CRUMBS makes a short film

CRUMBS makes a short film in a couple of hours and then waits years to finally share it with people?

This was shot in 2006 on a 16mm Bolex on one roll of film in one shot as part of the WNDX One Shot Festival. It was shot using "in camera" editing and "in the moment" acting. The music was mixed by Dj Hunnicutt. The camera was operated by Darren Wall. The film was directed by Stephen Sim and stars Stephen Sim and Lee White.


Next post will be an update about the CRUMBS shows we have done. Someone came up to me after the CRUMBS show in Hamburg and told me that he appreciates the updates where the shows are summarized. He said it reminded him of when he used to keep a dream journal. So for those that have seen the shows or cannot see the shows, I will try my darndest to update with pictures and details from each show.

Thank you for reading this.

CRUMBS in Bochum

First, listen to this song... It will make sense after you read about the show.



When CRUMBS arrived in Bochum, Germany they/we were tired and tired and tired. Then we rested and we were ready to conquer. We had last been in Bochum 3-4 years earlier and so we needed to remind Bochum why we were there. That is exactly what we did.

Now Bochum is a strange town, it is in the middle of several towns. We slept in Dortmond yet we taught and played in Bochum... we could have just as easily been in Essen or in Dusseldorf. This little corner of Germany is filled with people, and now we filled it with laughs. Thank you Hottenlotten for bringing us back!

The show: suggestions were Lighthouse and Woodcutter.

First, the Canadian Woodcutter warns of the danger of the woods at night. (You know, the classic Canadian Woodcutter... lumber jacks... for some reason, Europeans love this cliches).


Second, we see the lighthouse keeper family. Mom is sick, and son wants to go to the fair instead of do lighthouse keeper duties.


The Woodcutter (Jim) gets a new partner (Philipe) and is also told to increase his quota (and possibly have to cut wood at night).


The Lighthouse keeper lets his son go to the fair with Suzy, but then has problems (of course) he cannot get the light to light because the power has been diverted to the fair.


We then see a couple of Germans (Hans & Gunter) on an Oil Tanker getting dangerously close to the coast.


The young boy wins Suzy a prize at the fair. They go up on the Ferris Wheel and they "do it"... not a bad day in the life of a young boy... but from the Ferris wheel they can see that the lighthouse isn't lit and that there is an oil tanker in the fog.

The Woodcutters have to fight Grizzly bears (another favourite cliches) and we find out that Grizzlies killed Jim's last partner. Jim dies while defending his new partner.


The Young boy and Suzy light the prize (a stuffed turtle) and the fire alerts the oil tanker to move. They save the day.


Two themes that kept returning...

Fog = Clouds = Heaven = Dance Party

We all miss the good old days.

Blogging the European tour is almost done. Be on the look out for the blog to then talk about the upcoming Winnipeg Fringe Festival and the ongoing CRUMBS radio show and the ongoing Free Laughs Comedy shows happening at the King's Head.

CRUMBS in Berlin again

First, I would like to say that we have been away from the internet for awhile and this really makes me realize exactly how much I am addicted to it. It is where I stay connected, read my news and let my mind wander through the endless halls of its information... Oh internet, what did I do before you. It is also why the Blog is so far behind.

The Blog. At this point I would also like to mention that the Blog is always behind. When I post about a certain city that we were in I then get messages saying “Hey, what about (insert city we just were in or have just arrived at). Generally, I am about 4-5 cities behind. Mostly it is because I tend to have the Blog updated only once a week and that doesn't keep up with our brisk tour. I will now try and catch up.

Berlin again...

The show in Berlin with Zwiebelfisch was a show at a theatre space we have never played at. It was called Studio 70 and the show involved a live Illustrator (their show was the one that inspired the show we did with an illustrator in Mannheim). The Illustrator was really good at illustrating quickly, having very nice symbolic imagery and played well with us. It was also nice to have a musician who played some interesting and not quite so common improv instruments (violin and saxophone... Sax and Violence?).

