The Christoppher Skinner Vigil

Firstly, I would like to thank the arrangers of the vigil tonight for Chris Skinner. It was beautiful and peaceful...and well maintained...I know that sounds all weird...but the police presence was just enough that we all felt safe and taken care of.
I met a couple dear friends early so that we could walk together...when we sat down to dinner I started to feel sick to my stomach....I got anxious and a bit scared...and I could not specifically figure out the why.
Ever since yesterday I couldn't get the image of Chris's broken glasses laying on the street out of my head...it played right at the end of a news reel. Of all the footage...even of him walking along the street oblivious to what was to occur...the broken glasses bothered me the most.
The lack of a person to go with them.
I have seen him in those glasses.
I didn't know what to expect as we walked to Church and Wellesley.
But when we got there...I just felt quiet....there were many people there.
Someone handed out candles...we ran into more people we knew...a fellow I knew drove from Stratford to be a part of it, lots of dear young people...and older people...with babies and dogs..basically people from every walk of life... there
to celebrate a life.
A man named Matt got on a mega phone and said a lovely speech and then he asked us to raise our candles...and look up to the sky...not down for a moment of silence... and then....my phone rang...of all the times during my shows I have yelled at people...I just fumbled...and cursed myself...and then...I realized it wasn't mine.
Thank you.
Then we began to walk...from Church and Wellesley to Adelaide and Victoria....the place where he was killed. I say it true...I don't want to soften it. His life was taken there.
The walk was something to behold.
It was at least 1200 people...walking down the southbound lanes of Church...the streets were lined with people just standing and watching...it was so still and quiet..every once in a while there would be a burst of laughter...and it felt right...and the young man I walked with asked me how I knew Skinner...and then we talked about the very small portion of his life that I was lucky enough to share...and it was shared during very festive situations...so it was heightened and funny and fabulous...and we also laughed...and I felt like part of him was there.
When the line made the turn at Queen Street we could begin to see the magnitude of the gathering...it was stunning. It made me cry.
And when we got to the corner...of Victoria and Adelaide...we all stopped and held our candles high...and had silence...and young woman stood on a newspaper box and hung this sign over the corner...

And everyone just stayed...just waited...and then we all filed to the corner and left our candle...and there was a big banner with pens and pencils to leave a message.
As I looked around there was a man standing by himself wrapped in a beautiful rainbow quilt...he took a deep breath and with the greatest reverence took it off and folded it neatly and put it into a bag...slung it over his shoulder and walked to the subway.
I wondered how many times he had done that.
Too many, my guess.
We will not tolerate hate or violence.
With peace, respect and love we walked tonight.

Days, Dogs and the search...and the vigil...

I know that you all think I am lordy for these dogs. Well, I am. No doubt.
I am laying in bed after having one of the longest days of my life and George had to go let in the workmen to our home early this morning (yes, we are still in a rental due to the effing termite invasion, but we are close to going back....thank god...godess or universe.) so I slept in. I got home at one million o'clock last night and G was asleep (too tired to type out full name of husband...he knows I know his name) and, again, the day had been so long that I needed a glass of wine. Side bar....in an effort to get back to fitness, I have given up everything I love except wine...I am unwilling to give up to booze now that I have found it again...now...don't be thinking I have a problem or anything...I don't. I don't encourage drinking...but I say 'do what you wanna'.
I laid myself into a 'one glass of wine' sleep, I vaguely remember G kissing me this morning and telling me he had to go...me saying 'lurv u and blergy do'....well, that is what it sounded like in my head anyway...after the exchange I went promptly back to sleep.
When I woke again and peered over the side of the bed...there they were. No questions, no answers...just puppy love...they were waiting...ever so patiently...thanks pups.
As I said it was a long day yesterday...and I am thankful for it. It scrubbed my brain out a bit...my brain needed a change of direction...if only for one day. I woke up yesterday morning at 7:00am to put on my hairpiece. Yup....that early for styling and image...because I went to host the Contact Conference up in Richmond Hill...which is far, just for your info...less far when you are sharing a car with the laughter inducing Wayne Gwillim.
But as I got my hairpiece done...I checked my email...and , thankfully and sadly, found numerous emails from friends and strangers regarding Christopher Skinner. The outpouring of grief and disbelief not only continues...as well it will and should...and it is fanning out over the entire world.
I received messages from as far as London, England.
His funeral and memorial were the day before in Uxbridge...I had wanted to attend but could not.
There was a new article in the Toronto Star yesterday morning with a video attached about the memorial... hundreds of people were there.
The video...though it has an add attached at the beginning, shame...plays the SUV in question, filled with killers speeding through a light... on a loop....I watched it 10 times...I didn't recognize anything but I just couldn't believe that this car contained humans who would (or had) committed such a horrible act.
They are searching....and I believe wholeheartedly that they will find these people.
And with that thought I went to Richmond Hill.
I started working and hosting at 11:00am-ish and walked out of the building at 11:00pm...with a break in the middle where I drove to the Sheraton and talked to presenters...
Oh, let me tell you...Contact is the yearly Conference where the presenters from theatres all over Ontario get together and see acts to book in their theatres for the next year....it is three days long and they see a TON of stuff....I hosted and presented some of 'Sharron's Big Broadway Show'....it went well, I had a good time... no one is meant to wear heels for 12 hours....there were 6 acts including mine during the day...they all had 25 minutes each to show their stuff....and in the evening there was a wopping 8....plus me....9.
There was some amazing talent...A fabulous afro cuban jewish band named Odessa/Havana...a 19 blues phenom named Keith Hallett...I was happy to be an entertainer.
THIS IS WHERE THE REST OF SUNDAY HAPPENED AFTER I WROTE THIS PORTION OF THE BLOG>>>I rehearsed with my new band, I walked the dogs, I watched Grey's Anatomy on PVR....I pondered publishing the blog.
I felt weird writing a blog about normal stuff....so I saved it to draft...now here I lay on Sunday morning...still feeling strange and dark about how life moves on and the world keeps spinning.
Last night I watched two days worth of news on the computer...and was again shocked and laid low.
Christopher Skinners' parents...so brave...so young...they looked like they are mine and George's age...you picture parents being so much older. They spoke so well in interviews...I thought they were very brave and honest.
Then I saw the new footage of Skinner walking down the street...
You want to reach in and grab him...
I wanted to turn it off....I wanted....everything to be different...for a cab to pick him up...for him still to be living at his old place so he wouldn't be in that area...for him to have stopped somewhere and made a phone call...
It is absolutely horrible to watch someones fate to unfold on a security camera...to watch him walk out of frame and then in a few seconds watch the traffic slow.
Seconds.
To hear how fast and cold the attack was...30 seconds.
And then the camera panned to a shot of his broken glasses on the ground and tmy heart stopped.
What the fuck has happened here?
How can this be true?
How can all this horrible info and truth be mixed into a "normal" day?
We can't forget...we live...but we cannot forget....
I feel that the search is on in a serious way.
I believe the killers...the murders...they keep calling it a "Hit and Run" which I find offensive....it was a murder....I believe the killers will be found and found soon.
Then they will face the world.
The vigil is tonight at 8:00pm at the corner of Church and Wellesley....
There will be a city full of people who will peacefully and with great respect say no to senseless violence.

