Ryan's keyboard playing in "Diamond: A Neil Diamond Tribute" threatens to upstage the Neil Diamond tributer [sic] himself! What passion!

Agreed.

Iris needs her own show!

What the hell??!

Is Jeremy alive in this video??

"interviews with patrons and artists, all including songs and dances (maybe)"

'nuff said.

I wish we could have a clip of the play itself.
Congratulations on the project, Jeremy
Best,
Wilson Loria

I agree! I thought the production was professional and fun! I also thought the second act was stronger than the first, but overall, the show was very well done. Simple and understated. Nice job, Jester Theater!

Yeah, I read MB's response to your post and didn't get it at all! what's the deal, mr. black?

take a chill pill, would ya?

hope you're well! and keep up the great work!

:)
Courtney

Black's response is the problem that fringe groups are having with connecting to the web and all its glory, not their indecision. He wants his (or their) singular voice to be the web experience for Montreal. The Digger broadsides and the zines he references were independent voices speaking what was not being said in the mainstream. Alternative. Anti-establishment. They filled an information void for the next generation. His argument for maintaining that approach is the very thing they railed against.

This is what he misses about your offer: New Audience, regardless of location, venue or performance. I was not able to go this year. Variety of reasons. And obviously won't be making it to Montreal. But I was introduced to a multitude of artist that I missed and all the while found some really great stuff through Blogging Fringe. Ironically, I probably found more than I would have if I had gone since I had only gone to 2 - 3 shows a year previously. I now have a bookmark folder and rss reader full of new artists. And just because Orlando Fringe has closed up shop, your ability to connect to the movement, and by proxy the other artists, elsewhere would keep me around for more. I will (I hope) find out about some nifty artist goodness from the frozen land of Montreal.

I also don't think that organizers and those intimately involved in putting it together should be that voice on the web. They have an extremely hard task at making it happen. The best part of what you and your site did was provide an outlet for artist to connect outside of their own fan base and keep it within the context of Orlando performances. It is a part of the community though. Not THE community.

There is so much to be gained. I could write for a few pages. Artist that might discover Orlando that never looked before. Six degrees of separation work for networking and awareness, not just Kevin Bacon. The possibility of a new audience willing to chase the experience there. Grassroots connecting to grassroots. In the end, Mr Black painted himself curmudgeon and old. I did what you are doing and hope other cities might reach out if Montreal doesn't.

(By the way, why can't the earth be flat)

OK. Michael's response was a little harsh if you ask me. I think it's an example of someone, who has been involved with an organization or community for a very long time, feeling like they know what it should or should not be. They feel a kind of ownership or entitlement and tend to not accept change very easily. Michael has undoubtedly worked very hard supporting the Fringe and helping it grow over the years. That's a great feeling in the beginning, but like you said, Fringe is bigger than one person or one group of people. That's what makes it so different! There are a million "right" ways to do things. This situation just seems like a matter of taste. The minute we start restricting Fringe due to matters of taste is the minute it ceases to be Fringe.
I say "Bravo" Ryan, for all your hard work. Fringe is lucky to have you guys, and so is Orlando.

Can't you do simple websearches? Because if you did, you'd
know there's no reason for you to have this content, since
it already exists and a lot closer to Montreal.

It's a joke, that I found your insulting (because it ignores
what already exists) post, but you've never heard of me.

Some of us have been around the Montreal Fringe for a really
long time, and some of us have posted things to the internet
for a really long time (if someone was ten the first time I
posted something about the Festival online, they'd now be 22),
yet there are all kinds of carpetbaggers coming in thinking
they've invented things. More to the point, they haven't
defined what to do with the internet when it comes to
Fringe Festivals, they've merely followed the mass. I suspect
you couldn't even tell me about the connecton between zines and
the internet. or Digger broadsides from forty years ago and
the internet. Yet you really think you can decide how we
use the internet? You certainly can't teach me anything, but
if you'd come to me a decade ago, I could have taught you lots
about how to use the medium, to compensate for traditional
problems of outreach and organization, because there were
real limitations decades ago, yet too many small groups
just replicate all that mess, on the internet.

The neat thing about Fringe Festivals was that it worked
around the blockage of old media, trying to work the crowd
directly to bring in that audience. But over time that is
lost, and it's never really translated to the internet.

Fringe Festivals have lost out, because the "leadership"
couldn't make the jump to the internet, instead following
trends. So when they were starting out, the internet should
have been about growing the festivals, but instead the internet
was barely used, prefering to pander to old media, and only now
when a certain level has been reached is there any desire
to be trendy with the internet.

Michael