A few months ago I was stumbling home from work at around one in the morning, tripped, and fell into this searing jam session at O’Douls, courtesy of the Jazzfest. It had been so long since I’d seen any live jazz, especially any with the chops this crew was throwing around, and I was lifted onto a little cloud that I wish I could sit on more often. I was struck by the comparison of the art of jazz to theatre and, pushing my Jack rocks aside, jotted down some thoughts into the ol’ moleskine. I had forgotten about this until I sat down to write my Beyond Robson Fringe lead-off tonight, and the habit of keeping notes on experience justified itself. So now all I’m thinking is: why should the Jazz Festival and the Fringe Festival give Vancouverites a bye on the rest of the year? What’s it going to take to make the arts a trendy thing to support here? Seriously, what?
Simon Ogden 