The days after...What do we do now?

I am still just in a quiet shock.
My Sister said after our dad died, the hardest day was not the day he died but the days after. When everything was supposed to be “back to normal”.
“People don’t want to dwell in that place for too long, it might be catchy.”
That is pretty much exactly what she said...and it was, and is, quite true.
The world doesn’t like to be sad or reminded of horrible things for too long.
Understandable, but...
I keep feeling like I should feel a bit better today but I don’t.
I have received a staggering response to the article, and subsequent note, that I put up on my page on facebook.
There are emails, phone calls and messages.
The reason I feel like I should feel better is...I feel like it is not mine to feel bad about...yes, I said feel four times..but I could not think of better words to put there. Skinner wasn’t someone that was in my life everyday or every week...his friendship was casual...but when he was present there was absolutely no missing him. But still it felt wrong for people to say they felt badly for me.
But when I read through the emails there were reoccurring themes... “I don’t know you Sharron..”, “I didn’t know Christopher...”, “I knew Chris a little...” and they all felt compelled to write....something...to express their anger, their fears and sadness over a senseless murder. And everyone expressed to me, one way or the other, that they didn’t feel like they had the right to say anything.
But when something this black happens I think it is our right and our duty to examine how it affects our lives and our world...to see how we are all connected because, as my friend Kat just said to me... “He was just taken. Stolen”
And it is not to be put away so that the world can feel comfortable.
Below you will find some of the things that were sent to me...I can’t believe how many people we knew in common, how many lives he has touched, and the footprint he has left.
I have left them all anonymous except for the last one...it just...well...
I thank everyone for their words and I want to express my great sorrow to all of you at the loss of Christopher Skinner.

“I went to high school with Chris. We were not close but I am so disturbed by this that I have been brought to tears several times throughout the day and cannot release it from my mind..”


“Chris: I commit to you that I will not let this get swept under the carpet and that the police statement of “No, there’s not at all any indication that there were homophobic elements to the attack,” says Det Stacey Gallant." will not stand. What a world we live in.”

“Only hate could do this. The why of hate can never be allowed to mitigate the fact that the act itself is nothing but hate.”

“Skinner and i worked together when i first moved to toronto. he was one of the very first people i met when i came here from halifax. he was awesome and kind and funny and authentic.”

“ The scream in my soul is bigger than my voice.”

“I loved going to your shows with Chris. He always cracked me up, and I'm sure everyone else in the room as well, with his big boisterous voice that would answer every rhetorical and sing along with every song. He was taken from us and even though I'm sure the person who did this will be caught, it will never bring him back. My heart is breaking.”

“Skinner was the kind of person who you didn't have to know well to see just how incredible he was. He could light up a room with a hint of a smile. If anyone knows anything at all, please come forward.”

“Only bullies commit horrible acts of this nature. To dehumanize another human being to the point that they mean absolutely nothing to you takes years of practice. The(se) murderer(s) have/has committed other past atrocities and Christopher was the culmination of their misguided beliefs. Stop them before it happens again.”

