And I have what I call my b-side shows - The Show, The Magician, Partial Nugity. These shows come about at a specific moment in time, are usually played for a specific city...to accomplish a specific purpose in my life, and are never meant to be played again.
(American Badass is a cross between the two, with about half the script written specifically for each of the three towns it played in.)
I once heard political commentator George Will say he doesn't know what he thinks until he writes about it.
Well, I don't know what I am until I put it onstage. My b-side shows are those kind of shows.
The Show - my 'to be or not to be' show.
The Magician - my 'kill the character I don't want to become' show.
and Partial Nugity was my 'imprison the demon who spurs me towards being the character I don't want to be' show. Fresno is the only place I could ever imagine performing this show, and I can't imagine ever playing it anywhere (including Fresno) ever again.
If my solo Fringe career really is over, this was the right show to end it with and the right town to end it in.
Even if it ended with a bit of a down note...
I (we) sold out both of my (our) second-to-last shows (I think I was the only artist with two different sold out shows - how's that for rock star?!), but each closing performance sold noticeably less. Significantly less for Nugity as a clerical error kept my final showtime from being listed in the festival program.
It wasn't quite The Big Boom ending I would have liked, but it was still a helluva run - with a quietly magical final moment...
I snuck away from the closing party and out to the back alley (where the baaaad kids are known to hang out) with a printed copy of my Demon's final spoken words, brilliantly penned and performed by the great Scurvy - and once by the hilarious Kurvy (see below).
With a nod to whatever Mystical Muse inspired the show, I set the page on fire for a ceremonial burn. I watched the smoke and ash rise up, hoping the magic worked, and knowing the Demon and the Rock Star may very well be intertwined and that I can't have(be!) one without the other...
...or give up one without losing them both.
and if so, so be it.
Amen and farewell.
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