Grownups Read Things They Wrote as Kids

GRTTWaK (the Toronto-based live show) is now on hiatus until 2013.

Why? Dan moved to France for a year.

In the meantime, please feel free to sign up for the mailing list, so you’ll know exactly when we’ll start again in 2013.

And just like that, less than 24 hours after I announced it, all 100 advance tickets for GRTTWaK11 have sold out. That means there are now only two ways to get into the show:

1. Sign up to read or
2. Show up at The Garrison on Monday, November 21, 2011 and hope to get a rush ticket when they go on sale at 7:30pm

This is going to be a lot of fun, folks. Can’t wait.

Update: we sold out. There are no more advanced tickets. That means there are now only two ways to get into the show:

1. Sign up to read or
2. Show up at The Garrison on Monday, November 21, 2011 and hope to get a rush ticket when they go on sale at 7:30pm

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There are two things I need to tell you:

1. The eleventh edition of Grownups Read Things They Wrote as Kids happens Monday, November 21, 2011 at The Garrison.
2. This is going to be the last GRTTWaK for the foreseeable future. Jenna and I are moving to France for a year, and after this one, there’ll be no more GRTTWaK until at least 2013.

So then, get moving:

• Like last time, advance tickets are available exclusively through Brown Paper Tickets here: http://bpt.me/e/193072
• Like last time, these tickets are limited in number, and will almost certainly sell out
• Like last time, GRTTWaK11 is in support of Frontier College, our favourite literacy organization
• The only other way to get into GRTTWaK11 is to sign up to read. Dig around in the basement or the attic, find something awesome, then sign up here: http://bit.ly/GRTTWaK11signup

This is going to be a blowout, folks, and I assure you, tickets will evaporate.

From Mr. Daniel Shapiro, the man who brought you the Awkward Show and Tell open-mic series, comes a new event:

Awkward “Talent” Contest
Wednesday, June 15 at 8:30pm
Clinton’s Tavern
693 Bloor Street West
Toronto, ON

My understanding is that basically, you can show up and perform or show up and not perform. And I’m pretty sure “Talent” is in quotation marks for a reason.

Here it is on Facebook. I’ll be there.

A few weeks ago, my radio-making pal (and past GRTTWaK reader) Steve Wadhams asked about doing an episode of Living Out Loud using some GRTTWaK tape.

The result airs today, March 18, on most CBC Radio stations from 1-2pm. Listen online or check your local frequencies. I’ll post the audio here when I get a copy.

Update: You can download the MP3 now.

Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser.

Way back in 2009, I got a call from Sandy Nicholson, who wanted to talk about doing a GRTTWaK-style event in PEI. The resulting show was called The Hilroy Diaries (name courtesy of GRTTWaK reader Andrea Ledwell), which took place November 21, 2009.

Todd McLean reviewed the show for The Guardian, and though the review isn’t online anywhere, Sandy sent me a copy this past weekend. It’s pasted below, for posterity.

Andrea tells me they’re planning another event for this spring.

—

A Roomful of Islanders Read Their Childhood Works

What: The Hilroy Diaries.
Who: Over a dozen different readers, with music provided by The Fresh Air Inspectors, and Teresa Doyle with Andrew MacIsaac.
When: Last Saturday, November 21.
Where: Fishbones, Victoria Row, Charlottetown.
Why: Because we’ve all got some gems in our closets…

In 2007, the Halifax-born now Toronto-based CBC radio contributor Dan Misener made a new year’s resolution: To start a live public reading series wherein adults read their own pieces of writing from their childhood.

Calling it Grownups Read Things They Wrote As Kids, its first incarnation was on February 17, 2007 at The Victory Cafe in Toronto.

And the well-attended night went over so brilliantly, complete with a CBC podcast, that the next one followed fairly soon after on its heels.

What was evident for everyone right from the get-go was that there is a certain pleasurable, communally-connective, and interestingly therapeutic phenomenon that unfolds when we all get together and unleash the written outpourings of our youth.

As passionate and sensitive as they can be downright hysterical, these writings offer up the insights into who we were then, how we’ve changed, and how, in certain ways, we’ve stayed exactly the same. And then in some cases, they’re just absolutely certifiably absurd.

Whatever the case might be, the best part is that we all can relate to this. Maybe by this point in reading this article, even now you’re thinking of that one journal, or that one piece that (God forbid if you actually did read it in public now) you would be humiliated beyond belief on one level – yet on another level would be so happy to be releasing it to a roomful of people in that same boat, who all know where you’re coming from ‘cause they’ve been there too, and who all have aches in their sides from laughing their guts out with you.

Surely this was in Dan Misener’s original hopeful vision for the series. And as GRTTWAK 8 just took place this past September at Toronto’s Tranzac club, surely the next one will be taking place soon enough.

But meanwhile, in hearing these inspiringly hilarious recordings on CBC radio, Islander Sandy Nicholson struck upon the idea to bring the series here – particularly to hold as a fun fundraiser for Women’s Network PEI.