“I saw your post about this young man on Thom's wall and I, like you, have been so angry since the moment I heard about what happened to him. I didn't know Christopher but feel as though I did.”

“I find it strange that I could be so upset and mourn for someone I knew from a distance . . . and maybe because of the circumstances behind his passing . . . but the shock and anger is very real and resonant. It's hard to imagine that such a thing could happen in a city such as this or even a country considered so accepting...and yet here we are. I think the outpouring of grief for Chris from his loved ones and those distantly associated not only speaks for his character but for the general public at large.”

“Every time that I leave the house to walk the dog I judge every SUV and feel like I can hear people crying instead of the usual chatter that I am familiar with.
I saw your post, and although each article is terrifying to read I am thankful for the response you have turned up. He deserves every single person to think of him, because every single person he met was touched so much.”

“I do remember him from your final Sharron's Party show -- sitting on the stairs at Buddies, shouting "ONE MORE SONG!" -- and I can't imagine the depth of loss his family and friends are experiencing.”

“I can't believe the news... I just read your note and I am sitting here in absolute shock right now, Sharron... I took a course with Chris back in high school, a musical theatre course, and that week gave me two things: my lifelong love of musical theatre, and the courage to be myself thanks to meeting Chris, who was comfortable with his sexuality even in grade 11. He never knew it, but I came back from that week and came out to my best friend, and my life and who I am today started from that point. I have always remembered him for being the first gay guy who was comfortable with himself and just a nice, cool, normal guy, and who made me believe that I was genuinely OK. Fuck, I can't believe it... I had always hoped to run into him again some time to tell him that story. This is fucking devastating news.” Signed, Jonathan Tan

Christopher Skinner...One more song.

I am mad and sad and confused and in a state of disbelief. Mostly I am fucking angry. I was away from Toronto for a week without a TV so when I received a email message about "horrible news" this morning my heart began to beat faster.
I could not even guess at the utter blackness of that news.
Christopher Skinner, a young man who had become a friend of mine through my shows and through a mutual friend had been murdered.
Murdered.
I can't believe it as I spell it.
I am so fucking mad I could do something violent.
I left my house soon after I heard "the news" to go to an audition and every face I walked by looked guilty to me....guilty for not being sad and guilty for not understanding what had happened in the world...and just maybe guilty of the crime...guilty because the world keeps turning.
I found an article online at Xtra and posted it on my Facebook page and the outpouring of emotion was staggering...people cried and screamed and railed and wondered. It was reposted...it was spoken about by others...people talked about choices...others talked about not choosing...others still just poured out their hearts and minds.
People who didn't know him...now knew him...and for the worst possible reason.

I met Skinner for the first time, and he will always be Skinner to me because that is how we were introduced, at my show at the Gladstone. He sat right next to the stage and talked to me...onstage...all night...he was so thrilled to be there...and myself...always adoring a challenge and the love of a great audience member...was thrilled to have him. He is known by my constant supporters as the guy who always yelled out "One More Song!!!"...even after I had done three encores. How can you not love that? At my very last party in June at Buddies in Bad Times he yelled out his standard "One more song!"...and after two songs I had to call it...and then as I walked off the stage he was standing in front of me, smiling and he whispered right into my face..."I will always ask for one more song."

We were just in the process of becoming spin buddies and coffee talkers. They were just little normal things. But I still feel robbed. I can only imagine how his closest friends, his fiance and his family feel.
I received an email from a friend who works in the club district who informed me that the police were looking at their surveillance tapes and said... "I've dealt with the police on other things that have gone down in this neighbourhood and I've never seen them take anything as seriously as this."
It is a comfort.

Cold comfort.
Someone said that the police didn't know if it was a hate crime.
Is it a hate crime?....well, let me see...he was alone...he was beaten almost to death...and then run over by a car.
Yes, it was a hate crime.
It doesn't matter how he was created...or what his sexual orientation was...that is beyond the point.
He was now "horrible news"
There are people who are probably sitting in the comfort of a warm home, quite possibly with a loving family and living with the truth that they killed a stranger...another human being...someone who was alone and vulnerable to violence.
I hope that their black, black souls are rotting with that truth right now.

Britney, Boo and Myself on a Scottish Adventure

This time last year I was in Scotland. The is a kirkyard....or is it kirk...people, it is a cemetary in Edinburgh that we came back to later that night and paid to have ourselves made nauseous due to stories about torture and then have the shit scared out of us while we crouched in a fucking mausoleum...in the pitch dark...one girl from Wales was so terrified she cried and held my hand the whole time.
Ah...good times.
I LOVED that trip so much.
I saw so many beautiful places.
I went on one big adventure.
And in honour of that adventure I am reposting a story that I recently rewrote for a grant application.

