I am going to be delivering bedtime fortune stories at the Heliconian Club this Saturday night-Sunday morning as part of a Nuit Blanche event curated by Emily Pohl-Weary. The reading lineup for the Bedtime Tales: Fables and Fantasies program is listed below. Other cool events (especially this and this and this) are taking place all over town.

Bedtime Tales: Fables and Fantasies A Scotiabank Nuit Blanche Event On Saturday, Sept. 30, literary fantasia Bedtime Tales: Fables and Fantasies will feature more than twenty local literary stars and provocateurs, assembled in Yorkville's gothic Heliconian Club, located at 35 Hazelton Avenue (one block east of Avenue Rd). The authors will delight, entertain, and heat up the wee hours of the morning in between stops on the Scotiabank Nuit Blanche route. Pause for a cup of hot cocoa and cookies, grab a cushion, stretch out beneath the vaulted ceilings, and enjoy tales of the night ranging from the surreal to the sensual to the scary. Here's the lineup: Lillian Allen 7:01 PM Hadley Dyer 7:30 PM Olive Senior 8:00 PM Jean Yoon 8:30 PM Kerri Sakamoto 9:00 PM Pam Mordecai 9:30 PM Ibi Kaslik 10:00 PM Tamara Faith Berger 10:30 PM Russell Smith 11:00 PM BREAK 11:30 PM Kateri Akiwenzie-Damm 12:00 AM Mariko Tamaki 12:30 AM Kelley Armstrong 1:00 AM Paul Hong 1:30 AM BREAK 2:00 AM Sabrina Jalees 2:30 AM Kristyn Dunnion 3:00 AM Caitlin Sweet 3:30 AM BREAK 4:00 AM R.M. Vaughan 4:30 AM Andrew J. Paterson 5:00 AM BREAK 5:30 AM Gemma Files 6:00 AM Emily Pohl-Weary 6:30 AM Download the program book with readers' bio notes at: http://www.emilypohlweary.com/bedtimetalesprog.pdf

Unbelievable evening. I was blown away by the crowds on the streets everywhere.

After my appointment with destiny via the wise gypsy woman at the Heliconian Club, Ed P. and I bumped into each other at the Trinity-Bellwood's swimming pool and watched his partner Johannes swim. We were like proud parents: "Oh look! He's found a pool noodle! Oh Look! He's making friends". For a fleeting moment we thought we may be standing in a bad place since so many wet half-naked people were brushing past us, but we quickly decided that it was a most excellent location.
- L.M. 10-02-2006 2:04 am

How did it go? I was busy with the pool thing so didn't see much else.

- rob (guest) 10-02-2006 3:21 am

Line ups outside the Heliconian Club, lineups inside for Sally's divinations. Packed at Hart House for fastwurms and instant coffee. Packed on the philosopher's walk. (the mist machine art is 30 years old now, and its still a great spectacle) Queen was hopping. I thought the pool thing would be winding down by the time I got there, but it was insane (as you know).

The best report I heard was from hannah:

"Droves of people still going into the Gardiner museum at 2am... never before have so many men under the age of 25 and so many pieces of 18th century porcelain been together in a room."

- L.M. 10-02-2006 3:31 am

Here's another moment I can regret missing, during the swimming part of the evening at Fastwurms' Dark Pool at Hart House:

"..best part: Andrew Harwood in blond wig, led heels, lashes, and ruffled white lace briefs wearing a life preserver around his neck and the pool wall clock strapped to his waist strutting back and forth under the projection with two life guards trying to hook him with a 8ft pole. "

I'm pissed at myself for forgetting to catch the Ballroom Dancing by Darren O'Donnell at The University Settlement House. (a room with of 1000's of rubber balls and ...dancing) All the music was picked by ten year olds and I heard previously that they all kept on choosing that cute little 50 Cent ditty about being a pimp.

- L.M. 10-02-2006 4:59 am

"Ballroom Dancing", Darren's piece, quickly got the nickname "Murder Ball Room". All those balls were being whipped back and forth, by some very high people. More than one bloody nose. Fun!!
- coco (guest) 10-02-2006 6:44 am

Playing my autmatonic forutne teller game was quite a trip. I successfully managed to intimidate most of the people who were lined up at the booth. They were mostly strangers and strangers were easier. Also, so young! And earnest! I had a lot of fun, but I am also pondering at my own power-tripping. As an exercise in theatrics it worked well - the content of the project is less clear to me. Some people referred to me as "he" which was gratifying cause I was going for a Johnny Depp style rock 'n roll goth type look rather than an earringed gypsy hag. But it was the best when people referred to me as "it" cause then I knew the whole animatronic thing was getting across, and not just the "I can see the real you" empath hoopla.

The experience reminded me very much of my old job in Halifax at the all-night pizza restaurant. Early in the evening I felt like caring for customers, but by the morning it was much harder to muster the energy, and of course the clients were rowdier and more demanding (though the puppyish lads who tried to startle me were denied any flinching or even a blink because I could hear them plotting in the line up.) Also like the pizza job was going home exhausted at dawn after being on my feet for 12 hours, with a rattling wad of pennies in my pocket, and not knowing whether I wanted breakfast or beer or just bed.

One very groovy part of the evening was I got hear all the stories! It was a great big all-at-once dose of narrative, kind of like going to a film festival or something, and all those people's tales are now rolling around in my head.

- sally mckay 10-02-2006 6:53 pm