From WXXI news.

This is Connections.

I'm Evan Dawson.

Our connection this hour will be made under a big topic on a stage, on many stages, in a forest, on top of a bus, among other places.

The Rochester Fringe Festival is back kicking off September 15th, running through the 26th.

This year's event includes roughly 715 performances at more than 45 venues across Rochester.

And as we do every year, we want to tell you what you can expect.

And our guests will tell you what they think.

You won't want to miss.

And I'd like to welcome the CEO and executive producer of the Rochester Fringe Festival, Erica Fee.

The the engine behind this incredible machine.

Well, it's a team effort.

So many engines, so many engines.

But how many years now for you?

Oh, my goodness, many.

It's Fringe 15.

Fringe 15.

It feels like Fringe 500.

And also feels like Fringe one.

You know, so it's interesting.

Yeah.

Yeah it is.

And so for, for people who have been there many times, there's, there's always the favorites and then there's always something new.

Right.

That's right.

It's, it's a mix.

Exactly.

What do you what do you most looking forward to here.

What am I most looking forward to.

Well I can't say that great weather I have no problem.

Many favorite children.

I'm looking forward to the delight and on everyone's faces when they come to see their shows.

Is it, is it harder or easier to produce a festival like this after 15 years?

It's both some things, you know, you get into a rhythm and then of course we all have new challenges and there's new challenges and no one, no one who, you know, if you've been living under a rock right now, then you might not realize, but there are a lot of challenges right now for the arts and arts funding.

We in fact, we were just talking about it, earlier, prior to the program starting.

But yeah, there are new challenges every year.

And the thing about the Fringe is, is that we're always trying something new.

So, there's always some sort of new challenge with with that, with not trying to recreate the wheel every year.

And, you know, look, it's 715 plus shows.

So there's going to be local artists that people have never heard of.

Plenty.

And then there's going to be literally international and national names.

You know Pete Davidson is coming.

You know, do you want to mention a few of the so the bigger tickets.

Well, everyone's a big ticket.

Everyone's a star.

I'm not trying to get you in trouble.

My God, Evan, what are you doing?

No.

Well, Pete Davidson, of course.

We have him headlining Eastman Theater on September 25th.

That's a Friday night.

We also have some really exciting circus shows, and I'm sure we'll be talking about those will be outdoors.

We're calling it circus in the city on Friday, September 18th and Saturday, September 19th.

We're creating what we think of as a mini Montreal outdoors on parcel five and give street free to the public.

And we have the an amazing flip fabric coming in from Quebec City.

Their show is called Summer break.

They're driving a bus down from Quebec City, a school bus that has trampolines and whatnot on it on the top.

And so that's going to be a very joyful show over at parcel five.

We of course, have our Spiegeltent.

We have, Matt and Heidi Morgan will be again, creating an all new show, Cirque the Fringe anchors away.

We have the world champion roller bolla artist.

In that show this year.

So that's that's circus.

And then we have some other, you know, you know, very unique shows.

We have this new a space that is next to the Spiegeltent called the Garden Studio, and that will have some, intimate shows, intimate, intimate theater.

We, of course, have bushwhack to everyone knows them.

A female led comedy duo of Abby devised and Carrie Young, they're doing bushwhack.

Big joy, fun time revival.

They're also doing a show and I it's called Bushwhacked.

It's their camper, their pamper camper.

Take only four tickets.

It's selling out, but.

And, but also in that garden studio, we have two really exciting shows, that I'm excited about.

One is called Just to Be Close to You.

It is a show, headlined by a Lunge singer called Carl Porter Rocky.

That is his character name.

I found it at the Edinburgh Fringe.

The actor is actually composer.

He's a ten time award winning clown.

And that's a comedy show.

Absolutely hysterical.

And then we have a beautiful show that I found at the Wild Festival in San Diego, which that's curated by La Hoya Playhouse, called Tea Party at the end of the world, created by Jessica Crane.

And it's about her time in the Arctic Circle.

And it's an actual tea party where everyone drinks tea.

That's a really, really cool idea.

Yeah.

Though the Arctic Circle isn't what I was assuming, I thought maybe we're actually, we're not near the actual in the world yet, are we?

Well, depends on who you ask.

Right?

Yeah, that's another hour.

That's that's for a later show.

Yeah.

I had a little back and forth this morning with a local artist, Thomas Warfield.

He's performing at the Spiegeltent.

Yes.

He's the first local musician headlining at.

That's right.

That's a big deal.

He has his own show.

It's going to be on the final day of the Fringe, Saturday, September 26th in the Spiegeltent.

We are very excited to have him.

And we have a, we have a bunch of other, great shows going into the Spiegeltent, but also, all of our other venues in 45 venues this year.

It's not to be sniffed out.

So the Spiegeltent is going to be located where people haven't been there.

So it's right across the street from the Eastman Theater, where it's a place that we call one Fringe place.

I mean, it's a parking lot the rest of the year, but we didn't think that that was a very exciting, you know, title.

So we call it one Fringe place.

It's sort of the corner of Main Street and Gibbs Street.

Yeah.

And this really does it's become this tradition that marks kind of the end of summer or the entry into fall.

The the weather's always great.

It's always really sort of lovely to walk around and just kind of feel the energy and then at night, maybe get a drink and walk around one French place and see the shows and get inside.

The weirdness of the Spiegeltent, right?

Yes, yes.