Britney, Boo and Myself on a Scottish Adventure
by Sharron Matthews (and as usual, these stories are also lived through by Sharron Matthews

So, there I was in this quaint little fishing town in western Scotland...near the Isle of Bute...I don’t care how juvenile it sounds...that words sounds like...looks like...Butt...and reminds me of a movie that I saw at my friend Thom’s house called ‘Lust in the Dust’ starring Tab Hunter, Divine and Lanie Kazan...in which you see that word...Bute...tattooed on Lanie Kazan’s stunt ass...she had a stunt ass... if you don’t know what I mean...or believe it, watch the movie. I digressed...already... So, there I was in Tarbert, Scotland, at a pink hotel...when two ‘bear’ type males walked into the dining room during dinner and winked at me...I knew it was a gay friendly hotel....the fact that it was painted PINK should have been my clue.....I love that I can travel thousands of miles and still find a fan base. The hotel is near Tarbert Castle, home of...ready for it?...Robert the Bruce...I know of him because of...Braveheart...with that Mel Gibson...now Mel may be a bigoted, short, racist, anti-Semitic bastard...but he made a good movie. Remember Robert the Bruce was portrayed by that dishy Angus Macfayden....I don’t know why his career never took off...he did the Braveheart movie and then then next thing I saw him in was the ‘Ya Ya Sisterhood’ movie with that Sandra Bullock...who I love...judge me as you will. I wonder if Angus thinks that Gerrard Butler got his career,,,,maybe there was only room for one scottish dude....Gerrard is scottish, right?....or is he Irish? HEY! Did you know that the Scottish descended from the Irish in about 300AD??? REALLY!!! Do NOT bring it up in conversation over there.... WHAT THE EFF WAS I TALKING ABOUT???!!! (Underscore with random scottish music) Oh ya...Tarbert Castle...very cool...a bit of a ruin and I COULD not wait to get up there to it! Because I am a bit of a castle whore. Now my husband George had been sick since we arrived...he got the pleurisy from the hacking dude who sat beside me on the plane...we sat down and the dude started to cough and I turned to George with a pursed mouth. But I didn’t get sick...just poor Georgie... I was so sad for him...I want to help make him feel better...But I also want to climb around the hills...like in the Sound of Music...but Scottish. I go off to the chemist...the chemist...to get cold medicine for Georgie. And while I walked through the town with my paper sack of stuff I stared at the castle up on the hill....the city is surrounded by hills....mountains...the Scottish call them burns.....I wanted to see that damned castle....I asked George if he minded if I went....as he lay in bed looking like death....handsome...but still death warmed..... “Hack, cough...no honey...you go...hack, cough” “No I couldn’t...” ( I run out the door) I had never been across the ocean...or by myself across the ocean. I wanted to go on a solo adventure. Now if you have not been there...everything is a freaking climb in Scotland...to anything...wanna scone?...climb that hill. I make it up the effing hill to the ruins of the castle and I am taking one hundred pictures...I heard a rumble behind me...I turned very quickly...and a stag runs by me...not 80 guys...but a stag...with antlers...it stopped and looked at me...and I tried very slowly to raise my camera but it mistook my camera for a gun or some such thing and took off. So, I looked at the informational flyer that someone I couldn’t understand gave me and I planned a short 45 minute walk...now let me mention right here...I didn’t see another living soul on the whole hike... and it was straight...UP. I found myself wishing that I had Lanie Kazans stunt ass. But I was brave....I was a warrior. I had to keep pretending to look at crap from my pocket so that I could stop and take a breath the first 15 minutes...then 30 minutes...and I am still going up...I should have turned around by now...it became apparent at this point that I had followed the wrong path...not the 45 minute walk...but the 2 hour hike...and let me say here...that I had not yet seen another human...
( actual picture from said adventure...taken just in case they found my corpse)
As I continue further and further into the mountains the inner scary movie voice starts having a dialogue... "SSSHHHAAARRROOONNNN...maybe you are going the wrong way...and you haven’t seen anyone since you began...’ Well...so what...it is October...not too many people on vacation. ‘SHHHAARRROONNN...what if someone is following you on this path..’ Shut it!!! ‘SSSSHHHHAAARRROOONNNN...what if you fall and break one of your weak ankles?...’ Why did you have to bring that up??? Not only are you the scary voice but you are bad for my self confidence. ‘SSSHHHHAAARRROOOONNNN...be afraid...’ I am brave. I am a warrior. And then my inner scary voice, whom I shall call Boo...got all mixed up with my own, calm...mostly logical voice and with the voice of Britney Spears...and to remind you, she comes to me telepathically when I need guidance. ( Underscore with Britney or Britney-esque type music) Britney: Girl you are a grown up woman who has gone on MANY hikes and been away from home. Me and Boo: You are right Britney! I have my puffer...I have money and my passport in case, again, my body need to be identified...SHUT UP... Britney: Y’all you are strong... Me and Boo: and I have no water or food...THERE ARE 100 STREAMS TO DRINK FROM ASSHOLE... No cell phone...not that you would get a signal...PLEASE...HEY I HAVE MY IPOD... Britney: That is good thinking girl. An Ipod is a great physical instrument to defend yourself with.... Me and Boo: What am I gonna do with an Ipod, Brit? Britney: Make them listen to Avril Lavigne. Y’all I hate that bitch. That Britney is so witty. I pulled out my ipod...charged, thank god. And I put in an ear phone....just one...the right one in case I am going to be attacked.......and push play......Girlicious’ hit ‘Like Me’ starts blaring.... Suck it scary voice....and my scary voice is lulled by the slutty girls singing. Somewhere during this time period I step in a bog.....a real bog....the path has been wet and my shoes are waterproof to a point....the point it is a bog and Iose my shoe...I have to go in pull it out...while holding one foot in the air. By the time I reach an hour and fifteen minutes....I start to worry....I don’t know where I am....I feel that the path should have really turned....the sky is stormy and I pull the map and in the bottom corner it comments on how the weather turns fast in the burns......so take the appropriate supplies....and read the map, ass. I take the time to look closer at the map...I see where I might be if I am on the 2 hour walk.....and where I would be if I am on the five hour walk ending in the town of Clacken. FIVE HOUR WALK!!! Britney: Oh Sharron girl...even I can read better than that! ME: Shut it! Not now Britney! I try to picture the phone call to George....“ Baby, Can you come pick me up in Clacken....” Isn’t that a great name... I turn a forest corner...and there is a very old foundation for a house or fort of some kind....there is nothing about it on the map....but it is very cool....I use the word cool because there are no exact words for how...cool it really is...I discovered something on my brave warrior adventure...just me...and it was worth it to be a bit afraid....so I track off the path and walk through the bracken into the foundation...and the sun comes out....no shit. But still I feel fucking awesome! And I sit down and have the piece of mind to really scan the map and figure out where I am....I am about 45 minutes from the end...I can do that...I am fucking on fire...I am brave...I am a warrior. I start to walk up the path as ‘The Wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald’ begins to play in my right ear.... Wait a minute...what if I have walked into a time corridor like Brigadoon...and have travelled into the past? Sharron, get it together. What if George thinks I am dead?? Which is more likely... Oh here is a thing....what if I think good thoughts???!!! As I come to a rise I peer over I see Tarbert ...and I yell so loud, I scare myself and trip over a rock and almost break my right weak ankle. When I get near the castle the first human I see is this effing huge black and white dog....he sees me and starts to bound for me..... and someone screams...... “SHEAS!”...which I have since found out means sit...or stop....in gaelic...and I think a monster scottish dude is coming over the hill.....an it turns out being the tiniest wizened man I have ever seen....on a cellphone....and he hooks up his dog and turns a suspicious eye my way as he passes....but eff him....even he can’t spoil my high!!!! I made it..... Alone....

