser der Welt und ein Muss für jeden Besucher Münchens. Es wurde im Jahr 1589 gegründet und ist seitdem eines der beliebtesten Ausflugsziele in der Stadt. Das Bierhaus ist auch bekannt für seine reiche Kultur und seine traditionelle Küche. Es ist ein beliebter Treffpunkt für Einheimische und Touristen, die ein paar gemütliche Stunden in einer der ältesten Kneipen Münchens verbringen möchten. 8. Isar Die Isar ist ein wichtiger Fluss in München und ein beliebtes Ziel für Touristen und Einheimische. Der Fluss ist auch für seine zahlreichen Freizeitaktivitäten bekannt, wie Schwimmen, Radfahren, Reiten und Segeln. Es gibt auch einige schöne Strandbars, in denen man sich nach einem anstrengenden Tag im Fluss erholen kann. Der Fluss ist ein beliebtes Ziel für alle, die ein wenig Abwechslung von der Hektik der Stadt suchen. 9. Allianz Arena Die Allianz Arena ist eines der modernsten Stadien Europas und das Zuhause des FC Bayern München. Es ist ein beeindruckendes Gebäude, das bei Tag und Nacht ein imposantes Schauspiel bietet. Es ist auch bekannt für seine zahlreichen Veranstaltungen wie Konzerte, Sportveranstaltungen und andere spezielle Events.

Es ist ein beliebtes Ziel für alle, die ein einmaliges Erlebnis erleben möchten. 10. BMW Welt Die BMW Welt ist ein modernes Gebäude, das dem Automobilhersteller BMW gewidmet ist. Es beherbergt eine Vielzahl von Ausstellungen, die die Geschichte und die Technologie des Unternehmens beleuchten. Es gibt auch einige interaktive Ausstellungen, in denen Besucher die neuesten Modelle von BMW erleben können. Es ist ein beliebtes Ziel für alle, die sich für Autos interessieren. Fazit München ist eine der schönsten Städte Deutschlands und bietet viele Sehenswürdigkeiten, die einen Besuch wert sind. Von den prächtigen Gärten des Schloss Nymphenburg bis zur modernen BMW Welt gibt es viele Orte, die man besuchen kann. Egal ob man ein Tourist oder Einheimischer ist, München hat für jeden etwas zu bieten. Es ist eine der schönsten Städte Europas und ein Muss für jeden, der einen unvergesslichen Urlaub verbringen möchte.

[londiniumlundene]

Lost London: The Swiss Centre

This Modernist cultural venue once stood on the junction of Coventry Street and Leicester square, and was designed to showcase Switzerland and its products. Completed in 1966, the building consisted of a two-storey “podium” and a fourteen-storey tower block, which contained office floors, residential spaces, a penthouse, and a viewing gallery.

On its opening, the Swiss Centre was home to a trade and commercial opportunities, including a Swiss bank, a tourist office, a chocolate and souvenir shop, a Swissair office, a café, and several Swiss-themed restaurants. On the outside, the podium was topped by a totem column displaying the insignia of the Swiss cantons, whilst the front featured a carillon clock, comprised of 27 and 11 moving Swiss figures.

In its early days, the Swiss Centre a popular destination for tourists and Londoners alike, but as time went on, the connection to Switzerland faded, with nightclubs, tacky souvenir shops, and an art house cinema all taking residence at some point. Westminster City Council decided that it didn’t fit with the neighbouring buildings, and its Swiss theme was confusing to many of the West End’s tourists. It was demolished in 2008, and the site is now occupied by (that quintessential London tourist destination) M&M’s World…

The Swiss Centre is remembered in the name of Swiss Court – the street leading from Leicester Square up to Wardour Street – and the presence of the canton totem and a redesigned and restored Swiss glockenspiel, both situated just a few metres from their original locations.