I mean, also in that tent this year we have Marcel Lucan.

This is, a character, a French character.

Marcella Kahn has been on Comedy Central, has been on the BBC, and the show is called Marcel Lukens Wine List, where audience members will fill in prior to the show their grievances and complaints, mainly about romantic love and other situations they may have gotten themselves into, which is run out to hilarious effect by Marcel.

And that is going to be three nights on the Spiegeltent.

The 18th, 19th and 20th.

Hysterical.

He's also doing a kid's show.

One of the one off.

It will be on Saturday the 19th.

Les Enfants Terribles, a game show for awful children and children, compete to, win the crown of most awful child.

Most of the children wind up throwing the adults that have, taken them to the show under the bus.

So it's it's it's great.

We have a drag show, on the Monday of the, of the festival in the Spiegeltent with heavy orders, and we always try to make that, like a very special occasion.

We've done a drag show successfully in there for years, and this one is direct from New York, and it's called Judy Garland Is Fat at Carnegie Hall.

So it is, recreation of Judy Garland's, big concert at Carnegie Hall, often called the best night ever in showbiz history.

Chris writes in to say of of, the Three nights in the Spiegeltent worst wine list ever.

But but maybe the best wine list.

Yes, yes, maybe the best.

It's amazing what people will say publicly about their love lives or even their children.

It's shocking.

So we have we have a show.

We had one performance of this show in 2024, and it was so good.

We decided to bring it back for three nights.

And after the show, I had audience members come up to me and say, why did you put so many plants in the audience?

Right?

Like, this couldn't be real.

I don't know these people.

Yeah, we really didn't.

We didn't know these people were like, we don't know where they're from.

We don't.

I also cannot believe that they've experienced some of these episodes that they've now publicly aired.

The human experience is an amazing thing.

Yeah, it's it's an amazing thing.

So, we are just kind of scratching the surface and we're gonna go throughout this hour talking to some of the performers about what they are bringing to Rochester Fringe this year.

The website, if you want to see the full schedule, is where it's at Rochester Fringe.com.

You can also pick up a festival guide, which is in and around downtown.

There's a list of where you can get one or you can download the app, go, to Rochester Fringe in your app store, Rochester Fringe in the App Store.

Look at that and you're holding the physical card.

It's so nice to have so physical books and magazines.

It sure is.

You know, it's quaint.

Yeah.

It's like we're going back.

Well, I think it's beyond quaint.

I think it may be necessary.

I do do agree with that.

In studio with us, are the Highsmith because Lyrical Grooves is coming your way on the first Sunday of Fringe.

Sunday, September 20th, 5 p.m.. It's a 60 minute show.

And it's happening at the school of the Arts.

The Ensemble Theater, Jimmie Highsmith Jr., Lu Highsmith.

Hello, hello.

Hello.

Welcome.

Hey, bro.

Hi.

Nice.

Nice to see you.

And Jimmie reached out to me specifically.

I think I can mention a little bit of the backstory here, because if you look, there's a lot of performances.

We can't talk about them all.

But there was something kind of, pointed or interesting about this one.

Tell us a little bit about Lyrical Grooves and some of what underpins what you're what you wanted to talk about today.

Well, first of all, it's my first appearance at Fringe.

I'm honored to be here with my life.

This is your first.

Is that right?

First.

I've always had a conflict to get Erica Fee.

I know my wife has done Fringe a number of times for myself, and.

And we just celebrated 30 years of marriage last year.

Congratulations.

And we put together this show last year called Lyrical Grooves, which is, I mean, floating rhythms.

The letter rooms to groups.

I kind of I'm old, which, accompanies my music and her poetry, and it celebrates our marriage and just love and life in general.

You know, we go on 31 years of of great matrimony.

She hasn't murdered me yet.

No, but, yeah, we want to share.

The show is going to bring people into our world a little bit that day.

Pretty much when they say something to do.

Yeah.

Well, what you'll have right in that look.

Absolutely.

With 30 years of marriage and us both being artists, it's always a joy to collaborate artistically, which is reflective of our relationship as well.

There's a lot of ebb and flow.

There's.

Okay, I know where you're going to come in here.

I know we're going can go in there.

And with a crafted show, but also kind of loose as I don't know what he's playing in.

He may not know what poem I'm going to do.

So it just adds that element of that's how a relationship is.

So yeah, yeah, it's going to be just that.

I mean, we don't rehearse.

We never rehearse.

I have a bunch of music.

I've created and I say, what do you want to do?

And we go, so it's going to be very fluid and everything, but very real, and they're going to love it.

I guarantee them love it.

Poetry, spoken word music.

From two of the really great artistic minds in Rochester who happened to be married.

You know, 30 years is, certainly something to celebrate.

Absolutely.

And, Jimmie, I want to kind of give you some space to tell me what you what you think about sort of the institution of marriage after 30 years of it.

I'm glad I married.

I couldn't imagine being single.

Nowadays.

It seems too complicated.

It just does.

It just, you know, it's it's it's a joy to, as an artist to go on a road on tour and come home to a happy, calm house.

So my wife was always giving me a place to come home, to just lay my head and be relaxed and loved.

I was anyone could become married and and I good music.

I'm in.

I'm very fortunate.

I'm very grateful for the wife I have.

Because I'm crazy.

Because you see, that's really.

You have crazy moments, that's for sure.