Sharron's Canwest Cabaret Pics...plus Shakespeare and song swans.

Hey People!!
What a beautiful Saturday here in the land of swans and Shakespeare....for your information...those effin' swans are mean! They will hiss at your 120 pound dog if it comes too close...bitches...and the Shakespeare...I find a bit confusing....but I digress..
What a fabulous time I have had on my little 10 day holiday...working holiday...but holiday all the same!
The weather, while crisp, has been fabulous...I didn't bring my winter coat and it was just above zero last night....DID I MENTION THAT IT IS THE MIDDLE OF EFFING OCTOBER?
Mother Nature is just a bitch.
But I have been going out for drinks and dinner....staying up late....
And going to see shows!
I saw Forum!
What a riot!
And I use that word in the most positive and fabulous of ways!!!
At one point I looked at the stage featuring Dan Chameroy, Sean Cullen and Deanne DeGruitter and thought...
"Well, that is just Bad News Bears!"
I laughed my shit off.
What a great, fun show!
And fabu Randy Hughson was effing awesome...looking like he was having the time of his life!!!!
Yeah!
We love musicals.
I also went to see Steve Ross in Cyrano...I haven't seen him work in forever !
Yes people....I went to a play!
What the eff?
He and Wayne Best, and Mike Shara....doing such fine work!!
That was enough for shows as I had work to do people!
Sending out packages, making posters, writing things, sending emails, checking Facebook...
Getting ready for the

CANWEST CABARET FESTIVAL!!!
Oh...so excited!
I am loving my set list...and cannot wait to work with the band next week!
One of my blog readers and show goers wrote me and asked me about some of the people I would go see at the Canwest...
Well, it really is an incredible line up...there are 150 performers...60 concerts...some of the artists I know, some I have heard of...and some are new to me.
I know that Albert and his team put alot of work and time into picking the artists so I am sure they will ALL be great!
But for sweet Kathy, here are a couple of my pics for the 4 day CABARET celebration!!

Sharron's Canwest Pics 2009!

