TheatreAddict.com - Bakersfield Drama Blog

If my calculations are correct, there aren't any theatre productions playing this weekend (aside from Man of La Manca at Rabobank). Everything has closed, and no local production is opening until November 31st. Is that possible? Wowsers.

On the positive side of things, though, that leaves this weekend free and clear for you to check out BIFF at the Spotlight. Support art & artists, and be entertained!

Bakersfield's new free press.

Announcing The Arrival of a New, Free Press Paper

FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 24TH

With Bakersfield growing in leaps and bounds, becoming more diverse, (in step with it's ever widening girth) one would think this town already had a fist full of small, custom fitted fanzines, a smattering of radical underground newspapers, all circulating tightly among the bohemians they represent.

But there isn't.

It's true, many of us have turned to the cyber cosmos for the passing of information concerning "all things" pertinent to our lives, interests, and ambitions. Blogs, myspace bulletins, and e-mails do have their merits, especially in the swiftness, the "word", can be presented and dispersed. Granted, none faster. But like the Pony Express, it's still pretty much moves from horse to horse, with only what the pony can carry (now, if that damn rider wasn't so heavy!).

It would be nice to be able to assemble an array of ideas, concepts, and varying perspectives, package it neatly in stacks of folded pages, and cast it to the wind. There is a certain romanticism about doing a paper.

The RANDOM TIMES is staffed with Don Quixotes, to be sure. It's actually a collection of artists who are all too familiar with the voice, unheard. Which is why the RANDOM TIMES is touting itself as being an "open forum" paper: encouraging people to contribute their views, and insights. Anyone can submit an article. If it tickles the editor's fancy, it could be very well be printed as a feature; not just something banished to the "letters to the editor" dirt pile.

The RANDOM TIMES is poised to present something different, but at the very least, wishes to add their voice to a community of expression, and exchange.

The FIRST ISSUE will hit the newsstands FRI. NOV. 24TH..

You will be able to find the paper at:

RUSSO'S BOOKS

BORDERS BOOKS

FRONT PORCH MUSIC

DAGNY'S COFFEE

THE EMPTY SPACE

GOING UNDERGROUND RECORDS

ALL LIBRARIES IN KERN COUNTY

And the list is still growing,....Pick one up, look it over, and let the RANDOM TIMES know what you think.

RANDOM TIMES

randomtimeseditor@yahoo.com

http://www.myspace.com/therandomtimes

In the Sideways Stories series there is a student who wears an unusually high number of raincoats. The teacher eventually discovers that he is actually a dead rat who snuck into the classroom. Those dead rats can be sneaky.

It's funny, just one of many delightful ideas I enjoyed in Louis Sachar's Sideways Stories From Wayside School series. But the last few days it hasn't been so funny to me. I've been feeling cold and slimy lately. A bit depressed. I have the urge to put on a bunch of coats from a thrift store and try to sneak in places pretending to be something I'm not. It's got me thinking...

AM I A DEAD RAT? Could it be? This entire time...I grew up, went to school, opened a little pawnshop in Tehachapi, sat on the board of directors at BCT. I've been in shows, directed, and founded theatreaddict.com as a way to expand arts exposure in Bakersfield. Amazing. If I am a dead rat, damn I have accomplished a lot.

I'm hoping to find out for sure by going to see "Sideways Stories" at BCT this weekend. It plays Friday, Saturday, and Sunday for the next two weekends. Hopefully this mystery will be solved.

You should join me, to brush up on your Sideways history, check out the Wikipedia page for the legends.

Then call 831-8114 to make reservations. If you smell something in the audience, that might be me and the other dead rats who sneak in to watch the show that is really all about us.