But the broader landscape right now, I mean, reading the New York Times, recent sort of reporting on trends and the way younger generations feel about marriage, what's going on with not just, declining birth rates, but also just declining rates of marriage and even interest in marriage.

You talk to people and they're either getting married later or saying they never want to get married.

I wonder what you make of that.

First of all, that's that's a hard one.

I don't know, I guess my folks from my dad died in 2018, but they at 50 years married or 50 years.

We had examples of marriage.

Unfortunately, these kids nowadays don't have those examples of a good marriage, so they don't really understand the benefits of a good marriage.

I think that's why you're seeing the decline and people getting married.

Plus no one really recorded back in the 70s and 80s.

Kids quite frequently hook up.

They don't get to know each other, you know, and that's a big part of it.

I think, you know, we've gotten to know each other over the we still date 30 years later.

We still date.

And I think it's important.

And kids don't.

They just kind of connect.

That makes sense.

Well I mean I, I think and I'm absolutely to kind of jump into this in a second.

I do think the way that we interact with digital media has changed.

Caught it.

You use the word courting.

That's a quaint term.

You know, my my summer to what's courting, you know, and, but back in the day when you didn't have, like, profiles to look up of people and you wanted to get to know them, you might actually have to talk to them.

They might have talked on the phone, you know, which was connected to a wall in your household sometimes had a rotary dial.

Or you might have to sit down in person and talk for a while and so I think courting was necessary before you felt like, for a lot of people, for you felt like you had a chance to actually really get to know somebody and decide if you wanted to pursue something.

And now people sort of feel like they know everything they need to know about you.

They've seen your TikTok profile, they've seen your socials.

You know, I saw you roll your eyes a little bit there, Lu.

You want to say something about that?

Yes.

It's very different.

I feel that when we dated, we had to wait for a phone.

I had to wait for him to get off of work, to call him and have a comment.

Or how was your day?

Whereas this generation, they're on the phone while they're at work, they may not be talking.

They're texting, but they're definitely not talking.

Nobody's a constant no, but it's this constant, interaction.

Whereas we could sit down and have dinner and have a conversation and speak, whereas with this particular generation is seems, instantaneous, like, you know, why, why didn't you know nobody has patience.

Nobody has the long haul, the long game in mind.

It's just very instantaneous gratification and it's just very different.

Well I mean I'm not saying all no no no no I'm speaking in general but, but certainly in general the broader outline of that trend is definitely there.

And what's also kind of tied to that, Jimmie, is this generation of young men is doing worse than a lot of previous generations of young men and young men from all backgrounds, you know, white, black, Latino, other, you know, men coming from middle class, upper class poverty.

They're doing worse for a lot of different reasons.

It's not just marriage.

I'm not just endorsing, you know, so your argument, but, they are more unmoored.

They're struggling more to find sort of permanence in adulthood.

So the typical sort of milestones of life have moved later, if they happen at all.

And, you seem to think that, well, I mean, I want to put words in your mouth.

We had texted a little bit, Jimmie.

And you seem to think that the way that we look at relationships, as being disposable versus durable has affected people, especially young men, in negative ways.

Oh, absolutely.

And that's why I'm part of a group of men who do source mentorship to teach them in the men code.

That is a lost art, unfortunately, and people just don't appreciate things like they did back in the day.

It is.

It's even like you buy a car, you know, car, you buy new car, buy buy new TV.

Nothing is fix, nothing is cap.

It's just disposable.

In life.

Everything is that way.

Everything is like my wife said and thrown away right away and gotten something new.

You said man code.

Yes, I mean, I, I do think that there are some really, difficult, sort of ideas about masculinity.

And yes, especially in the social media world, the influencers out there who are trying to kind of put their own stamp on what, what it means to be masculine.

Well, I'm I don't mean math.

I just mean being a gentleman being.

But what does masculinity mean to you?

It it's okay for man to cry.

So that being alpha male, per se, it's being a king, a community, respecting the queens, your community, you know, being an example to other men, how to keep yourself with integrity and honor.

That's the man code.

How to dress, how to talk, how to present yourself and how to be understood by the world, you know, and to laugh.

And again, it's okay to cry if you're hurt.

You know, I'm asking to be alpha male, Mr.

Macho Man.

I'm just saying, be a man.

Be an honest man with integrity and honesty.

Lu, how do you think of masculinity these days?

Oh, everything's so fluid now.

I feel a lot like my husband.

Manhood to me is being a person who is honest, sincere, straightforward, who really has a desire, to present yourself.

Well, if you wear a suit and you're presenting yourself.

Well, if you wear something that is quote unquote feminine and you are confident in who you are and presenting yourself well, I feel that you are still a man.

I quote one of my favorite poets in Fringe, Christopher Coles, bakery poet.

Manhood is not based on how many women you can get.

Manhood is based on how you represent yourself and how you are there for your family, how you are there for support.

Manhood is not based on some things that people think it is.

See, Fringes can make you think of you, right?

Well, one thing that you were just saying that I thought, resonated with me and with audiences is that whole idea of courting and, in person activities.

Right.

And so there was, wall Street Journal article earlier this year where they were talking about they asked, quite a few entertainment experts, what will entertainment look like in the next 20 years?

And one thing that was, I thought of what would thrive is live performance, because I cannot replace live performance.

And so that in person connection people are really and we're seeing it.

And Edinburgh Fringe just had a record breaking year there really.

People are seeking out that in-person connection and you can have that as an audience member.

