Movement is Dead, Long Live Sterling Lynch!

Did you notice?

I changed the title of my blog. The blog is no longer called Movement.

Why?

Well, there’s basically one main reason, but you will need to click here to find out.

No, this isn’t a ploy to lower my bounce rate. If you read the page (NB: not “the post”), you will get a useful reminder about what to do if you change the URL of a post or page.

As a part of this change, I’ve started a “Sterling Lynch” Facebook page. You should like this page, if you want a one-stop shop for all my creative output or if you’re interested in the idea of using social media to make things happen.

Glory Days! Do You Reminisce Or Do You Analyze? Why?

I realized something: I don’t reminisce; I analyze.

By reminisce, I mean something like, “bask in the warm glow of a remembered past.” In contrast, when I think about my past, I examine my memories to better understand the choices I made in light of the circumstances I faced. The goal is to edify rather than to aggrandize or debase.

Why did I do this rather than that? What factors affected my decision? What factors were under my control or beyond my control? Could it had been different? If it had been different, what might have resulted, how might I have resulted?

When I was young (say, late teens/early twenties) I do remember reminiscing. I also remember promising myself very early on that I would not spend the rest of my life looking back on the past as the best years of my life. The best days are yet to come, I firmly resolved. They are always yet to come.

I’m tempted to say I rid myself of the habit of reminiscing as a reaction to and against the baby boomers’ perpetual rearward aggrandizing I was forced to endure. Although my reaction against this experience was an important factor, I don’t think it was decisive. I analyze rather than reminisce because I discovered — almost accidentally — that an honest and careful analysis of my memories greatly improves my day-to-day well being. I don’t bask in the warm glow of a remembered past because, thanks to some work, I bask instead in the warm glow of now and the illimitable possibility of the future.

I should also say: I’m not claiming it is necessarily wrong to reminisce. I claim only that analysis is more useful for me.

Do you reminisce or do you analyze? Why?

Free Post, Free Post! WordPress Summarizes My Blog For 2010

This post is courtesy WordPress. I showed you mine maybe you will show me yours!

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The stats helper monkeys at WordPress.com mulled over how this blog did in 2010, and here’s a high level summary of its overall blog health:

Crunchy numbers

The average container ship can carry about 4,500 containers. This blog was viewed about 17,000 times in 2010. If each view were a shipping container, your blog would have filled about 4 fully loaded ships.

In 2010, there were 79 new posts, growing the total archive of this blog to 278 posts. There were 70 pictures uploaded, taking up a total of 34mb. That’s about 1 pictures per week.

The busiest day of the year was January 7th with 407 views. The most popular post that day was The Burden of The Boot: The Biggest Obstacle To Deep Winter Glam.

Where did they come from?

The top referring sites in 2010 were facebook.com, twitter.com, WordPress Dashboard, manyfacesofwayne.wordpress.com, and en.wordpress.com.

Some visitors came searching, mostly for sterling lynch, ottawa theatre network, movement, tangelico, and don’t blame the bedouins.

Attractions in 2010

These are the posts and pages that got the most views in 2010.

1

The Burden of The Boot: The Biggest Obstacle To Deep Winter Glam January 2010
14 comments

2

About Sterling November 2008
6 comments

3

GMEN Defectives July 2009
15 comments

4

A Fringe Reflection: The Long Snap Of Unexpected Success July 2010
54 comments

5

Ottawa Arts Newsletter June 2010
1 comment

Happy 2nd Birthday Blog! Still Tastes Great, Now Less Filling!

Happy birthday blog! You are two years old! Today! Hurray!

Let’s see: 273 posts, about 36,000 page views, and 2,400 comments. My average views per day is down from 52 to 50. My best guess is that I probably have 45-50 regular readers. Thanks gals and guys!

My number one page/post remains “About Sterling“, at 1,193.