[4incroatia]

Irgendwie ist alles anders

Montag, 6. Juli

Nach zwei Tagen Familienurlaub bei Oma Gertrud in Schonungen starten wir um 8.48 Uhr bei strahlendem Sonnenschein gen Südosten. Schnell wird es draußen düster. Nach dicken Regenschauern steuern wir die letzte Raststätte und damit Pickerlverkaufsstelle vor der Grenze an. Menschen mit Maske stehen in einer lange Schlange zum Bezahlen an. Es kommt, was wohl kommen musste. Ein extrem sonnig gelaunter Mittelfranke erklärt, dass das mit dem Corona alles übertrieben ist, in Italien sterben die Menschen jeden Winter massenweise und Notfallzelte gehören in New York quasi zur Grundausstattung. Weiß er, weil er überall Verwandte hat. Ahhhhja. Wie gut, dass man unter der Maske Grimassen ziehen kann...

Nach sechs Stunden erreichen wir Graz und auf einmal sieht die Welt ganz anders aus. Beim Checkin im Urdlwirt erfragen wir die Corona/Spielregeln in österreich. Maske nur in der Apotheke, beim Arzt und in öffentlichen Verkehrsmitteln. Tatsächlich fühlt sich der Bummel in der Altstadt an, als hätte es die vergangenen vier Virusmonate nicht gegeben. Dezente Schilder weisen auf den gebotenen Abstand hin, einzelne Menschen haben eine Maske um den Hals... Aber ansonsten fehlt irgendwas, vielleicht so ein leicht angespannte Grundgefuhl, an das wir uns in den letzten Wochen gewoehnt hatten. Mama, können wir hier überhaupt Abstand halten, haucht Louisa.

Aber wir sind ja in unserer Kleingruppe unterwegs. Bei schwül warmen 32 Grad erkunden wir erst den Dom, lauschen dem Glockenspiel und bummeln durch die engen Gassen. Als Abendessen gibt es kurzfristig asiatisches Streetfood auf dem Hauptplatz.

Gestärkt erklimmen wir über viele Stufen den Schlossberg, inzwischen werden die Wolken dunkelgrau. Wir genießen noch den Blick auf die Stadt samt moderner Kunsthalle in der Mitte. Dann flüchten wir vor den dicken Tropfen wieder hinunter.

Ein kurzer Blick in den Stollen im Schlossberg und der Entschluss, hier wollen wir unbedingt nochmal her! Vor allem ein kleines Mädchen in die Märchenbahn..

Inzwischen nieselt es. Dank Kilians beharrlicher Hinweise kehren wir noch schnell im sehr coolen Café mitten in der Mur ein, quasi eine kulinarische Insel, die auf dem Fluss schwimmt und auch alternative Kino Abende etc anbietet. Das Café schwankt im reißenden Fluss, die Bedienung vertraut uns auf Nachfrage an, dass ihr die Öffnung und Masken Freiheit viel zu schnell geht. Wir nicken mit gebührendem Abstand, danach rennen wir durch den stärker werdenden Regen zum Auto. Bis wir zurück beim Urdlwirt sind schüttet es und ein Gewitter geht nieder.

[coffeenewstom]

Kaffeereise: Linz

Osterferien und wir müssen daheim bleiben – schon wieder! Mit Verreisen ist ja wohl auch im zweiten Corona-Jahr eher nichts. Aber davon lassen wir uns die Ferienlaune nicht verderben. Wenn wir nicht selbst in die Ferne schweifen können, dann machen wir es wenigstens in Gedanken. Denn die sind ja bekanntlich frei! Also verreisen Sie mit mir an einige der schönsten Kaffee-Orte! Ein Streifzug durch…

[bluetapes]

We did some great work this year 2019: A year in tapes! (And one CD)

2019 sucked but we did some good stuff. Here's a reminder!

blue thirty-two: Stuart Chalmers and Taming Power

Miasmic tape-sound, guitar and swarmandal compositions from two of the most respected names in underground music. People got really excited about this one!

blue thirty-one: Thank You, Merciless Onlookers / Helen and Gavin The A side is a live set from me at Café OTO, with harmonium, piano, glockenspiel, laptop and rain sound entwining in a meditative drone thing. B side is Sussex Christmas carols and Indian chanting - unpretentious, lo-fi, fun.

blue thirty: Ratkiller Brilliant, surreal, abstract electronic mindgames from Estonian scene leader Mihkel Kleis. Strange, psychedelic music from the outer reaches.

blue twenty-nine: Abysmal Growls of Despair Unbelievably epic kargyraa-doom. So heavy and unrelenting that it becomes transcendent. Has to be heard - FELT - to be fathomed. Available on CD and tape!