Sharron Matthews and The Panik Attack
I would not be me if I didn't remind you that I am finally getting A BAND!!! The band is led by that upstart, coming fresh from his first season of composing and working at the Shaw Festival...Reza Jacobs.
I am featuring a new songologue!!
WOO WOO!
It is the LAST cabaret that I have booked so don't miss it!
October 30th @ 8:45pm


The Joni Mitchell Songbook
I always think the songbooks are such a bargain. I love Joni and you will see a bunch of fabu artists...some who you may not know...I think the line up is pretty stellar...including Heather Bambrick, David Sereda, and Denzal Sinclaire
October 29th @ 9:45pm and October 31st @ 5:00pm


Molly Johnson
Molly Johnson for $20.
I need say no more.
October 29th @ 8:30pm


The Leonard Cohen Songbook
Love the man and his music....great interpreters ...including Brent Carver, I mean really. He sang "Take This Waltz" at Sharron's Party and literally stopped the show.
October 30th @ 7:15pm and October 31st @ 8:00pm

The Rogers and Hart Songbook
LOVE Rogers and Hart!
They wrote "My Funny Valentine" for eff's sake!!!
And it is musically directed and features a Canadian institution ...John Alcorn!!!
It features many other artists including the acclaimed Denzal Sinclaire and is hosted by National Post reviewer Robert Cushman...who delighted and surprised when he guested on ...ya I know...Sharron's Party!
October 30th @ 10:00pm & October 31st @ 2:15pm


Brent Carver
The first cabaret of his that I saw at Premier Dance Theatre back in the 90's changed my life forever.
He is one of my idols and we are so lucky he is doing a concert.
Run.
Don't walk people!
October 31st @ 3:45pm

Patricia Zentilli and Patti Loach:
Shopping Cart of Love
I love these two artists!
I have followed them from the Toronto Jazz Festival to the Toronto Centre and I always am excited to see what they will come up with next!
I saw this show and was so moved by their humour, Patricia's voice and heart and Patti's emotion on the piano!
They are gonna only move forward...so catch them before they cost one million dollars.
October 31st @ 3:45pm

[Disclaimer!!! I know the Brent and the two Patti's are at the SAME TIME! But I love them both and you will have to "Sophie's Choice" it!!!]



Breithaupt Brothers Songbook

Now, I haven't seen these dudes personally but I WILL not miss the first 15 minutes ( I start a show the same night at 10:15pm) of their show this year! Their songbook killed last year and since then their show "Seeing Stars" has become the hit of the New York Musical Theatre Festival...and they are CANADIAN!! Hurrah! This show features some of my fave artists...Brent Carver, Heather Bambrick, Jackie Richardson and John Alcorn! October 31st @ 10:00pm

The Scary Cabaret
Yes, I know...I am in this night...but I love the theme people...and I will be doing one of my fave scary songs...and the artists are diverse...
Diana Braithwaite, Sharron Matthews, Luis Mario Ochoa, Kenneth Welsh, Tomson Highway and Chris Whiteley. Musical Direction: David Buchbinder. A: LOVE Kenneth Welsh B: Tomson fricken Highway...what a storyteller... It is gonna be scary, interesting and FUN!!!
October 31st @ 8:30pm and 10:15pm


John Alcorn
Along with everything else he is doing in this series, he is doing his own concert!!!
He really has the voice of velvet and brandy
The face of a matinee idol
And the piano playing of a virtuoso!
How do you like that?
November 1st @ 4:15pm

So, that is what I am thinking ...and may I say it again...these are just a few of my pics... the WHOLE SERIES in just awesome...and diverse...don't be afraid to try something new...I think you should just park your ass down there for 4 days !! Each cabaret is a mere $20.0o and you can buy three at a time and save 20%!
Go to this link to see the full schedule!

http://www.canwestcabaret.ca/schedule.aspx

Whew...Kathy....I am exhausted.

Happy Day...Thanks!

Thanksgiving is like New Years to me.
I always find myself....at some point in the day...remembering what the day was like when I was growing up...the house we lived in...my family...how cold it was outside, the kind of cold that if you went for a walk without your coat your skin got tight and dry. We had a ton of trees around the house, so the leaves were gorgeous.
Today, I find myself a bit melancholy.
Sigh.
There was something so fabulous about being a kid on "two day" Thanksgiving.
That Sunday and Monday...I never knew which was the real day...and I did not give a crap because we got another day off of school.
But it was still the beginning of the school year...so anything was still possible...I could still become cool...I could still get the part I wanted in the school play (note: I DID not get Dorothy in the all-white version of The Wiz...I played the Wicked Witch with a purple afro wig...that is ALL kinds of wrong). AND it was the beginning of the Holidays...the countdown to Christmas had begun.
I loved waking up in the morning and smelling the Turkey that would cook all day...and yet somehow would only end up half cooked due to the fact that my Stepfather had installed the oven incorrectly.
The house was warm.
Warm with family.
Even though mine was weird as all get out...I think everyone's was a little weird...I felt like we were the family in a black and white picture for that one day.
With the green Tupperwear bowl that contained the 'salad'...which was a head of iceberg lettuce ripped in half...and the plate of cranberries...which was still in the shape of the can.
The TV playing CFL football...I think there were two teams with the same name...and we only had 9 teams for christsake...the Roughriders...how gay is that name in retrospect?
My grama doing macrame in the corner in her yellow velveteen chair.
My sister Gwen coming over...I loved it when she came over from her 'married' house...bringing me a cool outfit that she had made me on her sewing machine.
It wasn't too exciting a day.
Just exciting enough.
I would get mashed potatoes.
I love mashed potatoes.
To this day I have to control the impulse to fill my entire plate with them.
The potato?
My nemesis.
And my dear sweet lover.
I feel melancholy because a couple of years ago I came to the obvious yet startling realization that I could never go back to that time.
When everything was possible and I was still someone else's responsibility.
Sigh.
I am thankful for all that is and that will be.
And remembering all that was.
Happy Thanksgiving.

