The Long Way Video Clip

Well, Robert Zimmerman rehearsals are going well. Had a great moved read read today, getting alot of ideas for the blocking and ways of treating the scenes. Simon underscored it with some great music and it was a lot of fun. I spent quite a bit of time answering some questions that a magazine wanted to know about the production and my take on Bob. It takes quite a bit of time to answer a question properly.
I have put together a video clip for The Long Way, which was fun as well. Here it is…
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The Long Way

The Vancouver Arts Centre and Chronic-Ills of Robert Zimmerman

On Saturday night I played a solo gig in Albany, joined by Mike Hyder on violin for a number of numbers in the second set. He also plays in an awesome strings outfit called Crossbow, and they are just fantastic! They supported me for the night and we even have plans to do something together next time which is VERY exciting.
The gig for me was very inspiring and a little daunting and challenging. It was in a very special space and the sound was amazing with a full rig and engineered by a true professional, Mark. The audience was quite selective and very attentive and following the full sound of Crossbow, I was just crossing my fingers that they were going to like my songs. My family and Albany friends were there so I’m sure their support helped shape the mood on the night, but it was still a test to see if the majority of the audience left feeling happy with their Saturday night out, especially since they had paid quite a bit for the tickets. By the end of the night I was pretty sure that most people had had a great night, as there were quite a few nice parting comments, so that is fantastic!
It has really inspired me to tee up a few intimate events, starting in Sydney which I am really looking forward to… so I will post some details about these soon.
Coming up next is The Chronic-Ills of Robert Zimmerman which I am putting all my energy into now. Here is the link to show info and tix etc…
TRS webpage (recommended)
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Here is some info about it…
The Chronic Ills of Robert Zimmerman: AKA Bob Dylan (A Lie) – A Theatrical Talking Blues (May 10&11, 15-18, 22-25)

By TRS Theatre – Posted on 18 March 2009

By Benito Di Fonzo

The Chronic Ills of Robert Zimmerman is a surrealo-absudist theatrical re-imagining of the life and weird times of folk-rock legend and pop cultural icon Bob Dylan. Written by award winning Sydney poet, playwright, journalist and kazooist Benito Di Fonzo, The Chronic Ills is a reverently ironic homage to the man born Robert Allen Zimmerman sixty-eight years ago this May 24.

We follow Bob/Robert as he begins his career by running away from home at ten, twelve, thirteen, fifteen, fifteen-and-a-half, seventeen and eighteen years old. Instructed by Woody Guthrie, he goes in pursuit of a holy grail of songs armed only with a fascist-killing guitar and a dream. Accidentally renamed Dylan in a New York public hospital, he then encounters, corrupts, jams and gets lost at sea with fellow icons Ginsberg, Lennon, Pound, Eliot, Joan Baez, Johnny Cash, Billy Bragg, and a hipster-Yiddish speaking Abraham Lincoln (to name a few).

“It’s a long story mister, involving bible, ghosts, chaos, clocks, watermelons, everything”
Cast and Crew

Playwright: Benito Di Fonzo
Director: Lucinda Gleeson
Musical Directors: The Company
With: Andrew Henry, Lenore Munro, Matt Ralph and Simon Rippingale
Photography and Graphic Design: Dan Collopy for Think Five
Producer: Jennifer Hamilton for Bicycle User Group

Producing Company: bicycleusergroup.wordpress.com

The Chronic Ills of Robert Zimmerman is part of the Tamarama Rock Surfers 2009 ‘Late Sessions’ Season, and is in development with TRS’s ‘Early Sessions’ development Program.
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Vancouver Arts Centre on Sat 18th coming up

I am really looking forward to this Sat nights gig at the Vancouver Arts Centre in Albany.
I am really looking forward to seeing Mike Hyder play again with his band Crossbow. Hopefully we will play a few songs together on the night. It is such a great space and I’m hoping that it all goes well.
I have loved having the time to take some more photos and create some new images. I’ll post some of them below.

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TRS Launch of Fragments from the Fringe

The Tamarama Rock Surfers launched their 2009-10 season last night at the Oxford Arts Factory in Darlinghurst. The Season is called Fragments from the Fringe and is a fantastic achievement in recognizing the work and mounting nearly all new Australian work, found in the fringes…either geographically or socially etc..
There was a real appreciation of how much effort and time goes into running and continuing to grow a small independent theatre company, and everyone there last night showed their support and thanks.

My band were lucky enough to be part of the line up, and we had great time playing. The stage and sound were all really well set up and operated and the word was that it sounded great out front. Si played his double bass and Steve and Nadene played their violin and viola. One comment was that it was nice to see all the instruments were strings. Lenni sung beautifully as usual and our generally we were more rehearsed with clearer ending etc.. with Si taking care of count ins and endings.
It was awesome to see Holly Austin playing with Fergus Brown and Lauren Horton. She is so talented with her singing, keyboards, beat boxing and drums and both the band’s music was really layered and dynamic.
There are some great pics from the night which I will post when they come through.

On a Chronic Ills of Robert Zimmerman note, we had a read of Benitos new draft tonight and it is really fantastic. We talked about the music with Si, and are ready to get our lines down and start moving it once we get together again. We might possibly have a fundraiser, or even start busking to raise some funds for the costume, props and things. One thing we talked about was doing a little gig in the pub before each show, which would be really great to warm us up and get everyone in the mood. It should all be fun.
Here’s a few images from the last few days.
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