Some kids grow up watching cartoons. Daniel Barrow, a Montreal-based media artist whose practice centers on drawing and collection, watched public access. Yes, that public access, where you can watch taped recordings of school board meetings, PSAs about fire safety and alternative religious programming.

But in the 1980s in Winnipeg, Manitoba, public access was a little different. Daniel's film Winnipeg Babysitter, which will be screened at the 2010 Philly Fringe, is a collection of archival footage from Winnipeg's golden age of public access. I got him on the phone to talk about the making of the film, the YouTube generation, and what we lost when the big cable companies destroyed public access.

Live Arts/Fringe: Tell me a little about your project Winnipeg Babysitter.

Daniel Barrow: I'm best known for overhead animation work. I make manual animations using an overhead projector, and the piece that I'm presenting in Philadelphia is different in that I'm projecting video and using an overhead projector on top of the video projection to create a pseudo-documentary. Do you remember Pop-Up Video?

After the jump: archives from memory, the advent of user-generated content, and Winnipeg as a conduit to filmic fame.

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Why is it that the second installment in a series doesn't live up to the first? I may be treading on dangerous territory by saying this, but Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets was the most boring book in the series, ditto the movie version of Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers—don't even get me started on New Moon. Whatever your opinion, the sophomore effort—however great the series—can be disappointing, and Wawapalooza, IdRatherBeHere's hilarious series of videos and sketches that have lovingly examined Philly's particular brand of crazy for the last three years at the Philly Fringe, wasn't immune to this effect.

"At a show the second year a sketch just dived," says Eric Balchunas, creator/writer/director of this year's iteration of the Fringe show Wawapalooza 4: Damaged Goods. "There's nothing like sitting backstage and hearing people not laughing when you expect laughs. It hurts."

Eric has a pretty foolproof plan to prevent that from ever happening again. At his job as a financial analyst he takes raw data and makes something with meaning out of it. It may seem like there's nothing funny about that, but creating a comedic show, as it turns out, isn't so different from crunching numbers.

"People need to have at least one drink, they need to be sitting close together, and there needs to be air conditioning," he says of the three essential factors for successful comedy. "That gives the material a head start."

In terms of tracking audience response, IdRatherBeHere uses techniques a lot more sophisticated than the old laugh-o-meter. Eric sets up a focus group to screen the show a month before the festival, with a cross-demographical audience that watches and ranks the material so that he knows what, if anything, to cut. "We try to figure out what's universally funny," he says. They also sent out a survey this year to audience members of the last three paloozas asking for feedback on not just the shows, but venues, too.

There is, of course, the most essential factor—material—but it seems like Eric's got that covered. Click more to read about it

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Did you know that Philip Glass is This American Life host Ira Glass's first-cousin-once-removed? That's probably the least interesting thing that you'll discover about the life and work of one of the most important living composers if you come to Live Arts' screening of Glass: A Portrait of Philip in 12 Parts this Sunday the 11th at 2 PM at ICA. Here's the trailer of the film, by the Academy Award-winning director of Shine, Scott Hicks:

The film is being shown as part of our own three-part documentary film series to provide context for the September performances of Lucinda Childs's Dance, with video by Sol Lewitt and music by Philip Glass, at the Live Arts Festival. Co-creator of the series Emma Ferguson says, "'Glass: A Portrait of Philip in Twelve Parts' is the result of eighteen months of interaction between director Scott Hicks and composer Philip Glass. Hicks shot his own footage of his meetings with Glass, which took place whenever and wherever their different work brought them together. Hicks filters fragments of Glass's life through a 12-part structure borrowed from Glass's own 'Music in Twelve Parts,' and the result is a reverent yet unclouded portrait of a brilliant composer and an inscrutable man."

It's going to be 90 degrees on Sunday, but ICA is air-conditioned. Glass will be introduced by oboist and English hornist Lloyd Shorter, co-director of Relâche Ensemble. Run time is 120 minutes, and the event is free. Please RSVP at rsvp@livearts-fringe.org.

--Ellen Freeman

Chances are if you're reading this, you've heard of Philly Fringe--but did you know that New Orleans has a Fringe Festival too? Well duh, it's New Orleans, the First City of Jazz, and home of the freakiest mass performance art there is! (Mardi Gras) The New Orleans Fringe Festival is taking applications for shows until July 1st.