The boiled down to an exploration... wait, I always use the word “exploration” when I am describing these shows. Does that sound pretentious? It does doesn't it? How about, the show was a journey... No? How about, the show was an open dialogue between audience and performer...Umm.

The show had some funny little skits in it that we made up on the spot. We saw skits about:

-The inventor of the toaster (Charles Toast)


-The inventor of rubber (Charles Rubber)


-A young married couple dominated by the wife.


-A group of best friends have their friendship almost torn apart by the overbearing wife.

-An initiation in Mexico involving 100 tacos and the hottest of hot sauce.


And then...

After the show we then spent a whole weekend in the German countryside teaching workshops to some improv players. Many hours of intensive improv were spent, many theories, games and scenes were tweaked, many ideas and techniques were developed, many songs were sung, many werewolves were present.

These workshops are among the most rewarding as there is time to really crawl inside the beast known as improvisation and figure out what makes it tick. Do beasts tick? Anyways, the groups really bonds and the work really shines brightly.


Off to the airport to fly from Berlin to Basel. Volcanic ash threatens but doesn't rear its ugly mug over the flight plan.

Thank you Volcano Gods for accepting my sacrifice.

CRUMBS in Milano

Oh Italy, I love you.
The food, the words, the atmosphere, the food, did I mention the food?


We ate the very best Panzarotti ever. For those that don't know, it is the like a Pizza Pop made out of real ingredients instead of plastic, cardboard and styrofoam. Amazing. We also had great pizza of course and great pasta of course and great wine of course... It is a magical land and I hope to return for longer and eat more of their food items.




The show part 1 mixed with the group Teatribù

-The Fiat love story where the Italian car company is bought by a mystery woman and falls in love with the old owner.


-The mad scientist on the hill doing experiments that strike fear into the village. A young scientist travels there for a job and the bizarre experiments are revealed. Dr Frankenstein has nothing on this.


-A classic road trip. Two buddies are trying to search for adventure that will help one of them forget about the girl who dumped him. Oh the cast of crazy characters that follow them along the way...

-Again, there is a lost story out there... that is why I write this damn blog anyways, so that I can remember things that we do. It was probably great too.


The show part 2 CRUMBS classic:

A woman waits in her kitchen for the plumber to show up while her husband is away on business. The plumber is of course the sexiest. He doesn't want to just “fix her pipes” he wants to show her how she can “fix her pipes”.


We also see a man in the middle of the desert. He must do battle with vultures circling overhead, a talking cactus and a coconut tree... oh yeah and the hot sun (reported to be making the desert at least 107 degrees Celsius.



The plumber and wife storyline was either a symbol of the serpent of temptation, an angel, a lesson on female masturbation or just a sexy scene with plenty of suggestive imagery... again, you had to be there.



Speaking of plumbers, I guess we should mention that people are really into the bidet thing here in Italy. We got detailed descriptions from people, but I will spare you the details, mostly becuase you have imaginations and probably a working knowledge of bidets.



For some reason I also really loved the language. Perhaps it was because of my french knowledge and that Italian is also a Romantic language, but I was able to pick up some pieces of the conversations and somewhat follow what was going on. It was really nice. I think I might have to learn Italian... after I learn German... and brush up on my French... and learn Swedish... Where is the language Genie?

CRUMBS in Wuerzburg

Wuerzburg is a pretty little town. It translates directly into spice town, but jeez, it isn't really that spicy.

This is our second stop on this tour in this nice little town. It has a strong art scene, music scene improv scene. Mostly because of the Cairo, which is a cultural organization run by some pretty awesome folks. This makes for a strong community of artists that help each other out and support each others events and each others work (from what i can see anyways). This is inspiring.

Our show was supposed to be an open air show in the courtyard (like we have done the past few years to a crowd of 300) but it was rained out, so we packed half that number into the theatre that really comfortably seats 100... it was pretty cool. (i have used the word pretty some many times in this post already, you must be pretty sick of that already, that and all the use of brackets).