Nobel, Obama and Joanne Woorley

So, I already feel strange writing this...but I went to sleep in a new house ...the fourth in as many weeks ...and I could not sleep.
I think it was the gods of “ideas unfulfilled” keeping me awake. And the dry interior of this house...but the first sounds more fancy.
I am going to write about some things that are...can you believe this?....political.
You know things in the world have gotta be outta whack when I pull up my stool to the political table.
Okay.
I woke this morning to hear that Barack Obama received the Nobel Peace Prize.
I was very happy for him. I am sure he didn’t know it or really care...but I was.
Then as the media crushed around me...TV’s in the subway, live ribbons in the school where I teach, the cover of the internet edition of the paper...I was a bit shocked at the MAJOR backlash.
Everyone, but me it seemed, was mad...or indignant...or filled with disbelief.
When I saw a clip of the Nobel announcement and heard the gasp in the background when his name was announced...for some reason...I got mad.
Why was it such a problem?
All of the people who like to talk politics...a club to which, again, I happily possess NO MEMBERSHIP...armchair Jon Stewarts, if you will...meant in the most positive of ways...Jon Stewart is the only way I can stomach such talk...all those people were giving their soundbites...saying he hasn’t done anything yet.
He hasn’t done anything yet?
What?!
Maybe I am naive...and uninformed...and sometimes majorly unread...but I was on the earth during his entire campaign and during the very closely watched beginning of his presidency.
I didn’t have to be an avid CBC or CNN watcher to hear the news.
But here are the things that immediately come to my mind.
(I have had to look some of these things up to recall the situation and context...but remember people I am not Bob freaking Woodward people... Woodward... Woodard...Woorley...I am not Joanne Woorley...didn’t she write for the New York Times?...or she was on Laugh In!...whatever!)
Here we go...
Have you EVER felt our world more united or globally aware during the election of a major world leader?
People wanted him to win...or didn’t...as a world community.
He brought people to their computers, TV’s and radios to listen and research and blog and fight and clear things up...as a world...though we didn’t, we all felt like we had a vote and our say. People were proud to say they got the chance to vote for him.
He is a son of the world...everyone wants to claim him...has a President of the United States ever boasted such a varied heritage? Born in Hawaii with dual citizenship due to his Kenyan father he has brought hope and brotherhood to parts of the world that haven’t often been mentioned in a sentence with the United States of America....that I can tell...remember...I am just a layman...and not fancy.
He, in a jaw dropping decision, granted his first TV interview as President of the United States to an Arab news station and has continually reached out in a way no sitting American president ever has to the Middle East...THAT I CAN SEE...that I can find in documentation. I remember feeling giddy, for some reason, when I saw that he had done that interview.
(According to Nobel's will, the Peace Prize should be awarded "to the person who shall have done the most or the best work for fraternity between nations.....)
Have you ever seen a nation so pissed off at a government that more than half of them, thousands who had NEVER voted before, decided to buck about 300 years of slow moving change and force a dream to come to fruition?
People all over the world were given pause by the simple fact that he was in the running...let alone the fact that he became President...spurring people who live in a minority ANYWHERE in the world to dream bigger dreams, to feel like maybe they can change the world.
Did you see him when he made his first speech looking so cool and confident...including everyone within it? Letting everyone feel a part of his vision for the country and the world...people who have NEVER been included in a talk with the government. Ever.
This man and his election, his campaign, and his presence made a world who had, and still has, fallen into the abyss of the greatest financial crisis EVER believe that it could be fixed...I am not an economist...but I know that I felt that way...and maybe my opinion is not studied...but he made the people who weren’t fancy feel that it might be alright. He brought us peace and hope by the simplest definition.
And as for the “War on Terror”...what a mess...what a clean up...what a thing to walk into the middle of. I don’t know anything about the military or war...so I cannot say what he is doing here or how it will all turn out...but he seems to be going to the nations...he is reaching out to them...instead of finding “230 degrees of Kevin Bacon” between Bin Laden and Hussein.
And just as a side bar...America was in such bad shape...and I know that the Nobel is a world prize...but it bears being said...that they were in such bad shape...that this nation voted for a man who’s name contained Hussein and sounded a bit like Bin Laden ...enough to get you taken off the ticket for dog catcher in the past!
Maybe it is the idea of him, and what the idea of him has caused and nurtured, that has won the peace prize more than his actions as a single man.
But he has brought the world to the tipping point and changed all of our minds...THE WORLD...some for the positive and some for the negative.
But all I know...is 5 people from totally different political parties (Labour, Progress, Liberal and Conservative) decided he is changing and bringing peace to the world...It is their prize...I assume they are smart enough to figure out who they want to give it to and for what reasons...they have been doing it for over 100 years, people.
Back to your regularly scheduled blogs about So You Think You Can Dance and crap that happens to me during my day.