Yeah, I hope that that I hope that that continues.

I hope I doesn't find a way to screw up in-person connection either, though maybe it'll try.

And Erica references Edinburgh because that's the OG right there.

That's original.

Yeah.

So, the Edinburgh Fringe was founded in 1947.

There were eight theater groups who were not invited to participate, and so they just turned up anyway.

And they brought their sets and their costumes and their props.

And there was a reviewer who was trying to figure out, what do we call these shows that aren't part of the official program?

And he nicknamed them the Festival Fringe, and then went on to snowball to become the largest arts festival in the world.

And if you look at world events, it's the third largest in the world.

So we have Olympics number one, World Cup number two, Edinburgh Fringe number three.

And it's gone on to inspire 300 I know.

Well that's how big it is.

And 300 communities worldwide, to create their own Fringe festivals which are all a reflection of their own community.

They're all a little bit different.

Rochester Fringe.com.

And let's listen before we let the Highsmith's go here, because we got a lot of artists to talk to this hour.

I think we're going to listen to Ascension into love.

Jimmie Lu, what are we listening to here?

Okay.

We collaborated on a, CD a few years ago, and this is his music.

And my words put together.

Let's listen.

La la la la.

And he.

Dance with me along with the galactic masses.

So fly across the sky.

The sky.

Dance for me amongst the masses of people.

Unashamed in the crowd.

Play with me.

Under the tangerine colored sky.

Beaming bright upon your skin.

You can play for me.

A song that resonates some deep within.

So we got music by Jimmie Highsmith Jr, words by Lu Highsmith and a little taste of.

Is that the kind of style we're going to hear with Lyrical Grooves?

That and more that some soft ups like that, I mean some upbeat stuff as well.

Definitely something to invoke thought from the audience.

And again, we get into our world a little bit.

Congratulations on 30 years of marriage.

Thank you, thank you.

Congratulations on 30 years of tolerating this, this wild man as he says, yes, but every marriage on all sides is going to have a little bit of crazy.

And sometimes it's just owning that and finding a partner who appreciates that.

And you guys are a real, real model for the community.

Congratulations on the success and have fun.

The event coming up with Lyrical Grooves is Sunday, September 20th during the Rochester Fringe 5 p.m.

show at school of the Arts Ensemble Theater.

Get tickets in advance.

It's required.

So you're going.

You're going to need tickets.

Thank you very much.

To both of you.

So what we're going to do is we'll take this only break the hour.

The CEO and producer of the Rochester Fringe Festival Erica Fee, is with us.

oh, why break when we've got the next guest already ready here?

Because we've got everything choreographed pretty well here I am not you can see I am not the choreographer, Erica Fee, that's Megan Mack.

That's where I bring you.

That's much smarter people than maker.

She's just along for the ride.

Tracey Yarad is a musician and a writer and an actor, and All These Pretty Things.

And Tracey is joining us now to talk about her shows coming up here.

Hello, Tracey.

Thanks for being with us.

And hello, Evan.

Thanks for having me.

Hello, Erica.

Hi there.

So tell us about what All These Pretty Things is.

First of all.

Well, I guess it's the antis of this.

And to that, this is.

How do I say that?

Of Jimmie and Lu's lovely long marriage?

Buddy?

Is, mine.

My show is.

Well, I guess I've written that because I went through a horrendous divorce after 23 years of a fabuLus marriage.

But I don't want to give away what the show's about, because it's not.

It's not about.

Oh, this woman got divorced.

Oh, yeah?

So what's new?

Who hasn't got divorced?

Get over it.

Someone said to me at the Adelaide Fringe one day as I was handing out a card.

Oh, get over it.

She says that, she said that unironically, like, just get over it.

Yeah.

No, she said I was handing out my card and I had the spiel and it started.

I don't have this spiel anymore, but I had this spiel that said, what do you do when your husband of 23 years runs off with your.

And I won't say the rest, and this woman didn't hear the rest and went, you just get over it, man.

Oh man.

So I they're not I cannot give them.

But yes.

So so that something horrendous did happen that was quite unusual.

I'm going to have a T-shirt made that says my breakup is worse than your breakup.

But I had an incredible marriage, and I believe in the institution.

Well, but both married.

To be fair to the people who have seen the show.

Besides the woman who was making assumptions before she had ever met you, there's a lot of there's a lot of the reviews say that.

Yeah.

I mean, there's a lot of, power in the show, but it's also very funny.

It's supposed to be funny, right?

We're supposed to be able to laugh with you.

It's very funny.

It's very funny.

It's turn.

I think I've turned into a stand up comic.

I don't know how that happened, but I think I have, because it's just.

It's just.

Yeah, I mean, I've had time.

I guess it's been, you know, nine years since all of that was going on.

And I'm a musician, number one.

So I was writing just to cope with life.

That's what I do all the time.

You know, every day I sit down on my piano.

So during that hard times in life too, I sit there probably more.

And then this music came.

And then I moved to New York, which was crazy because I'm an Aussie.

And I thought, I'll go to New York.

So I've never been there with him and I'll see what that's like.

And I was already halfway through my 50s, and I was a bit scared and everyone was saying, what the hell are you doing?

You're insane.

And I didn't know anyone here in New York, which is where I'm sitting right now in my house, where I live in Brooklyn with my dog who came from Sydney with me.

And I just restarted my life and it's something I never expected would happen from this horrendous event.