The Blue Tapes House Band vol. 3: Chase Me Before The Plague Perhaps the most perfectly-realised slab of sound from our resident supergroup yet. Produced by Matt Collins with vocals by OXBOW's Eugene S. Robinson and Map 71's Lisa Jayne, guitar by me.

[cute4you]

Es ist angerichtet 

[janephillipsblog]

Babette’s Gift

I recently closed my first semi-professional theatre experience with Fire Exit Theatre. It was quite a journey and a very rewarding and challenging one at that.

Back in August, I auditioned for “Babette’s Feast”, a play adaptation of the short story by Isak Dineson, conceived and developed by Abigail Killeen and written by Rose Courtney. It turned out to be a very unconventional audition as the venue was not open during my time slot. We auditioned in groups and my group ended up auditioning outside in a residential area. We worked on scenes from the script as well as doing group performance exercises for the director, Jeany Van Meltebeke, to see how we worked together as an ensemble.

Several days later I received an email from Artistic Director, Val Lieske, offering me a role in the ensemble, with the note that specific roles would be assigned at a later date. A couple of weeks later, another email was sent with assigned roles. I would be playing Babette as well as a little bit of ensemble work in the first part of the play before Babette makes her first entrance. 

Photo Credit: Andrea Cross Photography. With Kyla Ferrier and Sarah Haggeman.

“Babette’s Feast” is set in a small Norwegian town called Berlevaag and centres around two sisters, the children of a dean to a religious sect. The two sisters, Martine and Philippa, despite their beauty, offers of marriage, and for Philippa, a chance to be an opera singer, remain in Berlevaag as spinsters throughout their life, carrying on the work of the dean after his death. In their autumn years, they take in Babette, a French refugee from the Paris Commune, as a housekeeper. Babette was once a celebrated chef at the Café Anglais in Paris and had fought as a communard, alongside her husband and son, both of whom were killed in the civil war. The story culminates in Babette’s gift to the sisters and the community – a fabulous feast of French cuisine.

We had about a three-month rehearsal period before we moved into the Engineered Air Theatre at Arts Commons, throughout which, Jeany gently pushed us to “tell good story,” paying attention to the details and working on the subtext of the script. Looking back it was incredible how much we gleaned from between the lines of what at first appeared to be a simple script and story. Rachel Peacock, as well as being a part of the cast, was the composer and musical director for the production and her compositions enhanced the show no end, with the music performed with a harp, violin, glockenspiel, our vocals and even toy wooden blocks!

I made some personal discoveries as a performer during the process. Jeany would often tell me to work on being neutral emotionally at certain parts in the play. Well, people have always been able to read me like a book and I am a terrible liar as it simply shows too much on my face. Poker player I am not! For acting there is so much to work on within to achieve what the audience will eventually see. Part of that skill is learning to live in the present, moment by moment. What human doesn’t wander emotionally into the past or future? In the many years of doing theatre, I have learnt that this mental wandering out of the present can trip a performer up in a performance.

During the rehearsal process, imposter syndrome also raised its ugly head on occasion. This was my first production out of the community theatre world where most other fellow cast mates have other careers and acting is a hobby and a different way to socialize for a lot of people. Not that there is anything wrong with that, it is a fantastic hobby and there is nothing wrong with not wanting to pursue it as a career and a person can still strive for excellence in a pastime. From the day of the first read-through, I discovered that I was among kindred spirits. I was with people working in some capacity within the industry and who wore many hats like myself, often with many projects on the go at the same time. I felt at home, however often my anxiety would whisper negative things in my ear that I didn’t belong.

