Fringe Update; Jonas Brothers Shreiking

by: Paul Isaacs
July 04, 2008 4:04 PM
Comments: (0)

Fringe update and NFSE (not safe for eardrums) videos of the Jonas Bros at Much Music...

FRINGE UPDATE

You can register the pulse of the Fringe depending on how quiet or loud (or more typically, inebriated) the activity is at the festival beer tent outside the Tranzac. Last night, everything was rather quiet, with only a handful of volunteers and dipso comedians circling the dancefloor, as well as ominpresent Fringe Festival president Derrick Chua (or at least one of his many robot duplicates). Once the anxiety over early reviews starts to dissipate, however, the Fringe usually starts to relax and party; expect much bigger things tonight and over the weekend, possibly involving shouting and bad comedy.

After a couple of (ahem) technical difficulties, Eye Weekly finally has its Fringe site up, and it's gratifying to see that one of our cover stars has gotten a positive review for their show already. (It can be a gamble putting someone on the cover for the Fringe when you haven't seen their show yet.) So far we've given out more than a handful of five-star ratings: Sean Kelly Keenan called improv comedy show Blastback Babyzap "flat-out brilliant," and also gave a great notice to The Three Magic Wishes, a children's show starring the stand-up comedian (and previous EYE WEEKLY cover star) Katie Crown.

So the report so far is that, er, there's not much to report. I'll actually be taking the evening off the Fringe tonight to watch Steely Dan at Casino Rama (I've been growing a small pony tail especially for the occasion), and even the Globe's perceptive fringe blogger J Kelly Nestruck has buggered off to Niagara-on-the-Lake to watch the Shaw Festival. Spare a thought, then, for Torontoist's theatre writer Johnnie Walker, who got picked on at Jimmy Hogg's show A Brief History of Petty Crime just for being ginger.

JONAS BROTHERS UPDATE

After waiting for more than two days in the rain, teenage fans finally met their idols the Jonas Brothers for a short interview outside the Much Music building. "Ew, it's like I'm in the middle of bubblegum lane," commented one passer-by, as she watched a few thousand tweeners scream at the tops of their voices, but really, there's no need for such snobbery. We didn't get to learn much about the Jonas brothers in the interview, although apparently Nick would like to tour with Elvis Costello and Prince at some point, which strikes us like an excellent idea.

Videos from earlier today follow below, although you may have to watch the volume control on your monitor. There is a certain amount of screaming.

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