The three year-old festival, which will taken place November 17&endash;21, is a fantastic opportunity for artists, complete with plush amenities. The people at N.O. Fringe care about the festival so much, that executive director Kristen Evans called me from Peru to talk about it. As she puts it, "We want you to take artistic risks, and we'll take on the financial risks."

That means that they line up and pay for venues, which range from traditional theaters to "a big, old, gorgeous, 150-year-old church that's really deteriorating." There's also a Bring Your Own Venue option for those with site-specific shows, but you cover the costs. N.O. Fringe also generates publicity--including free advertising and posters--funds tech staff, and splits the box office with you 50/50. Did I mention there's no performance fee? Plus, last year they let performers camp out in a warehouse half-filled with pianos under construction for $20/week, and this year they have their fingers crossed for free billeting for all artists.

Here's what they're looking for: cabaret, comedy, dance, drama, improvisational, magic (New Orleans is a voodoo hotspot after all), multimedia, musical theater, performance art, puppetry, storytelling, variety, burlesque, spoken word, street theater . . . phewph! Shows have to be between 30 and 60 minutes long, and they discourage artists from entering shows that will be produced in New Orleans during the four months before the festival. Your show doesn't need to be done by the application deadline, but you should be able to provide a very good description of what you've got in mind. There's an application fee of $25, and if you're selected you must cover your production and travel costs--but after all that free stuff, you can afford Greyhound!

Past works have included an opera, a swamp zombie wedding, and Live Arts and Philly Fringe performer Makoto Hirano's interdisciplinary dance piece Boom Bap Tourism. "It's a wonderful time, there are free parties every night after the shows, and we have this great scrappy parade on Saturday which all the performers get involved in," says Kirsten. "It's a great way to come and see what's really one of the 'fringiest' cities there is."

Get your act together, cause applications, which can be found at http://www.nofringe.org/application.html, are due July 1, 2010. Contact Kristen@nofringe.org with any questions.

--Ellen Freeman

Photos courtesy of New Orleans Fringe Festival.

>>>The hubbub over Love Jerry is still hubbubing. Maiken Scott reports on the musical's treatment of a pedophile and his family for WHYY. For our interview with playwright Megan Gogerty and Nice People Theatre's Miriam White and Nicole Blicher, click here.

>>>In Philadelphia Weekly's summer guide issue this week, J. Cooper Robb rounds up summer theater offerings. It's pretty much your run-of-the-mill picks—Philly Shakes, touring productions of Avenue Q and Second City, and Shakespeare in Clark Park—but I didn't know that John Leguizamo has a new one-man-show, Klass Klown, up for a week at Philadelphia Theater Company starting on June 24. If you only know Leguizamo from his Hollywood work, you've missed out. His solo shows are crazy funny, and crazy good.

>>>Sneak peak of Vijay Iyer's upcoming solo album at NPR Music. The renowned pianist is performing in Release at the Live Arts Festival in September, a collaborative installation at Eastern State Penitentiary with filmmaker Bill Morrison (who's Decasia will also screen at the Festival).

>>>How did I miss Howie Shapiro's glowing profile of Jorge Cousineau in the Inquirer at the end of last month? Quoth Shapiro: "he brings his effects, his video tricks and electronic magic, into a theater and takes your breath away."

--Nicholas Gilewicz

Friday
>>>First Meet the Artist event of the year! As we've been hammering home to you all week long, the fine folks of Elevator Repair Service are coming to our humble home at 919 North 5th Street. Did you watch the awesome videos we've been running all week? You're coming, right? Did you RSVP to robin@livearts-fringe.org? OK good. See you there! 7:00 pm. Don't be tardy.
>>>If you're on the jazz tip, the West Oak Lane Festival kicks off. Especially promising is the Jazz Hang Suite at Relish, which features the absolutely scorching (in the very best way) Jaguar Wright at 6:30 pm, and Kindred the Family Soul at 10:00. Also, if they still serve that two-way banana bread pudding, pick that up—one of the best desserts I've had in Philly, no joke.