The biggest challenge for me was the fact that Babette was French. Whilst it wasn’t a goal of the production for the performers to have impeccable accents, I did not want Babette to sound English. I also did not want her to have a stereotypical French accent. There were also a few lines in French within the script which presented another challenge. During high school in Ottawa, probably in Grade 11 or 12 (I have moved from the UK the summer before I started Grade 11), I was kicked out of Grade 10 French for struggling with the work in the class. My mother is still angry about it and I realize now that it was probably more to do with the teacher wanting to keep her class averages up than my learning ability. I was a shy and self-conscious teenager who hated speaking aloud in class and had always been very self-conscious about the way I spoke even in English, let alone a foreign language, as we had moved around a lot and I always had a different dialect. Those early days in high school in Ottawa usually meant I had to repeat sentences about three times to my friends before they understood what I was saying! The result was that I no longer had confidence in my ability to even learn to speak a second language. I seem to recall that in the UK, I had quite enjoyed French and German classes, but in Ottawa, everyone was so far ahead in French. The last French course I took was in first year of university as a degree requirement. My inability to speak Canada’s other official language was one of the reasons I ended up moving to Alberta.

There is a section in the script where the ensemble repeat some of the French words spoken by Babette. At the first readthrough during which I most likely pronounced the French lines incorrectly and with limited understanding of the meaning, having the words repeated caught me by surprise and in a moment of self-consciousness, I honestly thought some of the others were correcting my pronunciation! This was not the case! Though certainly down the road, Caleb and John, other cast members (Caleb was also the assistant director), helped me with the pronunciation. Google Translate also became a good friend! I talked about my hang-ups with speaking French with Caleb about two weeks before we moved into the theatre. He asked me when I was going to let them go. Right now, was my reply! I had already upped the ante for myself by inviting French-speaking friends to the show and at this point it was time to really put in some work. I would record myself speaking Babette’s lines to ensure they sounded like Babette and not me.          

Photo Credit: Andrea Cross Photography

By the week of our final rehearsals, I felt that Babette had really arrived. I felt confident in my ability to portray her on stage. I was super-excited to be in a show at the Engineered Air Theatre. I had been in the venue once during the Festival of Animated Objects in March (I love the retro décor) and on the first day we were in the theatre, I remembered the intention I had set through a selfie on Facebook in May during the Bouffon workshop (held in the ATP rehearsal hall) that I hoped to again enter and exit the stage door of Arts Commons many, many times in the not too distant future. Well it came true! That is the power of manifestation, folks – I also manifested a free transit ticket that day.  

Opening night was on a Wednesday. Fire Exit has a tradition for everyone to wear red shoes on opening night (started by Val and her red boots). I found a really nice pair that day in the WINS thrift store and they went really well with my green Christmas leggings. We had a talk back after the performance, my first ever. There were a couple of complimentary comments about how humble Babette was. In the lobby after, a lady asked if I was French! All our performances went really well, despite sickness making its way around the cast (par for the course for a December show – I was lucky as I had been sick a few weeks prior). Once we had an audience, we discovered that what had seemed like a serious play for the most part, was actually quite whimsical and fun throughout. Our audiences were great, very loving and kind. My French-speaking friends told me that they understood every word and joked how they were going to converse with me in French now.

Photo Credit: Andrea Cross Photography. From left to right: John Moerschbacher, Kyla Ferrier, Daniel Kim, Caleb Gordon, me, Sarah Haggeman, Rachel Peacock, Kendra Hutchinson and Ainsley Daumler.

“Babette’s Feast” was over too soon after a run of only seven performances. It will be an experience that I will forever treasure and remember. Thank you to all involved for sharing this incredible journey with me! 