The CRUMBS mixed show with Die Kaktussen:

Driving Miss Daisy remounted


A mother who has to give up her first born to her evil boss Mr Frankentsein


A pretty girl who pits two best friends against each other... they chose each other in the end.


A thai women learns to start her own business rather than be controlled by her rice inspector husband (based on a true story)


The 2nd half centred around one story. A story about a Queendom threatened by a dragon. The greatest warrior was defeated and the only hope was, according to the prophecy, a small boy. The small boy left his family farm to follow his heart. He eventually used the power of language to convince the dragon to follow his own heart. Th dragon then transformed back into the lost king and all was good.



Awe, fairy tales huh?

CRUMBS in Kloten

Kloten? Where is Kloten? Don't worry, nobody else has heard of it either. It is just outside of Zurich and it is where they keep the airport, so it is pretty cleverly hidden.

But...

The show in Kloten was very fun AND I got to meet an actual relative that I actually have in actual Switzerland.

CRUMBS in Switerland

CRUMBS in Switzerland

Hey folks, everybody loves the Swiss right?



*thanks to Ryan Millar for reminding me of this

We again did our super fun CRUMBS show in Baden at the Ventil. We love playing at the Ventil, it just has the right vibe in the room for CRUMBS. Baden is just outside of Zurich where Romans used to have baths, we just shower there.






The show we did saw a poor depressed lonely guy on a cruise ship... a cruise ship for couples... you could even call it a relation-ship. It also had a coat that tries to eat your soul. We learned that Duck L'Orange isn't just raw duck painted orange, and that ship captains have way to much power. Thank goodness everything turned out in the end.



So hanging out in Zurich and Baden has reminded us of how beautiful Switzerland can be, and when I say beautiful I mean expensive. To truly enjoy oneself you must first trick yourself into believing that the Swiss frank is only worth ½ of a Canadian dollar.

Me: How much is this cup of coffee?
Swiss: Seven franks.
Me: Seven franks, let me see that would be... three fifty... not bad I guess
Swiss: Seven franks is equal to seven Canadian dollars.
Me: Please don't.

We still have yet another show to do here before we travel on to Freiburg Germany. We are performing in Kloten, a little town that nobody knows about. It is actually where the airport is, so people just call it the airport. At the show I might actually meet a “long lost” relative. He isn't actually long lost, I have just never met him. It will be strange to meet this (great uncle?) on my mother's side from Northern Ireland because the show just happens to be on St Patrick's day (neat huh?). But it just makes me wonder why does the world celebrate a catholic saint who hated snakes by getting so wasted that the streets are filled with drunks? Are the Irish embarrassed at all?

Anyways,

Next stop: Freiburg Germany

CRUMBS in Wurzburg

CRUMBS Euro Touro 2010

So the tour has begun and we are knee deep in Europe and knocked out the Jet Lag in the first round... good job sleep good night Jet Lag!

Wurzburg was the first stop on the tour and success was found. We did a show at the Neueplatz theatre, we usually do a show with Die Kaktussen at the Cairo. So this was the First "classic" CRUMBS show in Wurzburg for awhile.

We explored the fear that people have of Dentists and the wonderful world of hot air ballooning. We understood a little more about why some crazy criminals kill and how they can change if given the chance. As well we found out some of the secrets to the life of a Butler (like for instance, did you know that when they die, they feel their end time coming and they sometimes just turn into a puff of smoke?). All in all, we learned a lot and we make some people laugh and feel good about this little glimmer of a life we have.

We will be coming back to Wurzburg at the end of April to play at the Cairo. I hope that the weather is again nice enough for us to play at the open air stage, this always rules the most. I also hope it will be a little warmer so we can again play some mini-golf.