Well, Tracey, I think part of why your show has been acclaimed from Adelaide and beyond is because of how frankly, relatable maybe your individual story is at the very high end of the break ups being better than others or worse than others, but so much of your experience of trying to figure out reinvention starting over, make doing things that in your 20s you never thought you would be doing.

I did want to ask you, you know, what has what were your what's the feeling in your 50s that you did not expect when you were 25 years old?

Because when I was 25, I had a different view of my 50s, which I'm about to hit, than I do now.

You know, standing on the precipice of it, I'm curious to know about about you.

I think for me, the 50s were hard because I went I went through this, this unexpected breakup.

So I it made me feel incredibly old, actually, at that time.

I don't feel old anymore.

Now I'm in my 60s, so now I feel more like how I did when I was 25, exploring.

And, creating and writing.

But, yeah, I don't know if that answers that properly, but when you're going through hardship, you can and and you've been discarded.

I think, Jimmie mentioned something about that.

Yeah.

About being, you know, when you feel like you've just been discarded.

Like, relationships are so easy.

Let's just discard that one that can really make you age.

Well, here's the remarkable thing.

Now, when I was in my 20s, I thought different ages meant different looks.

Now I feel like I'm aging quickly.

But you look like my old version of, what, 45 look like.

You look fabuLus.

You sound great.

And the reviews are so good.

All These Pretty Things, Tracey said, who is a musician, a writer and an actor, is performing three different shows Friday, Saturday, Sunday, September 18th, 1920, all at the mag at the Memorial Art Gallery in the Lynn Lovejoy Parlor.

There.

Haven't seen if you haven't seen a show there, how do you like the venue there?

Erica Fee?

Well, is there anything more majestic than the Memorial Art Gallery?

I mean, it's absolutely spectacular.

And they've created a little hub there.

And no to because right across the street, of course, the school of the Arts.

Yeah, absolutely.

So, so much going on there.

Popular place to kind of hit multiple shows on foot.

Tracey, it is lovely to talk to you.

And it will be even more so when you're in Rochester to see you for the Fringe.

Thank you for making time for us.

Yeah, thanks for having me.

And I'm really excited because I've never been to Rochester, so I'm excited.

All right.

Tracey, you are Ed, who is, the creator of All These Pretty Things.

Friday, Saturday.

Sunday, September 18th, 1920 Rochester Fringe.com for that full guide and full schedule if you want to get set for that here.

All right.

Our next guest is sitting right across from Erica Fee there, but I don't I noticed you didn't bring an instrument for this for this program I have my voice, I am training I'm sorry.

Your voice is an instrument.

It's a powerful instrument.

But there is a gentleman sitting here, Sean Mulligan, who is the artist with Sound of Sanctuary.

And Sean is with us here.

Now, you do need to grab a microphone so I can hear you.

So grab that one there because then we're going to hear you play here.

But it's nice to see you in studio.

Welcome to the program here, Sean.

Oh, it's a joy.

Thanks for having me.

Tell us what.

Sound of sanctuaries.

Yeah.

Sound of Sanctuary.

I've got a nice little clip.

So I say just as, It's it's a combination.

It's a listening session, interview, live performance.

We have this, thanks to the GVK, this grant to really capture the sound of our city as a Sanctuary city.

Sort of like, what does Sanctuary sound like?

A type of sonic journalism, really.

And, and we've made that album at Wicked Squid Studio with Josh Pottinger and his wonderful team, and, and so Fringe is really just going to celebrate that we're going to get a chance to have a curated discussion with the artists about just what it means to be, an immigrant or first or second gen in this space, in this city.

And then what does that sound like?

How has music translated that experience?

How did this become an interest of yours as a musician?

Sure.

Yeah.

I mean, well, first and foremost, I'm born to Irish parents.

They came over from Dublin, well before I was born.

And so I've grown up Irish in the United States, which is quite the experience, you know, you know, things could be so similar and yet you're a little different.

And so there's definitely a journey of seeking belonging in this project especially, you know, I came from Maryland, but Rochester is my new home.

And, so is trying to find a sense of belonging and what that blowing could sound like.

Also, as a musician, I'm extremely interested in not just what the sound is, but what is the utility?

What, spaces are we playing and for who?

So this project gave me that opportunity to explore that and it's on the final day of Fringe on the 26th.

That's right.

Saturday, the 26, performances at noon and 730 at the downtown United Presbyterian Church that dates Sound of Sanctuary.

So what are we going to hear briefly here in studio here, Sean?

For sure, for sure.

I've got, a couple of instruments.

I got my viola and a shruti box.

Shruti, for those of us who are not familiar, it's, Shruti means breath in Sanskrit.

So, we're going to play a little tune called Luis.

And that's going to be my breath box there.

All right, let's hear it.

I also brought, because music is a thing to share if anyone would like to shake.

Oh, man, you're going to give it to me if you like it better.

I'm going to try to be really subtle here.

Erica shaking her head.

This is a tune I wrote for a friend of mine who is just always in a good mood.

And.

Then.

You ask if you need any.

Little ditty for the minute.

The utility.

You, need every minute of every day.

I mean, even if you, And.

You.

You.

Hear?

Thank you.

Well done.

Beautiful.

That is, I say I didn't want to, pollute with too much of the shaking, but this is a beautiful instrument to hear.

It's a nice palate cleanser.

You sounded great.

You have a lot of talent to be able to pull a lot of that together here.