And so after putting in a request to Misener to allow an Island version of the series, to which he responded, “Of course! Please do! Just call it something else,” Nicholson in turn and appropriately called it: The Hilroy Diaries – Sharing the moving, the odd, and the awesomely funny writings from our childhood. (Yep. Hilroy scribblers. The multi-coloured casket-like page-containers of so many of our closet skeletons…)

Taking place at Fishbones last Saturday evening, on a night where once again Charlottetown was afire with weekend activity, organizers were worried that the turnout might not be the best. But, walking into a well-crowded Fishbones just before 8pm, where not a seat was left unfilled, it was clear that a certain cross section of Islanders were raring to both unveil their secrets, and indulge in the secrets of others.

“Remember, we’re laughing WITH the person on stage, not AT them,” Nicholson emphasized in her introduction to the night, at about 8:15pm.

“Please feel free to laugh AT me if you want,” the first reader of the night then said in response after he was called up on stage – none other than Mr. Hugh MacDonald. “Wouldn’t be the first time,” he added, laughter erupting around.

And it could not have been a more perfect piece to begin the night: A dramatic poem from when MacDonald was 14 years old, written with ‘the weight of the world on his shoulders,’ as he described, about a girl he was in love with (who never had any idea that he was). A poem which, as well, his sister found a number of years ago in his room, and which she’s used to ridicule him with at family gatherings any chance she can get.

“Pain! You heartless beast,” it began. Gleeful chortles echoed around the room even at these first four words, as MacDonald tried his best to get out the whole poem without losing it himself – until finally bringing it to its epic closing climax of, “Unforgiving pain, please let me be…”

What a priceless way to start things off.

The readings rolled on as over a dozen volunteers got up to read their gems, including people like Diane Morrow, Yvette Doucette, Sean Wiebe, Laurie Brinklow, Orysia Dawydiak, Ghislaine O’Hanley, and even yours truly (I read an embarrassing violently disturbing 1991 grade seven poem to the tune of Leader of the Pack called I’d Like to Blow Up the Leader of Iraq); but the incomparable supremo hit of the show was Dale Sorensen, who read an epic adventure piece written in grade 5 about Adventure People going to the moon.

It was breathtaking.

No, in all seriousness, it was one of the funniest things I’ve heard in a long while – and judging by the non-stop roars of laughter, everyone else was on the exact same page.

The evening finished off with some wonderful music provided by The Fresh Air Inspectors, and Teresa Doyle with Andrew MacIsaac.

With the success of this very first Hilroy Diaries, Nicholson says that Women’s Network PEI will be hoping to hold another one this spring – so get diggin’ in your trunks to unearth that lingering juicy stuff of your own..

We came, we read, we laughed.

GRTTWaK10 was a success. We had a ton of fun, and we raised some cash for Frontier College. Some coverage:

• Brad Wheeler covered the night for The Globe and Mail
• Lee-Anne Bigwood wrote about the night at Little Bites with Bigwood
• Reader Jodi Lastman chronicled her experience (and posted a video) at Hypenotic

Thanks to everyone who read, and everyone who came out to support the readers. Also, to the wonderful folks at The Garrison, Brown Paper Tickets, and MailChimp.

If you’d like to be notified about upcoming GRTTWaK shows, sign up for the mailing list.

That’s right folks. We’re sold out, and the signup list is full. At this point, the only way to see the show is to arrive at the Garrison early for rush tickets.

GRTTWaK10 / The Garrison, 1197 Dundas St W / Doors (and rush tickets) 7:30pm, show at 8:00

The GRTTWaK10 rush and reader tickets arrived in the mail today, fresh from Brown Paper Tickets. They’re lovely.

The advanced tickets are almost sold out, and soon, the only way to get into GRTTWaK10 will be to show up at the door for a rush ticket, or sign up to read. Don’t wait!

Because the last one was so much fun, we’re going to do another evening of GRTTWaK. It’ll be the tenth, which is kind of crazy. Like last time, it’ll be at The Garrison, and all proceeds will go to Frontier College, our favourite literacy organization.

So if you’re like me, and you happen to find yourself in your childhood home over the holidays, why not spend an afternoon digging around in the basement or the attic? Find those gems, sign up to read, and bring them to the Garrison.

Tickets, signup, deets

GRTTWaK10 takes place Monday, January 31, 2011 at The Garrison in Toronto. Doors open at 7:30pm, and the show starts at 8:00pm.

Four more things you should know:

1. Like last time, advance tickets will be sold exclusively through Brown Paper Tickets here: http://bit.ly/GRTTWaK10tickets
2. Like last time, these tickets are limited in number, and will almost certainly sell out.
3. Like last time, there will be a very limited number of rush tickets available at the door. They, like advance tickets, will cost five dollars.
4. Like last time, if you read at GRTTWaK10, you get in free. To sign up to read, fill in this form: http://bit.ly/GRTTWaK10signup

I’m really looking forward to doing this again, and I hope you are too.