Sharron's Oprah Aha moment...they were Spanx involved.

2:47am July 30th

I have been up so late all week.
It is like I am in college again...but the bounce back isn’t nearly as good.
Remember when you could drink like...4 drinks...Long Island Iced Tea or otherwise... and be fine if you slept a bit late?
Now, if I have a wine spritzer and stay up till 1:00am I feel like a 80 year old smoker till I lay down for a nap....A NAP... at 5:00pm the next day.
But tonight I have a different reason.
No drinks...just a bit of a frustration.
I have argued back and forth about writing my thoughts down because I endevour to remain EVER positive about this project.
But I have hit a wall and I feel the need to share.
Me, share? Imagine.
I just want to keep what I am doing on the up and up in the truth area...and to convey that it ain’t all roses and glamour....oh, sometimes it is...don’t get too sad...but there are definite....challenges.
Though I joke, though the title of my tour suggests a great deal of hubris, and though, in my work I tend to swear some and tell a dirty story or two, wear fancy dresses, put in a hair piece or two and gesture to my breasts more than is appropriate...I take what I do very seriously.
“Serious as a heart attack” as I said to Mary Walsh earlier this week...and I COULD NOT have been happier that it made her laugh. NOT HAPPIER!
But, I have learned during this VERY CHALLENGING (I decided to say challenging in the place of hard...I began this practice about 14 years ago...it seems to work....it seems to keep me from moaning and complaining at least half of the time) period of fund raising that some might not...take my work seriously as I do, that is.
And it worries, saddens and frustrates me.

I know...boo hoo for me.

I am taking into account that there are some people that just don’t like or understand what I do.
That is just the way it is.
But, again, I constantly remind myself via the cards and emails that I have kept from people that there are hundreds of people who have been incredibly supportive, who have jumped to help me, who have contributed monetarily, emotionally and in spirit.
Most I know and some I don’t.
I have been very lucky to have this support and I do not take it for granted.
But I gotta tell you....
Being an independent artist in this country can truly suck ass.
Being an independent artist who sings and/or does comedy in this country sucks bigger ass.
And being an independent artist in this country who sings and/or does comedy and wants to produce their own work....well, I don’t think there is an ass big enough to convey the sucking.
Now, I am sure there are some other things in this country that one can try to do that puts one in the postition of feeling like their lot ALSO sucks ass...but I can only speak from my own experience.

Here is the crux of it all....

We are not encouraging entrepreneurialism here in Canada in the arts.

This is the whole reason I am writing this...I was pulling on my spanx for the show tonight and thinking about it all...and that was the sentence that just socked me in the spanx.

Most funding government and otherwise goes to arts companies.

Independent artists and producers are a bit effed when it comes to funding.

And trying to get my funny, sing-ie, cabaret hands on this funding has been like water through my fingers.

To try and get the contact info for a Charitable Arts Foundation as an independent artist....you think I was asking for the Cadbury secret...which is worth a lot of money, I understand.

Some who I have asked for this info have said “These people only donate to charities....” and when I tell them that I have a charitable trustee for my project there is a moment of silence. (You can hear a moment of silence on the internet, too. I swear)

Then I get a bit of the “How is it your work worthy of this kind of charitable support...”. Which aren’t their actual words but that is the gist.
Then I begin to justify my work.
No biggie...I am used to it....it just makes me sigh.

Again...boo hoo for me.

I have only gotten to speak to some foundations on the phone because I pretend to be my assistant, Cassie.
Of course, most of you know who Cassie is...
But for those who don’t ....

She is super smart.

I do believe, from deep in my heart, that what I am doing encourages people young and old to make their own work.

Here is what my dear young friend Kyle Golemba, a cabaret performer, self starter and member of the Stratford Festival company said in the newspaper last week...


“There are definitely many paths as to what cabaret is,” says the enthusiastic Golemba. “For me, it will always mean Sharron Matthews, because seeing her in Sharron’s Party at its height gave me the inspiration and courage to go and do it myself."

I cried and cried and taped it to my desk.

This is the place where I would like to that BMO who stepped up RIGHT AWAY to be my only Corporate Sponsor!!!!

I have raised $425.00 in the last couple days...which is awesome.
OH and EVERYTHING, as of yesterday when I sent off my last wire to my PR person in Scotland, is PAID FOR!!!
But having incurred some more expenses....such as a cellphone in Edinburgh ( you have to have a local number) , travel insurance for all three of us... the total that I still need is
$5146.06

I still believe that I can do this...I work like a dog on it everyday from about 9:00am till 3:00am...leaving out time for the Love Loss show...which is my fabulous zen time.

I still need and angel or MANY ANGELS!!
Do you have $25.00 or more?
You will get a tax receipt!
Please give this video a watch or a rewatch...the Box Office at Buddies #416 975 8555 is Open from 12:00pm till 5:00pm today and tomorrow...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oa4CsiOyguQ

And as a suggestion from my friend Kathy...I am listing most of my costs in Scotland so you know where the money is going....this is a budget for three people...


3 Plane Tickets from TO to Edinburgh $3321.61
Ground Costs in Edinburgh $ 80.00
Accomidation $4753.62 (You have to rent for the whole month)
Food for 3 Weeks for 3 People $3000.00 (50 bucks a day/person plus $150 xtra)
Marketing (posters and flyers) $ 318.98
Advertising Fee (programme) $1334.00
Venue Cost (Surgeons Hall) $2530.19
Piano Rental $ 507.60
Insurance $ 207.47
Travel Insurance $ 120.00
Phone $ 100.00
Edinburgh PR (Flying Monkey) $1783.15
Fringe Registration Fee $432.31


I think that I will start a fund next year for independent artists who have projects they want to fund.

I just worry that we aren't encouraging the next Ruth Draper, Bette Mider, Lilly Tomlin, Carol Burnett or Barbra Streisand....I know there are dudes too...but I am concentrating on the chicks...

I worry...