Sean is performing.

Let's see here.

I've got the schedule.

And for me, again, it's the last day of Fringe.

Saturday, September 26th, the noon show and 7:30 p.m.

show at downtown United Presbyterian Church.

I'll close with this.

What do you hope people get out of the show?

I hope they realize that music is for everyone.

Everyone has a heartbeat.

You're a musician at heart and it can be used to share, can be used to belong.

We think a lot about what we wear, what we eat.

We can think about what we hear, what we listen, what sounds we let pass through ourselves, what sounds we create.

It is obvious how earnest you are and how genuine and certainly how talented.

Thanks for coming in.

Have a great time at Fringe.

Dear gods.

Thank you so much, Sean Mulligan.

Artists with Sound of Sanctuary, which you can find in your guide if you get the physical guide for Fringe or Rochester Fringe.com.

Now we've got to take our only break of the hour and more of the Fringe performers coming up on the other side.

Coming up in our second hour, we sat down with Doctor Emily Queen and we revisit a conversation from about a year ago in which we welcomed family medicine practitioner Emily Quinn and two connections.

Back in 2015, we talked to doctor Queen and about why she was choosing to leave Rochester for Canada.

She said American health care was crushing her soul.

She wanted something different.

Ten years later, what had she found out?

We'll find out next.

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This is the part of the hour that's really moving fast.

We're talking to different performers for the Rochester Fringe, and I do think producer Erica Fee, we have already seen kind of the great range that you bring, right?

Different themes, different venues, styles.

We're getting a little taste of it right here of the 700 plus venues and performances that we're going to have.

Right.

Well, that's what's so exciting about it.

There's really something for everyone.

We have every genre under the sun and the 45 venues we are set up.

It's a bifurcated model, which I don't want to go too far into the weeds, but we have two halves.

We have one part that the Fringe curates, and those are the big outdoor performances and public spaces.

The Spiegeltent, Pete Davidson but then the rest of the shows are curated by the venues themselves, and that's very much the Edinburgh Fringe model.

So all of these venues are really putting their best foot forward to curate their own lineups, and we're really excited to see, they're all bringing their A-game.

715 performances in 45 different venues, including how about Rochester's only old growth forest?

Kristy Liddell is president of the Friends of Washington Grove, which is producing Forest Music at Fringe.

Welcome.

Thank you for being with us here.

Thank you for having me.

So it is a 90 minute show and it's happening on the first Saturday of Fringe, Saturday, September 19th at 430 in the afternoon at Washington Grove, which, if you haven't been there, what is it?

Tell us about the venue.

Washington Grove.

I love, it is an old growth forest, about 26 acres at Cobbs Hill.

There are, some places at trailheads, where we'll have places where musicians are set up.

And we'll also have people in the grove so you can wander through.

You can see all these huge trees, just such a rich ecological community that offers so much to our city.

When we saw the description, we were like, we definitely want to just briefly talk about this on the Fringe show, on Connections live music in the city of Rochester's only old growth forest.

I think most people don't even know what we're talking about when we say that, right?

I mean, like, you're going to bring a lot of people probably to the spot for the first time, don't you think?

I certainly hope so.

In fact, like, I have a cheat sheet here, and I really want to make sure that people know if they haven't been to Washington Grove.

This is such a great opportunity to come.

If you're a little uncertain in places that feel kind of wild or you don't want to walk there on your own or whatever, there's going to be, so many people to help you, so many people enjoying the music and then the music itself.

And so it's just a great opportunity to get to know the space and hopefully come back.

So again, a walking tour, the caution is it is uneven terrain.

Sure.

Good tip to keep in mind there are still some steep slopes.

I like this.

You say that respectful children and leashed pets are welcome.

Or at least children.

Respectful pets.

Yes.

Yeah.

Whatever.

Sure.

And that's because it is such a well-loved space and because, to use that space sustainably, we do need to really be mindful to stay on the trails, you know, don't litter.

Pick up after yourself and your pets.

And also just make sure that everyone has a comfortable space and not everyone maybe loves to pet dogs.

I don't necessarily understand that, but you know, just to know that pets are restrained and so and and we will be standing on trails, the musicians will be at kind of junctions.

And so you may be kind of close to other people.

So just be aware, it's easy to come and go if you know, a child gets antsy and wants to move along or whatever, that's that's a good venue for that sort of thing.

This is the magic of Fringe.

It's such a cool idea.

Saturday, September 19th, 4:30 p.m.

90 minutes in length.

But again, it's what works for you at Washington Grove.

And I'll close with this.

When people kind of come out, if they haven't been there the first time, what's what's the sell to them?

They've got all these different things they could do.

There's 700 different performances going on.

Why should they be there?

I think they should be there because this is just like a fairy tale.

Come alive to go wandering through the woods and to have all these great musicians playing, some really cool instruments.

We have someone playing Chinese people.

Leo.

Oh, we have, like, rotating on cello.

We have Curtis Waterman playing the Native American flute, Alyssa Rodriguez playing the Nickel Harbor and Sunshine Quan playing harp.

And these just just to hear those in that space and to sort of hear the music drifting through and wander toward it.

I don't know, there's just what it's like that.

Thank you for coming in.

Have a great time with this.

It's such a cool concept.

Kristy Liddell, president of the Friends of Washington Grove, they're producing Forest Music for the Fringe.

Thank you very much.

Thank you.