[imjustthemechanic]

Glockenspiel

Part 1/? - Transmission Part 2/? - The Sandhill Hotel Part 3/? - Piccadilly Part 4/? - The Future Part 5/? - Too Late Part 6/? - The Mystery of the Missing Time Machine Part 7/? - Underway Part 8/? - The Sierra Bunker Part 9/? - Cross-Country Part 10/? - The Pit Part 11/? - Calls for Help Part 12/? - Campout and Reunion Part 13/? - Apocalypse Bunker Part 14/? - Terrible Truths Part 15/? - Library Crystals Part 16/? - The Stark Gallery

They landed at LaGuardia, where they had a quick (and expensive) lunch, and visited a kiosk to get Peggy and Howard a second set of cell phones before catching a train into the city.  Peggy’s impression of twenty-first century London had been of the city she remembered but somehow more so, bigger and brighter and busier than ever before.  Manhattan was, if anything, an even more extreme example.  The streets were teeming with cars, dogs, and people.  New, shiny buildings stood side-by-side with ones nearly a hundred years old.  And like the familiar buildings in London, it hadn’t aged particularly well.  Plaster was peeling and pavement was cracked, as if the entire island were crumbling away under the weight of all this human activity.

In the midst of all that, it was a bit unbalancing to find that the Fifth Avenue façade of Howard’s old mansion hadn’t changed a bit.  It looked exactly as it had during the brief time Peggy and Angie had lived there – a mix of Georgian and Neoclassical architecture that probably looked refined to anybody who didn’t know the difference between the two.  The magnolia trees had grown but they’d been lovingly pruned, and there were different flowers in the garden but the beds were in the same place.  It looked as if Peggy could move right back in.

Except, of course, for the giant banner advertising a new exhibit of Jackson Pollock, and the massive queue of people waiting to get in.  Those were very definitely new.

“That’s a hell of a thing to see,” Howard muttered, as they got in line.  “A hundred people just waiting to get into your house.”

“Are you telling me that’s never happened before?” Peggy asked, skeptical.

“Those were reporters,” Howard told her.  “Not members of the public.”

Peggy looked at the crowd of people waiting, and then at Toulouse herself, with blue and green locks falling out from under her knitted cap.  It would be silly to keep Toulouse and Kevin out when all these other civilians were coming in, and Toulouse herself looked determined.  Peggy had a feeling if she told her no, there’d be a fight.

“Not now,” she decided, “but this is just a scouting-out trip.  Once we have a plan for what to do next, we may ask you to leave.”  They probably wouldn’t have to worry about anything more dangerous than security guards, but Peggy wasn’t going to take that for granted.  HYDRA might be able to find this place, too.  They might even have followed them here.

“Let me know if I can help,” said Toulouse firmly.

While the main façade faced Fifth Avenue, the actual entrance to the mansion was on East Seventieth Street.  Toulouse paid admission for four and then stepped into the main foyer, where Peggy discovered that Toulouse had not been joking about the interior having been preserved with its original décor.  Even the wallpaper was, while not exactly what she remembered, certainly a very close replica.  The coat check and small gift shop were on the right, and on the wall across from them was a large framed photograph of a family posing in the portico.

“Son of a bitch,” Howard said under his breath, and walked towards it.

The photo was in colour, and printed very large – nearly three feet tall, which rendered the image a little grainy up close.  Even so, there was no mistaking the identity of the largest figure.  It could only possibly be Howard himself.

Peggy came closer, too, to see how her friend had changed over the years.  He definitely looked older, thinner, and more tired.  His mustache was a little bushier and his hair had gone gray, and he looked more deathly serious than she could ever remember seeing him.  Standing on his right and smiling gently was an attractive blonde woman, at least twenty years younger than he.  Her hair fell long around her shoulders and she was dressed in a dark skirt suit and pearls.  Between the adults was a little boy, three or four years old.  He had a mop of dark hair and serious brown eyes, and looked stiff and uncomfortable in his little suit and tie.

There was a brass plaque below the picture.  It said, Howard, Maria, and Anthony Stark, September 1973.

“So that’s them, eh?” Howard murmured.

“So it is,” Peggy agreed.

It was a strange thing to see, she thought.  Toulouse had mentioned that Howard would get married, but here was the proof, staring back at them across forty years.  His wife, Maria, was very much Howard’s type – a petite blonde with a pretty face and a charming smile.  Peggy wondered what was different about this one.  What had made Howard decided that out of all those little blondes, this was the one he wanted to spend the rest of his life with?

Howard must have been thinking the same thing.  “I wonder what she was like,” he said.  “I wonder where I met her.”

“It might say on your Wikipedia article,” Toulouse suggested from behind him.