My number one post is still “Brazil Nuts and the Sexual Politics of Hair Removal” at 472. The newest addition to the top five, coming in at three, is my post-fringe reflections which exploded into a tremendous international conversation about Fringe sales and marketing. It sits at 287, a few pageviews higher than that other Movement classic, “Silly-Sock Girls, Shoe Ladies, and Women in Comfortable Shoes: The Female Obsession With Footwear?“

Over the past year, this blog became increasingly focused on Ottawa and the arts, until I decided in October to start a new website focusing only on Ottawa and the arts. Because I’m using all the tricks of the trade over at Sneezers, as a kind of experiment, I’ve decided I’m not going to use any of the tricks of the trade over here. From now on, this site is only for me and for those of you who enjoy the material enough to check back every once and awhile on your own accord.

Oh yeah! I can’t remember when I settled on this look for the blog but I’m pretty pleased with it.

More philosophically, in the last year, I’ve come to realize that these online communication tools aren’t really changing how we interact and organize ourselves. They let us interact and organize ourselves more efficiently with more people who are more geographically dispersed, nevertheless, people will interact and organize online the same way they always have offline. Perhaps, the most important lesson to be drawn from the explosion of online communication tools is the reminder that we can seek out new people, new ideas, and new stories, if we choose to do so.

And when we do, cool things can happen, like this and this.

Since this time last year, some great bloggers have set aside blogging and other online socializing for good reasons. In the short term, it’s a sad thing but every community ebbs and flows and they might return, which will be a happy occasion!

In the last four or five months, I’ve been a straight ahead slacker in terms of keeping up with other people’s blogs. I have my excuses but, my hope, is that once I have a regular income, I will be able to organize my life more effectively and make sure I can find the time for those things that matter most to me, instead of chasing every possible lead for rent money.

Strategically-speaking, I’ve got a clear and focused plan and I’m excited for the future (working under the assumption I get the job for which I now have an interview. WOOT!) . Geo-politically, however, I’m much more concerned about the future than I have been for a long time. Here’s hoping the inevitable financial meltdown and the collapse of American hegemony is as curiously uneventful as the collapse of the USSR. I always easily imagine great things for us humans, assuming we don’t poison our environment with violence or waste. I also foresee more original music posted to the blog!

I have no loot bags. So, I instead open the floor to your year in review! Associate freely! Please!

What Did You Learn This Summer? And What’s Your Plan Ahead?

What I learned this summer.

1. I like to act, sometimes I’m even pretty good at it, but I don’t need to act.
2. The arts and my art are both essential to my well-being, but I don’t need to make a living off the arts or my art for that to be the case. In fact, I may be able to do more for them both — take more satisfaction in them both — if I pay the bills with income generated by some other means.
3. With my skills, experience, and record of achievement, I can make a lot more money working outside the arts than in. People in the arts need money. I can probably bring some into the system by working in another industry.

The plan ahead.

1. Get a steady job in government, use my spare time to develop the arts market in Ottawa.
2. Save and accumulate a bit of capital for future arts-related projects.

What did you learn this summer? And what’s your plan ahead?

A Folk Festival Friday Is Best By The Beach: Catching Loveliness

Last night the weather at Britannia Beach was almost perfect. To make matters even better, I was checking out the Ottawa Folk Festival.

I haven’t been to Britannia Beach in decades. Perhaps, because the last time I was there I cut my foot on a clam. Perhaps, because I eventually came to understood why we weren’t allowed into the water after big storms.

Also, I can’t recall if I’ve ever attended the Ottawa Festival. I seem to have a vague recollection of it once occupying Confederation Park. And if that’s true, then, I think I did check it out once, long ago.

In other words, a visit to both the beach and the Festival was long overdue! So, when Jan recommended to the readers of the Ottawa Arts Newsletter that they attend, I decided I should also attend.

Unfortunately, the #18 bus no longer goes to Britannia Park. Fortunately, the #97 gets you to the gate. It’s only a short walk to the festival grounds.  Although — I should note — the way to the park is not really designed for pedestrians.

Once past the gates, this is what I discovered.