When Rochester Fringe.com and you know, I mentioned, Eric Fee earlier this hour, there are some, you know, sort of more international names.

There's the Pete Davidson to the world.

Then there's this guy named Joe Liss who if you don't know Joe, you probably know his work.

And it's a really impressive resume.

A lot of shows that people have seen, a lot of, entertainment that people are aware of.

And Eric Fee is aware of.

Joe Liss, you want to do a little introduction here?

I've known Joe for a very long time, and, we worked together on a show called The Bicycle Men, and, Edinburgh.

Edinburgh Fringe was a huge hit show.

And in fact, well, you'll bring him on and he'll tell you about where we met and how we realized we are both from here.

Joe Liss, the actor, writer and producer of Misery Loves Company.

Hello, Joe.

Hello.

How are you, Evan?

I'm great here.

I want to hear everything about Erica Fee.

Let's just do another hour.

And you just tell us all the stories that are not supposed to be on the air.

How do you feel about that?

We could.

Yes.

Yeah, we.

Eric and I met, What?

What was it?

It was.

It's Hurricane Katrina.

It was 2005.

Yes.

We were finishing up the, Edinburgh Fringe.

Now.

And, Erica, we weren't finishing up.

We were at was at the beginning of the entire month.

You.

Joe?

Yeah.

See that?

It's age.

It's age related.

It's amazing when.

Oh, yes.

We were in baggage claim at the Edinburgh airport.

And you're talking about where did you.

Where are you from?

Where?

I said, I'm from upstate New York.

I grew up in upstate New York because I grew up in upstate New York.

And I said, well, where are you from?

She says, I'm from Victor.

And I said, I'm from Clifton Springs.

And we were like, going, oh my, where?

Where would two local upstate meet?

Except in the Edinburgh Fringe Festival?

That was after we'd worked.

It was a month that we discovered that.

You discovered it after a month?

Yeah, after a month, because he was living in LA.

I was in London, and for some reason, this bizarre conversation, came about as to which New York state high schools can you see from the Thruway who talks about these sorts of things?

But we did, Victor in Clifton Springs.

There you go.

Thank you.

Literally.

But Joe has a great let's not talk about that.

Let's talk about Joe's great show, which is fantastic.

He's bringing it back this year.

Misery Loves Company.

Absolutely hysterical.

Okay, so, Joe, I want you to give people, if people may or may not remember the movie with Kathy Bates and James Caan, misery.

This is an awesome concept.

Tell people about what misery loves.

Company is.

So it's classic.

It's misery.

The film, the famous Stephen King novel, and the Rob Reiner film.

And what we did was we, decided to let's improvise the movie.

So we're going to do we're taking the basic plot of the movie, but we're throwing out the script and we're creating our own script through Improvization.

My partner, Dee Ryan, who, is a alumnus of Second City as well as myself.

We're the pros, and we get suggestions from the audience, and we, do a reimagining in a horrific and hilarious way.

We keep the horror and we add the comedy to the, the show misery.

And we are calling it Misery Loves Company.

I mean, that movie needed a little more comedy.

I will say a little grammar.

It was short on laughs.

It was short on Last Look.

But you know, I mean, for someone like me, I love to laugh at scary parts because I sit there and I'm like, you kind of know what's coming.

And it just it you either laugh or you're scared.

And I believe to be a it tickles my funny bone.

Does it tickle?

You're funny.

One does did get to break your ankles with a hammer.

Well, yes.

Oh, we'll say that.

All right, I didn't I shouldn't have said that.

I'm 100% going to be the.

The thing about it, if it's in the movie, it's on the stage.

So, Yes, Joe, down to our last minute here.

I want to tell people there's three different performances Thursday, Friday, Saturday, September 24th, five and six at Blackfriars, Blackfriars.

It's such a great venue.

It's perfect for not only this kind of show, but for for good Improvization good.

Improv is some of the hardest art.

It's so hard and when you find people who are good, you go, oh wow, this is awesome.

This is really cool.

Yeah.

And Eric, you've probably seen all forms over the years.

Joe is very, very modest.

But I will tell you, and we're going to do a little bit of celebrity name dropping here.

Sorry, Joe, but oh, Joe is Stephen Colbert's favorite improviser.

I will that is that is put that on every business card or t shirt you have man.

You're good.

You're right.

Embossed in my stationery there is Joe Liss, Stephen Colbert's favorite improviser.

He's an actor, writer, producer.

The show is Misery Loves Company.

Joe's resume is too long to read.

And it is long, and it is very impressive.

And he's also one of Eric Phe's favorite people.

So yes, Joe, thank you for making the time.

We'll see you in Rochester for the Fringe, and we're looking forward to spending more time with you.

Great.

Awesome.

We'll see you guys, in a couple of weeks.

Upstate New York, 15 Springs is Joe Liss.

That's right.

There you go.

Eric.

See, we could have done an hour with just Joe here.

Oh, easily.

But we're down to our last five minutes, and we are going to bring in the team from.

Sorry 4 Da Weight.

Mike Gamble, Dre Gray, Drew Jemison.

Hello, guys.

In studio.

Hey, everybody.

I know, I know, I know, it's great to have you guys here.

Sorry 4 Da Weight.

Is, is going to have four different showings, four different shows.

Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday of Fringe, 21st, 22nd, 23rd, 24th.

It's at the Focus Theater.

Guys, I'm going to give you the floor here.

Tell us all about what Sorry 4 Da Weight is all right.