Saturday
>>>The Summer Solstice Festival at the Kimmel Center has emerged as one of early summer's most fun events, and is definitely the single Kimmel event that brings together the most diverse crowds in terms of age and race of anything they do. Among other things: 3:00 pm, Philadelphia Zoo on wheels—they bring the animals to you; 6:00 pm, Rennie Harris RHAW; 6:30 pm, Miro Dance Theatre; 9:00 pm, First Person StorySlam; 2:00 am 'til dawn, dancing.
>>> You may know EgoPo from their brilliant 2008 Woyzcek (which is when I fell in love with them) or from their production of Samuel Beckett's Company at last year's Philly Fringe, which was a smash. Saturday night is their Bordello Ball at the American Swedish Historical Museum. 5 pm seems a bit early to hit the bordello, but $50 is a relative steal, and you get to hang with one of the best theater companies in the city. And—is that right?—their production during 2010 Philly Fringe should be sick. I'm gonna call them and make sure they're doing what I think they're doing, and report back to you, sir.

Sunday
>>>You know what? I'm not sure what's gonna be awesome on Sunday, except maybe sleeping off the Summer Solstice thing. Want to come over for barbecue?

--Nicholas Gilewicz

Photo by Alex McKnight

Last week, we were thinking about how best to get you to come meet Elevator Repair Service (remember Gatz? yeah, that's them) on Friday night. It's the Live Arts Festival's first Meet the Artist event of the summer. ERS will preview a scene from chapter 12 of their upcoming production of Ernest Hemingway's The Sun Also Rises and talk about working with novels on stage. Afterwards, reception! With local beers and food from Cosmic Catering.

So, we're rooting around the bowels of the internet, as we often do, and have for you a series of extra special videos: homemade trailers for The Sun Also Rises, we kid you not. To answer your question, getting paid to do this is, in fact, awesome.

TODAY'S INSTALLMENT: The Trailer as One-man Show

Meet the Artist Event with Elevator Repair Service actors Ben Williams and Mike Iveson, and Director John Collins. Friday, June 18, 7:00 pm. Live Arts Studio at 919 N 5th Street in Northern Liberties. Free! But you MUST RSVP to robin@livearts-fringe.org. Otherwise, how do we know how much beer to get?

Last week, we were thinking about how best to get you to come meet Elevator Repair Service (remember Gatz? yeah, that's them) on Friday night. It's the Live Arts Festival's first Meet the Artist event of the summer. ERS will preview a scene from chapter 12 of their upcoming production of Ernest Hemingway's The Sun Also Rises and talk about working with novels on stage. Afterwards, reception! With local beers and food from Cosmic Catering.

So, we're rooting around the bowels of the internet, as we often do, and have for you a series of extra special videos: homemade trailers for The Sun Also Rises, we kid you not. To answer your question, getting paid to do this is, in fact, awesome.

TODAY'S INSTALLMENT: Interpretive Dance!

Meet the Artist Event with Elevator Repair Service actors Ben Williams and Mike Iveson, and Director John Collins. Friday, June 18, 7:00 pm. Live Arts Studio at 919 N 5th Street in Northern Liberties. Free! But you MUST RSVP to robin@livearts-fringe.org. Otherwise, how do we know how much beer to get?

Last week, we were thinking about how best to get you to come meet Elevator Repair Service (remember Gatz? yeah, that's them) on Friday night. It's the Live Arts Festival's first Meet the Artist event of the summer. ERS will preview a scene from chapter 12 of their upcoming production of Ernest Hemingway's The Sun Also Rises and talk about working with novels on stage. Afterwards, reception! With local beers and food from Cosmic Catering.

So, we're rooting around the bowels of the internet, as we often do, and have for you a series of extra special videos: homemade trailers for The Sun Also Rises, we kid you not. To answer your question, getting paid to do this is, in fact, awesome.

TODAY'S INSTALLMENT: "Drive Everywhere"

--Nicholas Gilewicz

Last week, we were thinking about how best to get you to come meet Elevator Repair Service (remember Gatz? yeah, that's them) on Friday night. It's the Live Arts Festival's first Meet the Artist event of the summer. ERS will preview a scene from chapter 12 of their upcoming production of Ernest Hemingway's The Sun Also Rises and talk about working with novels on stage. Afterwards, reception! With local beers and food from Cosmic Catering.

So, we're rooting around the bowels of the internet, as we often do, and have for you a series of extra special videos: homemade trailers for The Sun Also Rises, we kid you not. To answer your question, getting paid to do this is, in fact, awesome.

User timhallbooks offers this precise sypnosis of the book, in case you're not a big reader:

--Nicholas Gilewicz