“Yeah,” Howard said distantly, and Peggy could tell that he wasn’t going to look.  He didn’t want to know.  Why would he?  Who wanted to know that here was the love of their lives, forever beyond their reach?

Peggy knew that feeling all too well.  It still came over her every so often, usually in the middle of the night when she couldn’t sleep.  She’d told herself again and again that she was over Steve, that she couldn’t dwell on what might have been – she’d told Jason that, and it had been good advice for him as it was for her, but there was a part of her heart that just wasn’t willing to take it.  Daniel had asked Peggy if she still loved him and she’d had to say yes, she always would.  She knew better than to let it interfere with the rest of her life and relationships, but she was very much still in love with Steve Rogers.

Kevin and Toulouse were hanging back now, not wanting to interrupt.  Peggy herself was of two minds about it.  If they stayed here staring for two long, somebody might wonder why, but Howard was having to contemplate an entire life he could never live.  A wife he would never meet, a son he would never hug… he would need time to cope with that.  Peggy hoped they had that time.

Finally, Howard tore himself away, with honest pain in his face that he couldn’t quite hide by forcing himself to smile.  “Okay,” he said.  “The vault entrance will be in the library.”

“Wasn’t it in the music room?” asked Peggy with a frown.  Howard had used the library.  The music room was only there because fancy houses were supposed to have one.

“It was, but when I decided to hide it better I planned to move the door,” he explained.  “If I got on with that, it’ll be in the library.”

The music room was circular, and was now used as an exhibit of antique instruments, including an eighteenth-century cello and a white-lacquered grand piano.  They looked like the sort of things Howard would collect just because rich people were supposed to collect things.  A doorway from there led into the library, which was where most of the crowd was.  Not only was it home to several rare books, but the featured exhibit of three paintings by Pollock were hanging on the far wall.  These were not particularly impressive as far as Peggy could tell.  They all looked like they’d been made by simply throwing paint at a canvas.

Howard took no interest in the art at all.  He turned immediately to the right, where the library shared a wall with the music room – the fact that the latter was round left a wedge-shaped space between them.  A large Indian rug was hung there, with a plastic panel in front of it so that people couldn’t touch.

“Is this the place?” Peggy asked.  Based on her memory of the music room entrance, it did seem right.

“Should be,” Howard said.  “Looks like they re-wallpapered, or maybe I did that.  Either way, hides the entrance completely.  If I can just find the seam in the plaster…” he reached to touch the wall.

“Sir,” a security guard stepped forward.  “You’re not allowed to touch that.”

Howard looked at the man and began drawing himself up to his full height, and a horrible mental picture flashed through Peggy’s head.  He’d forgotten the situation, and was about to tell the guard that he could touch whatever he wanted in his own house.  She grabbed his arm to drag him away.

“There’s a sign right there, Honey,” she said, in an American accent.  “I know it’d look nice in your study, but I’m sure it’s not for sale.  Right?”  She smiled at the guard.

“That’s correct, Ma’am,” the guard told her.

Howard deflated as he remembered where and when they were.  “Yeah, okay.  Sorry,” he said.

There was a little café in the museum courtyard.  The food there was even more shockingly expensive than at the airport, but they ordered some coffee with steamed milk and some Danish pastries, and sat down to talk about their next move.  Howard continued to be uncharacteristically quiet.  The fact that this house no longer belonged to him was apparently as difficult for him as knowing he would never meet the woman in the photograph.

“I suppose we could always come up through the sewers, like the last people who robbed that vault,” Peggy observed.

Howard shook his head.  “I filled in the hole and reinforced it.  It’d take a bomb to get it out again.  We’ll just chip off the plaster and go in through the door.”

“And how do we get back into the house after closing?” Peggy wanted to know.  She didn’t doubt Howard knew how to do it, she only wanted to remind him that he hadn’t told her.

“Why would we leave?”  Howard started to smile again.  “You really think I built myself a house with only one secret room?”

“Oh, of course.”  Peggy shook her head.  “How very silly of me!”

“How can I help?” asked Toulouse.