So, Sorry 4 Da Weight is a collective, group of comedians.

We're all men of size, as you can see, we're fat.

And we talk about our life experiences.

It's a very like.

It's a very inclusive, comedy show.

So, you know, all walks of life.

Anybody?

We all have, like, diverse backgrounds, you know, although we are like, you know, African-American men.

We do.

We're not a monolith.

Like, we all have different upbringings and all that.

And we just like me, I get my POV as like growing up in the inner city and the suburbs and like, also my time, like being with the with the white family that I grew up with.

So like that's where like my, like style of comedy comes from.

And you have a Dre I mean, you're my dad's a pastor, you know?

And I love just giving you my life's experiences.

You know, just particularly because.

Sorry 4 Da Weight.

You know, just being men of size, dealing with us on the plane, the airplane bathroom, the seatbelt extenders.

You know, I love to laugh at this.

You have to.

Yes.

Thank you.

Come on.

Yeah.

I was excited to see the elevator when I came in here.

Okay.

Come on.

Oh, my God, I thought I was like, oh, my God, how many stairs I gotta walk up?

I'm gonna be so windy before I get up here.

Oh, my comfy shoes.

You, guys, you.

Man, you're making me laugh at this, but you're going to make people laugh.

That's what you're here to do, right?

Yeah.

Okay.

Anything you want to add about, what people are going to experience?

Same as they said, the life I lived in the city and growing my mom and moving out of Webster, and I really had to deal with out there.

And.

Yeah, so many a great time, I can't wait.

How did you come together?

Whose idea was this?

So the name I came up with, the name, we were.

We're just talking me injury.

We're just kind of riffing, and I just said Sorry 4 Da Weight.

And then he was just like, that's genius.

You know?

He's like, you didn't do it on purpose.

And then he went, oh, I see what you did.

No, it was, I was saying it as a pun and.

Oh, you're saying it's a pun?

As a pun?

Yes.

Okay.

Yeah.

And, it just kind of it became its own like entity, if you will, like, it's like because we're all individual comedians, but like, Sorry 4 Da Weight when we come together and we, like, hit the stage, but the world can be so cruel.

How do you how do you get to a point where you want to laugh and, and kind of go at a place where the world can otherwise try to be cruel in that direction?

I used to believe in school, and it just stopped when I stopped caring about and start making jokes about it.

Yeah, I make it to about myself.

You can really make a joke about me if I'm not already making it.

We take you, take the power away.

Yeah, like by and by.

Like.

Like if I make the joke first, it's like, whatever you can say.

It's just going to just melt right off because I've already addressed it.

You know, you should be a therapist, too, because taking the power away, I've spent my life trying to take power away from people who bring me down.

I'm not very good at it.

Well, listen, you come to the show, you'll learn how to take that all with me.

Definitely.

And like, there's there's a humble side of it, too.

Like, like this is who we are, you know?

So you get to peer into our life.

No, we're not out riding a bike in a marathon.

Yes.

We're in Sibley's getting pizza.

Yes, yes.

Okay.

But it's just it's just it's a reality in life.

And, you know, like like our jokes, a lot of people can relate to them because, you know, like, I'm from child, like Webster Gate.

So, you know, like there's there's a lot of relate ability that people find because we all grew up in a very similar way.

Yeah.

Awesome.

I mean, I'm so glad that you guys came in to kind of tell us about this and really bring us genuine laughter.

If you can get us laughing this hard in three minutes, what are you going to do with an hour show here?

And again, it's at the Focus Theater is running it.

It's at the Duke at the Mercantile on Main.

Mercantile on Main.

Everybody should know that right now.

It's great space there.

And all the shows are at 8 p.m.

Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday.

Four chances to see.

Sorry 4 Da Weight with Mike, Dre, Drew.

Monday, September 21st 22nd, 23rd, 24th as part of Fringe.

You guys are going to kill it.

It's going to be awesome.

Oh, yeah.

Yeah, we can't wait.

But you might as well get tickets now.

Is that right?

Yeah.

Tickets are going quick.

The fire marshal already checked the stage.

Oh, yeah.

Good.

Yes.

We're good.

It can support the wait.

Is this scripted comedy or improvised?

So a lot of both, actually, yes.

Oh.

You said it right now.

No, I'm talking about when you do the show.

Oh, so we're sorry.

Act.

Yeah.

I mean, I'm telling you, you're improvising.

Your, improvization is also amazing.

Oh, yeah?

Yeah.

You know, we definitely, like, he's probably one of the best off the top.

I know, I'm like, Erica.

Feel the music is playing.

Oh, no.

What do we miss?

We missed so much.

We missed that.

Everybody's got to buy their tickets now.

Large.com I guess.

You know, September 15th through the 26th, September 15th through the 26 Rochester Fringe.com.

One Fringe place where it always is.

The Spiegeltent is going to be down there.

It's going to be a fun place to hang.

Yes.

And circus in the city.

I mean, that's going to be incredible.

We're turning the city and we're on many Montreal September 18th and 19th.

Where is that also five partial street, partial five and capture partial five and Gibbs Circus in the city.

So much going on.

Go take a nap.

You've earned it.

I'm gonna.

I'm going to sleep for all of November.

All of November.

And, Mike.

Dr.

Andrew, great meeting you guys.

Great meeting all of the artists with Fringe.

Thank you.

We got more Connections coming up in a moment.

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