Time for train rides to the Alps

Next stop: Switzerland

CRUMBS Euro Touro (the flight)

CRUMBS euro touro 2010

The plane ride over was of course really a couple plane rides, someday it would be nice to charter our own plane directly from Winnipeg to Berlin with first class seating and beds and entertainment, but until that day comes we have to deal with all the annoyances that everyone else has to deal with. Security was silly enough to let us through and after the obligatory stand in line, we were off.

Highlights:

-Randomly running into Jacob Banigan and his son Sam at the Toronto airport
-getting to watch “Up in the Air” on the plane (although they need to work out a system where they only give you the option to watch movies that will end before you land)
-the plane not crashing (the picture is not from our flight or anything we saw)

Lowlights:

-not getting to sleep
-the loud and selfish asshole ahead of us on the transatlantic flight who insisted on complaining that he was hungry while everyone was trying to sleep.
-not enough in flight movie options and no power for the laptops (what is up Luftansa)

We arrived in Frankfurt and were greeted by Nadine at the airport. We got into her car and had a road trip to Wurzburg, the sun was shining and we barreled down the autobahn blaring Chilliwack and April Wine. A nice beginning to what will no doubt be an amazing tour once again. The road trip we took sounded like this and this. Enjoy


But first, we must battle the Jet Lag!

Notes about Jet Lag:
-NASA claims that Jet Lag takes one full day for every time zone traveled
-Sun light is the most critical element to defeat your Jet Lag foe (getting sunlight that is)
-stay up the first day no matter how much the demons tempt you to bed
-punch Jet Lag right in the throat!

Next stop: Wurzburg

CRUMBS Euro Touro 2010

So the CRUMBS show at the King's Head rocked hard... if you were there then you understand all the inside jokes people will be dropping for the months we are gone, if you missed it you missed out.

We are doing a tour though, so you could jump on a plane and get your ass to Europe... or maybe you are lucky enough to already live in Europe.

Our first couple shows are in Germany, which should really just be called Deutschland. We perform in:

Wurzburg on March 10th
Baden Switzerland at the Ventil on March 13th
March 17th in Kloten
March 18th in Freiburg
March 20th and 21st in K-Town (also known as Konstanz or sometimes Konstanztanople)
We go to Oslo, Norway for a show on March 23rd

Then We jet back to Berlin to do the Berlin Improv Festival (this improv festival in Berlin does in fact rule!). After the Berlin festival our tour continues, but perhaps you want to check back here for updates, reports and future dates of CRUMBS.

If you want to check a link that gives you our whole tour just check this one out...
Here are the dates of the Euro Touro 2010

See y'all on the tour or right here on the internet!

CRUMBS in Wurzburg

Wurzburg is a city in Germany that nobody really knows, it isn't famous like Berlin or Hamburg or Frankfurt or Munich. But let me tell you, it is cool. It was massively bombed (during World War II dummy) and it is home to sooooo many German police (I think that they train cops here). Wurzburg is also home to the Cairo, which is a cool culture centre type thing. They have a couple of theatres and put on cool theatre shows and music shows and stuff like that. Wurzburg is also home to Die Kaktussen, an improv group, and run a festival every year in October. We like wurzburg.

We have been to Wurzburg many times and we (like mentioned above) like it. We did the show in the courtyard of the Cairo, which is completely cool (have I used the word cool too many times? if so, cool). The outdoor stage at the Cairo is a great place to rock a show, it looks great and many people end up showing up (over 200 souls). The show we did also did in fact rock.

p.s. I must at this moment tell all you readers that I am in fact in Regina right now doing a festival there. I am so behind on my blog posts (which I know must completely annoy all of those who are really expecting these updates to be up to date). I promise to try and catch myself up, but I must tell you that this blog isn't my #1 priority, it falls somewhere after breathing, eating, sleeping and everything else...

Random pics

A plastic bag a store actually gave me (was someone asleep in the design department?)



A couple of suits that Lee and I almost bought which would have been kick ass.



One of the many Bar Italias that there are on the road.



And finally, the sign for somewhere you should not go if you want something planned well.