The humour melted out of the conversation as Peggy and Howard exchanged a glance.  Neither of them wanted Toulouse getting hurt, and the chances of them triggering some kind of alarm while doing this were very good.  A technology that could create those multi-use mobile phones could do all kinds of things with surveillance.

“You can wait outside,” Peggy decided, “and let us know if the police are coming.”

Toulouse sighed.  “That’s what I figured you’d say.”

“You’ve already been a great help,” Peggy assured her.  “We couldn’t have come this far without you.”

“I know,” said Toulouse.  She had a spoon in her hand, and was playing with the foam on her coffee, piling it up in to a mound that slowly collapsed again.  “Daddy would agree with you.  He’s all about paying to save the world, but he never goes to any of these places himself.  I guess he’s afraid he’ll end up like Junior.”

Peggy had slept through the part of the conversation on the plane when Toulouse had said how her brother died.  She wondered now if it might be important, but Toulouse didn’t look as if she wanted to talk about it and Peggy didn’t want to sound like she was prying.  “Well, perhaps that’s a very good reason,” she said.

“I agree with them, for what that’s worth,” said Kevin.  “I’m just sticking around to make sure somebody’s trying to avoid Yellowstone blowing up under me.  I don’t actually want to have to fight a supervillain if I don’t have to.”

“Daddy isn’t a supervillain!” Toulouse protested.

“He kind of is,” said Kevin.  “I mean, he wants to set off a volcano on purpose.  That’s some top-tier supervillainy.”

“He is not a supervillain,” Toulouse told him.  “Supervillains are like… are like Loki, or Ultron.  They’ve got powers and stuff.  Daddy isn’t a supervillain.  I figure there’s got to be a reason why him and Cass are mixed up in this,” she went on.  Now she was gesturing with the spoon, rather than scooping foam.  “Maybe somebody’s using them.  Remember I said Daddy did the investigation when HYDRA was exposed in the UK?  Maybe somebody promised him something and he didn’t realize it was going to lead to this!  I wish I’d been able to say something to Cass.”

Peggy wondered if she ought to be worried.  It was possible that Toulouse was right, and if she told her father and brother what was going on, they’d put a stop to it.  It was also possible, however, that she was dead wrong, and that trying to say anything to them would be a disaster.  They needed more information before they could let her try.  Before she could say anything, though, Howard spoke.

“Actually, Toulouse, Kevin, I’ve got a really important job for you two.  We are going to need a distraction.”

The staircase to the second floor was between the foyer and the fountain court  There was a security guard posted there to intervene if anybody decided to duck under the rope.  Across from the staircase was a little marble table displaying an intricate silver-plated wine cooler.  Toulouse and Kevin passed by this, and Toulouse hitched her purse up her shoulder and knocked the cooler over.

“Oh my god!  I’m so sorry!” she exclaimed, and went to pick it up.

“No, don’t touch it, you’ll get fingerprints on it!” Kevin told her.  He stuck out his foot to stop her, and bumped the thing again.

“Both of you get away from that!” the horrified guard exclaimed.  He went to move them away from it, and with his back turned, Peggy and Howard slipped up the red-carpeted stairs.

“That poor cooler,” Peggy remarked.

“Eh, it’s not even real Sheffield plate,” Howard said, unconcerned.

At the top of the steps was a little room where another guard was supposed to be watching a bank of television screens that showed various views of the house.  Peggy and Howard outside the door were quite clearly visible on one of them, but the guard in question was reading a comic book and not paying the slightest attention.  As they tiptoed by, Peggy noticed what was hanging on the wall next to the shelves of screens.

“Is that one of those paintings from California?” she asked.

Howard glanced over his shoulder at the portrait.  “I dated an artist there,” he said.  “She told me I was her muse.  That’s when I knew I had to leave her – I couldn’t take being anybody’s muse.  Too much pressure.”

“Mmm,” said Peggy.  “We’re lucky the staff didn’t recognize you, if they have to look at that all day.”  Then again, perhaps they had, and just dismissed it as a coincidence.

“I wonder what happened to the ones she did of me nude,” Howard said.

“If she had any sense, she burned them.”