"Sharron Matthews: I Have a CD!" CD Release Party!

Sharron Matthews: I Have A CD! CD Release Party!!!!
You may ask yourself, was the first leg of "Sharron Matthews Superstar: World Domination Tour" a success? Huh.

“Matthews sings with attitude and humour in a show that has more musical surprises and mood swings than a foul-mouthed episode of 'Glee'. World Domination beckons.” Three Weeks Edinburgh

“Not only was this show a complete and utter triumph on all counts, but serves as testament to the fact that a chanteuse as riveting and brilliant as Matthews proved on this night should wholeheartedly be welcomed to New York and elsewhere with unabashedly open arms.” Nite Life Exchange

and the simple.....

"How f**cking good are you?!" Kate Copstick, The Scotsman


SUCCESS!!! World Domination can be exhausting but Sharron is BACK and ready to party!! AND this gal has a CD to sell, featuring some of her favourite tunes from all of her years SO FAR as Toronto's "Downtown Diva"! She is back at Buddies and, holy crap, has she got some stories to tell!! Scotch pies, Seth Rudetsky's radio show, handing out flyers in the Fringe line in the freaking RAIN, singing at Birdland, the Metropolitan Room, the Iguana and of course, Joe's Pub...how a lot of shows in Scotland featured naked people, Ben Vereen...so many things to say! It has been too long!


Friday November 26th and Saturday November 27th
Doors @ 7:30pm Show @ 8:00pm
@ Buddies in Bad Times Theatre, Tallulah's Cabaret
12 Alexander Street, Toronto.
Box Office (Tuesday to Saturday) #416 975 8555
Tickets $20.00 Students $15.00
www.sharronmatthews.com Follow Sharron on twitter @sharronmatthews

Hoarders and the Hereafter! FOR SHAME!!

Okay, Hoarders is coming on....So, I only have a few minutes.

I fucking walked the land of Banff today like that Lewis and Martin....who were fabulous adventurers...I think...or was it Lewis and Clark....whatever....I guess Lewis and Martin are adventureres in a way....if that movie starring Kevin Bacon and Colin Firth is to be believed....was Kevin Bacon in that? WHATEVER.

I am still not used to the low oxygen...which is a bit fucked...it feels like when I smoked...but this place is gorgeous at EVERY TURN....here are some pics....

This is Beth, Myself and Patti with the Banff Springs in the background!

Then there is this...

Anyhoops...I went with Patti and our friend Rachel to see the “Hereafter” movie...because that nice young man, Matt Damon, is in it.

First of all, Matt Damon was in TWO of the trailers...what the fuck...take a break..save some work for the rest of the world. Like, where the fuck is that naked, bongo playing Matthew McConnaghy? Huh?

Second of all....EVERYONE involved in getting that movie to the theatres should take a shower...a shower of shame....holy fuck...what a piece of CRAP!!!

Oh my god....I tried not to make the noise of the disbelieving during the TWO HOURS AND FIFTEEN MINUTES of my life I paid 10 dollars to have stolen from me.

Okay, Hoarders has started so if I get distracted....how many cats does that lady have?? TWENTY?!?!?....any way...I almost fell asleep one hundred times.

I kinda wanted to punch Bryce Dallas Howard. Punch her.

She was so whimpering.

OH MY GOD, THAT PERSON”S STOVE IS COVERED IN CAT POO.

And at the end when Clint Eastwood’s name came up at the end I thought....okay...I said out loud... “FOR SHAME CLINT EASTWOOD....For shame.”

We could not come up with one nice thing to say about it...NOT ONE.

Do not spend the money....it was as slow moving as old timey Heinz ketchup....no SLOWER.

Oh my god....Hoarders is getting to the good part .....gotta go!

What the eff has happened to me?

I did something today that I have NEVER done in my life.

After I got on the plane to fly to Banff...I am out here doing a workshop of a musical...for 13 days...when the hell does that ever happen!? And for that matter when the hell do I get flown anywhere to be fancy...expenses paid...thank you goddess...ya...I said it....where the hell was I? OH ya.

After I got on the plane to fly to Banff I opened my book (one of those kooky Rebus novels) and realized something...

I had no idea where I was going.

I mean, I knew I was going to the Banff Centre but it had all been arranged by someone else...which, I gotta tell you, fucking rocks...but it occurred to me that the Banff Centre would be quite huge.

Would the driver know where I was going...I trustingly went into the world with no fucking idea where I was going....NOT LIKE ME AT ALL.

But I decided that it would be okay and that I wouldn't worry about it...AGAIN, NOT LIKE ME AT ALL.