Out East with Sharron

Hey All!
I am back...all in one piece from my "Smash and Grab Tour 2009" into the heart of the Maritimes!
My accompanist for the tour, my navigator for the drive....my person who made me laugh more than a couple of times...and who shocked me with some revelations from the internet...Wayne Gwillim ladies and gents

Nuff said.

and then there was myself

Oh lord.

I wanted to put us both in the picture...but the headshaking people who were walking by us didn't look trust worthy...
Both Georgetown and Pictou were amazing. The audiences dug the show...and we were treated so well...the food, the rooms....I left both theatres with a gift...in Georgetown it was a beautiful sea glass necklace from a local artist and in Pictou it was a print of a woman who was born in Pictou in the early 1900's who went to Broadway and became one of their biggest stars.
How lovely and I thank you!!
Here are some of the moments that made it a one of a kind "Sharron" experience.....
1. Wayne was surprised about being the navigator as well as the pianist...but rose to the occasion without telling me to eff off...after driving away from the PEI airport for 15 minutes informed me that we were going in the absolutely WRONG direction.
2. We walked into the Georgetown Inn...GORGEOUS...and they showed us the first room...beautiful...I took that one...and then when we saw the second one and it was even more gorgeous...we both went silent and Wayne looked at me and said "Do you want this one?" and I know I should have said "No"....but I said "YES!!!"...he also took that very well.
3. The morning after the fabu show in Georgetown at the Kings Playhouse...which was attended by the beautiful Julain Molnar, the lovely Glenda Landry and one of my Sheridan students parents plus a bunch of her students...nice...the morning after that show, we sat down for breakfast at the Inn...which was served family style around a big table...which was already filled with people...Wayne and I sat beside an older couple...she looked pinched and he looked long sufffering....she looked up from her paper as I put my ass in the seat and and said "Oh here are the entertainers" and not in the kind of adoring voice that I enjoy but judg-ie....and I wished I could get back up right then. She was all "it must be hard to be a performer and have to take whatever you can get" and "your voice is very big...you must lose it all the time" and she finally conceded " you were funny"....and then she could not get enough of Wayne THANK GOD and wanted to talk to him about his classical piano training. She clearly was the kind of person who equated what I did to Hooking...and not rug hooking...
The rest of the people at the table looked so happy she was talking to us...and her husband asked me a couple of kind questions...and every time he finished a question he got a facial tick...it must be hard to be married to that lady...before I knew it Wayne and I are justifying our careers and listing out resumes....but when the chef brought Wayne and I our special Eggs Benny with LOBSTER....she asked why it wasn't on the menu...the chef said he made it special for us...and I turned and smiled at her...and barely kept myself from saying ..."I am just a lowly entertainer...I take whatever I can get...and today it is the lobster that was meant for your dinner, LADY!"
4. Beautiful drive to Wood Islands...the ferry dock...navigator was from heaven and told me some fine stories to keep me amused...when we got to the dock I went in search of tea...we went into the cafeteria and stepped back into the 70's, I swear to god...and I went to ask the attendant a question...she turned her head from the black and white old timey TV and gave Wayne and I a look that would have peeled paint...we didn't even stop... we continued to walk on by....she clearly didn't want to be disturbed...we both knew it...and when she got up she had the biggest preggers belly I have ever seen...she forced a smile in her face that was so chilling ... by then I was so afraid I just asked where the bathroom was.
5. When we drove into Pictou, I told Wayne that we were staying at a place that seemed to be....seemed to be...a motor hotel from the picture I had seen on the interweb...and as we drove into the city...after missing it the first time on the 'rotary' and having to drive all the way to Truro it seemed before we found a turn around...there was a big, horrible yellow sign stating
M O T E L.... and I started chanting...'let that not be it, let that not be it'...guess what? That was it.
But it turned out to be just great.
6. I asked the guy on voice box at the Tim Hortons on the highway for honey in my tea....the box went silent as if he had turned on mute and said some thing horrible about me.
7. Wayne was obsessed with us not wasting any of the food that we had bought or been given. He sat in the Halifax airport and MADE himself eat the rest of Chicken we had bought in Pictou...it was a sight to behold.

Let the chicken go wayne

8.Just to cap the whole tour off.....a beautiful experience peppered with little things that make you go...hmm....in the security line at the airport, a blond woman...all cougared out with a crochet vest on...what?...was about 10 people behind us and telling everyone that she was late for her flight and would they let her in...she was all giggly and trying to play on her fading beauty...yes, I had NO mercy...by the time I was in the front I heard her...I had not looked at her on PURPOSE...I heard her ask me to let her in...I so wanted to say NO! But I said "Yes" in a voice that made it clear that the real answer was "EFF OFF!"...she went through... and as she went by me...the smell of liquor was so huge it almost knocked me out....and I turned to Wayne and said "Holy Booze Batman" in a loud voice....and Wayne said in the same tone..." I hope they have a booze detector there"....the line up laughed and then the rest of the security experience was watching her take off everything that wasn't tied down...all fall over-ie ....and drunk....it was quite a sight to behold.
And that was our trip out east...minus descriptions of the fabu shows....the Maritimes were the best....the people, the shows, the towns, the theatres...THANK YOU!!!!
And weird people and experiences...I thank you as well!!!!!