The Ottawa Folk Festival and Britannia Beach.

Nice!

Now, I enjoy folk music but I’m no folkie. So I wasn’t there to see a particular act. My goal was to hang out, get a sense of the vibe, and — if I liked it — drink it in.

And I did (along with a cider or two)!

The grounds are spacious and the crowd fairly thin. The vibe, at the mainstage, was mellow and downright pleasant. Rock Plaza Central easily got my attention and held it.

Although I was pretty pleased with where I was, I headed over to the Galaxie Dance Tent. The Ottawa Folk Festival has resolved the age old battle between the dancers and the lawn chairs with apartheid.

And this is what I found!

Galaxie Dance Tent

Unfortunately, I arrived only a few minutes before the close of Hoots and Hellmouth. It looked like a good time was had by all.

I headed back to the main stage for the headliners: Arrested Development. When Speech asked everyone to stand and dance, they did! Much hoopla ensued!

Spotted on the evening: The Family of Families (The Adorkable Thespian’s brood), Jen Scrivens, and the guy who often billets Jonno Katz. Ryan and Apartment 613 were tweeting but never seen!

Overall, I had a lot more fun than I expected. The location is fantastic. The staff and volunteers are friendly. I enjoyed the music.

Although I do support one punter’s observation: the price of the ticket is a little steep. $29 seems a little too pricey for an evening of music featuring a headliner we saw for free last year at Bluesfest.

This may very well explain the thin crowd. Of course, the organizers may like it thin. I did!

If the festival wants to pull new crowds, however, they should reconsider their pricing structures. If the Friday evening were half-price or even free, more new folks might be willing to take a chance on an new experience. Once there, the loveliness of the evening might convince them to come back for the rest of the festival and, in time, they might even become folkies.

Oh! If the ticket price seems a little too steep but you want to sample the Festival, the view from the fence is pretty decent. And you get the option of swimming too.

Remember to check the fecal count first!

If you are / were at the Festival, share your experience in the comments section below!

Our 2010 Winnipeg Fringe Numbers Are In! We Broke Even (Or So I Shall Claim)!

I’m going to claim we broke even, even though we really posted a $130 loss.

Why?

We overspent on some printing costs for the sake of convenience. Had we been a little more disciplined, I’m sure that $130 deficit would have melted away. Also, we made a small profit in Ottawa. If we add up the totals from both shows, the deficit almost disappears.

Click here for our 2010 Winnipeg Fringe audience numbers.

Our first show (Sat. 17, 2:15PM) was our best. 80 people attended and we pulled in our largest gate ($363.50).

Our third show (Mon. 19, 3:45PM ) gave us our second largest audience. It was only our fourth largest gate. Over half the house (33) paid the discount rate ($6.50), almost 20% (18) got in for free, and only eleven people paid the full price.

Our fifth show (Wed 21, 5:30PM) gave us only our fourth largest audience but our second biggest gate ($340.50).

Our smallest gate was our second smallest house. It was our final show (Sat. 24, 10:45PM). We had high hopes for this final slot.

Our smallest house was our second smallest gate. It was also at 10:45PM but on a Tuesday (20th). Perhaps, Winnipeg Fringers don’t approve of the late starting slots.

It also makes me wonder who we were up against. Anyone with a schedule feel like checking?

Our second last show (Fri. 23, 530PM) was also a bit of a let down. Was this because people were chasing stars or was it because the rain on Thursday prevented us from flyering?

It occurs to me: it would be useful to compare our numbers to the Fringe’s total audience over these 8 days. Perhaps, we pulled a consistent percentage of the total audience.

Overall, 38% of our audience paid the full price, 32% paid the discounted price, and 30% got in for free.

At full price, had we sold every seat available, we would have made $18,400!

Using our percentages as benchmarks, had we “sold out” every night, we might have reasonably expected to make around $10,818.50. More reasonably, had we half-filled the house each night, we might have made around $5,409.

Instead, we generated $2107.50, which was enough to cover our expenses if one chooses to squint a little.