I ended up sitting directly in front of some of my Toronto neighbours...nice...was flirted with by a ginger newfie steward (can I say that? It just occurred to me that might not be PC...the steward and/or the newfie part....please advise, all) who's accent was so thick I could barely understand him...he then knocked an entire diet coke in my lap...he moved on pretty quickly after that...and I tried to sop it up in the airplane bathroom....which is so small you can barely take care of your business....if you know what I mean.

Let me say it here...I don't care how quirky your flight staff is...how happy they are...how much they own the fucking company...if you can't wash your hands in the bathroom without getting drenched from the finger bowl sized sink IT DOESN'T count as a good flight experience.

Anyhows...the ride into Banff was glorious...the sun was shining...so bright. It doesn't shine like this in Ontario....yes, I said it.

Everyone was very kind to me, getting me to my very nice room.

I looked into the closet and saw two plush white robes hanging up.

I circled them.

I closed the door.

You see people. When I am a bigger girl these robes never fit and I didn't want to squish my joy.

I went and got my artist's card which gives me use of everything here...the gym, the pool, the library...THE LIBRARY!

I went to the Vista, which is the place where one eats...it is a really, really, really, nice cafeteria....and I slid my little card through a reader and then there was a buffet...you will all be happy to know that I managed to control myself.

Buffets are so hard.

The whole room is surrounded in glass....and the glass is surrounded by mountains....I took this pic just outside the doors to the room...

I almost passed out.

So fucking gorgeous.

OH and I still have NO idea who is in the cast...at all...it is like theatrical survivor...all the tables were full of artists...I know none of them....a gal named Amy from Detroit sat down at my huge table and struck up a conversation...she is on a self directed writing retreat....holy crap...that sounds AMAZING!!!

I am very excited.

I came back to my super nice room...and opened the closet and pulled out the robe with the same abandon and trust that has ruled this trip thus far.....

Oh yes, It is a good day...

Tom Hanks, Fall Trip and Giving the Finger.

It has been a while and it is late at night but I gotta write this down before I ferget it...yes...in my stories sometimes I will use a redneck acccent...not sure why...maybe just tired...just like how I have decided it might be fun to do some of my shows with a british accent.

I will think better of this in the morning.

Where the fuck was I?

Oh ya.

So, one of my fave scenes in a movie...do not judge me people...see me through first...then judge...one of my fave scenes from a movie is the final scene in Castaway where Tom Hanks is standing on a bright sunshiny, warm day at a crossroads in the country...he is standing at of the hood of his car with a map and trying to figure out where to go.

So many possibilities.

An adventure.

George and I found ourselves with a day free...and because I had just divulged this info while watching the end of Castaway on AMC (it is a fucking classic now...fuck me.) with George...we decided that a fall adventure would be in order...no map...rent a car because ours is untrustworthy on long distance drives...pack a small bag and throw that and the dogs in the car and go.

I was so fucking excited I could spit.

Tyson wasn't convinced.

The day was glorious.

We talked, sang, laughed...sat in blissful, companionable silence sometimes.

We just drove.

We walked on the Bruce Trail, we drove thru Wasaga Beach.....which was just a ghost town...no wonder, the season is over...but I had such great memories of going there when I was a kid...it is so different now.

My mom used to somehow afford to bring the family up to a cottage for a week every summer for about 5 years when I was growing up.

I loved it.

Going there all these years later...telling George all about it and then driving into this boarded up summer town was strange.

We split a burger and fries at a diner called "50's and 60's Diner."...well, at least they are direct.

There was tons of 50's and 60's stuff on the walls...and a Harry Potter poster...and our waitress was named Ophelia.

We got back into the car and drove to Collingwood....

The best thing about adventure?

George saw the name of a road he liked and we turned down it...we came to the end...and there was this place...

It looks like it will be a condo project...but now it is lakefront... and empty.

It was a bit fabulous....spooky and wonderful.

And we ran around with the dogs....

Tyson found this catfish skull....

George and the dogs played and played while I took pics ....

I peed on the side of a rock.

No picture here.

It got dark so fast...back in the car...

Then George said he wanted Italian food...at and old style Italian restaurant...and when he said that we were in the middle of nowhere...on a county road...it was dark...

And I remembered a sign I had spied on the way up that morning along a two lane highway....

Yes!!! Oh yes.

It was so good.

The day was so good.

It really was.

Today...we drove to Ikea...an adventure in itself...in patience...

And we got cut off by some fucking wanker on the Gardiner (WILL THE FUCKING CONSTRUCTION IN THIS TOWN EVERY STOP?) ...he sped ahead of us...but in true Sharron Matthews, hang onto the anger, fashion...I watched him...I clocked him...and when George finally passed him...ten minutes later.... I opened up the window, leaned out, and gave him the finger LONG AND HARD....

George say, "You know there is a cop behind us right?"

Me say (as I look out the rear view mirror), "Holy fuck."

They ( the police) remain behind us for the next 10 minutes getting closer and closer to us.

