Fringe-For-Fall

by Phillip Andrew Bennett Low • 10/19/08 • addiction a - dic - tion [uh-dik-shuhn] -noun the state of being enslaved to a habit or practice or to something that is psychologically or physically habit-forming, as narcotics, to such an extent that its cessation causes severe trauma. Origin: 1595–1605; < L addiction- (s. of addictio) a giving over, surrender. See ADDICT, -ION - Dictionary.com So what do Santa Claus, Barack Obama, and your faithful Fringe blogger have in common? (Er, aside from the fact that we're all imaginary characters?)

womb with a view is the blog of phillip andrew bennett low, one of five bloggers covering the minnesota fringe festival and other theater for the daily planet.

It's that right now, our lives revolve around a single month of the year. The Minnesota Fringe Festival -- or, as I like to call it, "The Christmas in August" -- may be down, but it's far from out. Plenty of us Fringe artists are dumb enough to continue trying to work year-round for a fraction of the audience energy and response. And that's not out of any kind of genuine work ethic or a sense of misguided nobility. It's because we're junkies. It's because we're panting after our next high, man, where we feel that crazy communal energy and the sky is filled with colors, starving hysterical naked, dragging ourselves through the negro streets at dawn looking for an angry fix. (Uh, it occurs to me that that last description may actually be a pretty literal depiction of a lot of Fringe artists come August.) But until then, we have to coast between the few sporadic Fringe events that take place between the Festivals proper. But Five-Fifths is still six months away -- what's an addict to do? Which is why I'm just as perversely pleased as a proverbial Punch and Judy show to alliteratively announce the Festival's freshest fundraiser, the fabulous Fringe-For-Fall. And if that dapper display of devilishly daring diction didn't dazzle you, well, tough. It's a Wednesday night and I'm at home writing a blog post, what more do you want from me? I have it on good faith that there'll be entertainment from Fringe stalwarts Kevin Kling and fellow Rockstar Storyteller Joe Scrimshaw -- as well as one of the most eclectic auctions that you're likely to find this side of the Mason-Dixon line. I know *I* can't wait. What are *you* doing tonight? Phillip Andrew Bennett Low (maximumverbosityonline@gmail.com) is a playwright and poet, storyteller and mime, theater critic and libertarian activist, who lurks ominously in the desert wilds of St. Louis Park, feasting upon the hygienically-prepared flesh of the once-living. His main claim to fame is probably as co-founder of the Rockstar Storytellers, and as founder/producer of Maximum Verbosity, a garage-band-like theater troupe that is in a state of constantly re-defining itself.