Any thoughts? They are warmly welcomed.

A Fringe Reflection: The Long Snap Of Unexpected Success

Time isn’t a jet plane; it’s an elastic band.

The experience of our time in Winnipeg went very slow — like the slow deliberate stretch of an elastic band — and then it snapped to a quick and unexpected finish. After spending several days feeling like we had been out west for a very long time, all of a sudden, it felt like we had barely arrived and were already heading home.

From a performance perspective, we did very well. Ray and I were very sharp and at the top of our game. More than a few people commented on our crisp comic timing and our rapport on stage. Dave brought his A-game for his supporting role and he stole more than a scene or two. I’m sure that the vast majority of the people who made it to the show had a great time.

From a numbers perspective, however, we didn’t do nearly as well as we had hoped. The final numbers aren’t in but breaking-even seems unlikely.

A big part of the problem, of course, is the cost of air travel. Due to work commitments, driving wasn’t an option this year. Air travel was an extra cost that could not be avoided.

We knew this going in, however, and we expected to pull enough punters to justify the cost and to make a profit. We had sold out a 175 seat venue in Edmonton three times last summer and we posted strong numbers for every other show. It seemed plausible to estimate that we’d post comparable numbers in Winnipeg and make a profit.

One important factor for our lower numbers, I think, is the nature of the Winnipeg Fringe audiences.

I suspect most of the Winnipeg Fringe ticket sales are driven by a hardcore group of Fringers who watch many many shows. Very often, these hardcore Fringers have their schedules carefully planned before the first poster is up or the first flier is handed out. They may tweak a schedule for an unexpected hit but they are unlikely to revamp it for an unknown show by an untested production company.

Additionally, there is a second group of more casual Fringers who live and die by star reviews. With so many quality shows to choose from, any show which can’t boast four or five stars is going to have a hard time corralling more than a few of those star-chasing Fringers. Even a four star review is no guarantee.

And from this perspective, we actually did pretty well.

For Winnipeg Fringe audiences, G-Men Defectives was a brand new show from a brand new production company that wasn’t reviewed by anyone local until late in the game. This implies that the vast majority of people came to our show thanks only to our street-level publicity efforts and the word of mouth support. Eventually, they even came out despite less than ideal star ratings.

And that’s a job well done.

More to the point, for a goodly number of people, the creative team and the company is now a known entity in Winnipeg and is now known for bringing a quality product. So the next time out, a few more of those hard core Fringers might build our show into their schedule before a single poster is up or a single flier handed out.

And there is an important lesson here for theatre marketers (all marketers, really). Successful marketing involves building a relationship of trust over time. Overnight sensations are the exception and not the norm. And more likely than not, a little digging will reveal a long hard stretch of effort before the sudden snap of success seems to happen overnight.

A 2010 Winnipeg Fringe Fashion Moment: Should I Wear Short Short Socks?

Before leaving for the 2010 Winnipeg Fringe, I decided I would wear pants as little as possible.

Unfortunately, soon after touching down in Winnipeg, I realized flip-flops are ill-suited for long bouts of walking. How could I possibly wear shorts and good walking shoes without looking totally dorkish?

I noticed Ray sporting the short socks, shoes, and shorts look. I decided to give it a try.

Shorts, short socks, and shoes!

What do you think my fashionistas? Total dorksville or boyishly cute!

Rolling Thunder and Rolling Laughter: The G-Men Open At The 2010 Winnipeg Fringe!

Despite a lot of commie thunder, lightening, and rain, the opening of G-Men Defectives at the 2010 Winnipeg Fringe was a great success!

We had a good-sized and very responsive audience (coaxed along by the the VERY responsive Zach Council)!

Our performances were bang-on. We had a lot of fun. And the audience did too, judging by the laughter rolling up on stage.

We can’t wait to do it all again tonight at 7:15PM.

We hope to see you there.

And if you aren’t in Winnipeg, check back for more updates!

Can You Spot The G-Man?