George has me convinced that I am going to jail.

When they finally pass us and I cannot even look at them George says, "In a small way I kinda hoped they would pull us over....maybe you might stop doing that..."

Why he gotta curb my aggressive passenger seat expressions of....myself.

Like that would stop me.

Oh, I do love an adventure.

Happy Thanksgiving from October 12th 2009

I don't think I have ever done this before...but someone emailed me and asked me to repost this from last year!!
How nice is that....thanks for asking....here it is....

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.

Thank you, Albert.

The first time I met Albert Schultz, Street Legal had been off the air for a bit BUT he was still all famous from it....I think it was....be still my heart....1993.

I was doing a workshop for Mirvish of a musical called “Once Around the City” with him....oh and Ellie Ray Hennessy....it was the first time I had worked with her too....she came in the first day all dressed in pink with a HUGE pink straw hat that she never took off all day.

Amazing.

I had a great time and ate lunch a number of times with Ellie and Albert...she called him Albie...and I, filled with a new hubris....did as well. Oh, my early twenties.

Anyhow...that show ended up at Second Stage in New York a number of years later, without us of course, and the next time I sat with Albert I was playing a small part...read EXTRA...on a John Woo film that Albert had a big part in...and though I was an EXTRA he came over and sat with me between takes...UHEARD OF on a film set...principals mixing with the peasants...he asked me what my goals for the future were...not all judgie or anything...but I told him about how I wanted to be a cabaret performer and was trying to find a place to work. I asked him what was going on with him and he told me how he was raising money to start a theatre company...they were gonna do a production of “Our Town” at the Royal Alex to kick it all off.

I remember it like it was yesterday....we both had our own version of a curly mullet. Classy.

They sounded like such huge dreams...a freaking theatre company...and cabaret in Toronto....okay...all dreams are relative people.

One of the things I have always dug is that the first time I met Albert he was in a musical....so forever in my head he is a musical performer before anything else.

First of all, to catch those of you up if you live outside of Canada or don’t know Albert at all...he, with a group of like minded artists founded “Soulpepper”... One of the most successful classical theatre companies in the land. He is the artistic director of it...and the general manager of the Young Centre, the theatre he helped to build for his theatre company. And it also works in conjunction with a theatre school, George Brown. Also...as if we need an also...Soulpepper now has it’s own academy that trains classical actors, writers and directors.

Shit.

I mean, dream big, right?

What is it that Oprah said to the woman on her ‘Biggest Dreams’ shows?

Oh ya!

The woman dreamt that she would like to take her family to Disneyland....GRANTED (said in that weird Tarzan Oprah voice)....and the next woman dreamt of owning a home....GRANTED...the first woman said, “Wow...I coulda used a house...I never would have dreamed to ask for one”....and in a classic BURN Oprah said, “I guess you didn’t dream big enough.”

A hard lesson to learn on national TV...but a lesson all the same.

Albert dreams big...the difference....he see his dreams as goals...some of us see our dreams as...just dreams.

I have always found him incredibly inspiring...and I did have a moment on that film set when I ate my crappy EXTRA meal and thought, “Well, if he can start a theatre company, why can’t I do cabaret for a living?”

This weekend I had the pleasure, for the third year in a row, to be a part of the Young Centre’s Global Cabaret Festival (the network that sponsors it was Canwest till it merged with Global, so for the first two years it was called the Canwest Cabaret Festival). My involvement has increased every year.

This year I did my own feature cabaret show twice....I was also asked to do a Tom Waits Songbook, a Sondheim Songbook and a....Bach Salon...I know...if you know me at all, I was as surprised as you!!

I was very excited and scared about all of it (yes, Sondheim freaks...that was for you.) I know some of Tom Waits songs....but am by no means a huge fan....I love Sondheim but have never been paid to sing his songs...AND I KNOW NOTHING ABOUT BACH....NOTHING......But, of course, said a HUGE YES to everything.....

Working with the amazing Paul Sportelli (the MD of the Shaw Festival and an award winning Composer, not to mention a FIERCE piano dude) on this was fantastic...he was my first rehearsal for the festival...he was open to all ideas and when I said I would love to do a mash up of Pretty Women, Johanna and Pretty Lady he was all ears...he wrote the most amazing arrangement after he, the fabulously talented and kind Patricia O’Callahan and I got together and figured it out....Paul said he resisted the urge to come with something prepared...that he wanted us to create it together....and this my friends...at the risk of sounding lordy....is the heart of what this festival is....yes....reading that back it does sound lordy....but it is true.

Lordy and true.

