Celebrations!
- Today is Checklist Day. So, the first list to make is, of course: the list of lists to make!
- As we barrel toward Halloween, today is also Candy Corn Day. You can keep it, thanks.
- Tonight is Haunted Refrigerator Night – so banish those undead leftovers!
- Of course, Saturday is Halloween, but it’s also more generally Magic Day. So, if you see things that don’t seem real, it might just be magic!
- Don’t forget to turn your clocks back this weekend, early Sunday morning at 2am!
- In addition to being the beginning of Movember and Dia de los Muertos, Sunday is also the start of NaNoWriMo, so get those pencils, pens or keyboards ready to receive your stories. Write! Write! Write!
- CONGRATULATIONS TO CHSR’S OWN ERIN BOND! Erin was recognized at Prix MusicNB Awards as the HARDEST WORKING PERSON OF THE YEAR for 2020! The ongoing celebration continues with Bondo’s Pick of Young Satan In Love‘s song Roar For War. In keeping with the Halloween theme, I also chose a song by Young Satan In Love from the Postponed: A Mixtape album that Bondo helped bring into fruition this year. That album features many great artists from across the province, and for YSIL it was Datin’ Satan.
Feature presentation:
Today is also World Audio Drama Day, celebrating the anniversary of one of the most famous live radio theatre productions ever made: the infamous War of the Worlds production done by Orson Welles in 1938. That coincidence inspired me enough to finish work on my own audio drama, just in time for Halloween!
I love audio drama, especially the style that was done during the golden age, often referred to as “old-time-radio” today. It was bombastic, over-the-top and amazing. It challenged your imagination, it was clever and evocative, it was enthralling.
Today, there is a thriving culture of audio drama. Here on the station, we carry one of the pre-eminent collections of it, The Sonic Society, which has grown to become the much larger Mutual Audio Network.
This summer, there was to be a large convention called MADCon, or the Modern Audio Drama Convention, in Halifax. For obvious reasons, this has been postponed until next summer. I’m looking forward to that, not least of which because now I can say I’m truly a producer, and not just a participant and fan.
Over a year ago, I was challenged to do a remake of an Old Time Radio show by Jack Ward of the Mutual Audio Network. Last summer, I gathered a bunch of interested people together, we wrote a brand new script, recorded it, and then… I lost my editor.
I took on the editing myself — which I’ve done before, but I knew I didn’t really have the time. I had intended to get it out by Halloween of 2019, and it just didn’t happen.
A bit discouraged, I let the edits sit where they were for almost a year. But… I finished it satisfactorily last night! I was very close, mostly just tweaking a few levels and timing. I’m very happy to have finished it, and look forward to more projects.
Thanks to actors and supporters, the co-writer Greg Everett.
And yes: if you miss it live at noon, it will be podcasted on CHSR.
And so I present, long overdue and just in time: What Was It? (c) 2020 by The Weird Circle Squared.
Happy Halloween!
Events Calendar:
- Halloween in full effect this week!
- Each night this week from 6pm to 11pm with the annual APEGNB Haunted Tour #2020 edition at the Charlotte Street Arts Centre. It’s operating under COVID-protection rules (wear a mask, hand-sanitize at the door, don’t come if you’re sick/have been sick/have been exposed) as well as travelling through in bubbles of four people. You’ll need to buy your ticket ahead of time and be on time!
- Science East Halloween continues on Friday from noon to 4pm and runs through Sunday for an opportunity for all the little ghouls and goblins to play some Halloween I Spy, learn about Halloween science, see demos and play games in a safe, socially distanced environment! See the Facebook page for more details.
- The Pepper Creek Scare Fest at 106 Rolling Hill Drive in St Mary’s happens on Halloween night at 7pm to 9:30pm. There are zombies, ghouls, monsters, animatronics, lights and sound effects to bring a “chill” to your Halloween Fun! They will be following all COVID-19 guidelines and 4 families are combining treats for the kiddies. See the Facebook event for more details.
- Hot Garbage Players Present Spooky Soup on Saturday afternoon at 4pm at The Cap. Spooky Soup is made with the finest local talent with hints of spooky stories and the Improv you’ve come to love. Grab a spoon and dig in! See the Facebook event for more details.
- It’s also a theatre week!
- The 2nd Annual Plain Site Theatre Festival is online this year from Wednesday, October 28 through October 31. This theatre festival aims to foster LGBTQ2+ talent and visibility. This years lineup of digital plays includes, readings, performances and workshops includes three new plays for this year, two plays adapted from last year, and two special productions. See the Facebook event for more details.
- TNB’s Fall Festival of New Plays continues this week on Sunday, November 1 at 2:00pm with John Barlow‘s Inspiration Point. John Barlow is a Migmaw from the Indian Island First Nation. These days you can find him operating Indian Island Riverside Log Cabins on Airbnb and puttering around the yard.
Poised between hope and despair, each man faces how best to move beyond the past and adapt to a future in which cultural legacy seems destined to diminish. Symbolic and politically charged, Inspiration Point speaks about life on a small Maritime reservation and the constant struggle for cultural survival. See the TNB page for full details. The Festival continues until November 25.
- Music this week:
- Matchstick Mike will be on-stage live on Friday at 7pm at The Tipsy Muse Café
- Kylie Fox will play on stage at The Charlotte Street Arts Centre on Friday at 7pm, along with Jerry-Faye & Dylan
- The Persuaders are at Dolan’s Pub on Friday and Saturday nights at 9pm
News updates:
- New Brunswick’s top doctor reported another outbreak at a long-term care home in zone five yesterday afternoon.
- Matthew Vincent Raymond continued testimony at his own trial yesterday where a jury heard he felt horrible for taking innocent lives.
- The New Brunswick Human Rights Commission released new guidelines for special programs early this week.
- A 71-year-old woman is dead after a collision between a pickup truck and a sedan in Losier Settlement.
- The Canadian Armed Forces will conduct training exercises on a stretch of the St. John River between Oromocto and Swan Lake today and tomorrow.
- A Halifax travel agency is offering two, weeklong trips to Cuba reserved for residents of the Atlantic bubble.
- And during the first wave, long term care homes left Canada with one of the highest death rates connected to COVID-19.
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