Then I met with the incomparable and amazing Mike Ross (don’t tell him I said that...I have realized he is the younger brother I never had, yet, kinda wanted...and we like to keep younger brothers a bit in their places....right?) who was the MD of Tom Waits. I listened to some songs on Youtube...he had some suggestions that he sent me...I ended up learning four songs I had never sung before....including a duet....a jazz duet...lord help me...what do I know about jazz...with Don Franks...again a bit nervous...with five players and four singers (most who also played)....all boys...sorry, men...and me. We got together one night to put the show together and when everyone was setting up their instruments and chatting with each other...I just sat there praying... “Please let me be cool enough...oh universe....let me be cool enough”...holy fuck....I have NEVER had that much fun...Denzal Sinclaire, Andrew Penner....the players....Don Franks.... holy fucking doodle...the talent was just...I felt...it really was stunning. I felt like a rock chick...which you all know is all I really want to be...really.

And the Bach Salon...well, what the hell do I do with that????

Suba Sankaran, resident artist at the Young Centre, and MD of this Salon...and all round genious...really...sent me a happy email...asking what songs I knew...and wanted to perform...I sent her the following...

“Dear Suba,

I hope this finds you well and I look forward to meeting you!I am going to start this with honesty...I am a bit stumped!

I am not very familiar (I am embarrassed to say) with Bach's work, as I am sure all of the people attached to this are....

I mean, of course, his melodies are familiar but I never studied them, worked with them or performed them.

Can you believe it?

This is either an insane or inspired place to come from.

In a mad dash I listened to a number of pieces last night and find myself at a bit of a loss for what to suggest...I find this exciting and terrifying at the same time...Are you horrified?

Are you terrified?

I am a tad nervous but I am open...always eager...always up to create...I don't play an instrument, aside from my voice...but I do storytell and write and sing...

I find pieces that are interesting to be Toccata and Fugue in D minor (reminds me of a scary....very scary story that hasn't been written yet) ,Bach's Prelude and Fugue in F Minor (which sounds a lot like SOS by Abba, oddly enough...also an artist named Jem wrote a song based on this)...So, as you can see I am a bit at a loss...when they asked me....of course I said yes....I say yes to anything that scares the hell outta me....”

Instead of being terrified she is so positive that I wrote the aforementioned Scary Story to the Fugue and the Jem song...it was very scary....but exciting...then at the end of the second showing of the Salon...which went awesome, by the by...Suba had all of us standing onstage...Mike Ross (who was also in it...and Sondheim as well), Waleed Abdulhamid (also a resident artist) and Dylan Bell (amazing multitalented musician) and Retrocity the kick ass acapella group...and told us and the audience that we were now going to improvise the ending of a Bach piece that he left unfinished...I just about shit my pants...I did...but you know what...I had that moment of truth where I thought...BE FUCKING BRAVE, MATTHEWS....this is what this shit is all about...

I did it... it wasn’t stunning...but I did it.I have to say, I have NEVER felt more creative...or worked in a place where creation was so....abounding...I know, again...that I sound TOTALLY lordy....but it is true.

I got the chance to work with artists I would have never worked with. I am so glad...I am so very thankful...and not a bit tired.

I was there a lot...as you can imagine...and I watched Albert run from show to show...he sang in the Tom Waits...he announced people...he was there at the end to congratulate people...he loves this festival.

I ran from show to show watching other artists...It is the only cabaret festival in Canada and it consists of ALL CANADIAN artists.

Imagine.

Thank you to Albert, Claire Sakaki, Leslie Lester, T.J. Tasker, Noora Sangarwala, Michael Murphy, Lisa Li, Qasim Khan, Sarah Mackie, J.B. (the awesome soundman in the Baillie theatre), and all the tech and room managers...Ian, Grant, Stephanie, Molly, Kevin, Ky....so many, please forgive me if I forget...the security team...I spent a lot of time there...THANK YOU ALL!!!

Mostly, for a gal who spends a lot of her time working alone or with one other person...it was so great to feel like part of a community. I also felt like my work was being seen by a whole group of new people!

My solo show in the Garland was sold out...THANK YOU JESUS...and my Baillie show was packed...at 3:15pm in the afternoon on a Sunday! Tony Sheldon of Priscilla Queen of the Desert fame came...thanks to Thom...dear Thom who brought Nathan and Tony to the show...and there were reviewers...WHAT?!?!?

The ever supportive Glenn Sumi from Now Magazine and CTV wrote this on twitter after my show... (I am a bit embarrassed....but not embarrassed enough that a gal won’t promote herself...let us just be honest here, people!)

“So here's the thing. @SharronMatthews transforms cabaret into musical/dramatic crack. You can't get enough. Unbe-fucking-lievable.”

Two words...YAY YAY.

CRACK!!!!

So, I know I went on.

I know I talked a lot.But what a time I had.

World Domination continues one day at a time...one place at a time.

Mama tired.

Thank you, Albert...you big dreaming son of a bitch!!!!