PREVIEW
LULLABYANDGOODNIGHT
April 17 to 19
EMmedia
LullabyandGoodnight has all the ingredients of a good late-night talk show: guests, commercials, tap-dancing, a wacky host, and plenty of audience participation.
The twist is that this "reality teevee" show is actually a live performance.
LullabyandGoodnight is the brainchild of Calgary musician Lullaby Baxter (a.k.a. Angelina Iapaolo). With the help of friends and family, Baxter has put together three eclectic evenings of music, spoken word, puppetry and comedy. A little good timing has played a role in shaping the event, too.
"(There’s) a really great friend of mine, Alexis O’Hara – she’s a spoken-word performance artist," says the sultry-voiced singer-songwriter. "I knew her in Montreal, did a lot of shows with her, and she’s coming through here and asked me if I could help her get a gig. And I thought, ‘If I’m gonna do all the work for her to get a gig, we might as well play, too!’"
"We," in this case, includes Baxter and some of her closest friends. Flower-punk duo The Great Balancing Act, longtime collaborators of Baxter’s, will be the house band and will also open the show on Thursday and Saturday nights, while the dynamic, edgy O’Hara will be Friday’s opener. Unconventional Calgary puppetry troupe Red Smarteez will be performing all three nights, as will the singularly named emcee Ron.
"(Ron’s) a real talker, and is just dedicated to filling any dead space with chatter and funny things, and involving the audience and asking them questions and bugging them," Baxter says with a laugh.
Fans will remember Baxter, a graduate of Bishop Carroll High School, from her acclaimed 2000 release Capable Egg. After many years in Montreal, she returned to Calgary to start a family. She’s managing to balance diaper changes with self-promotion, as she ships demos of new material out to various labels. Much of that material – some quite polished, some less so – will be featured in LullabyandGoodnight.
"There might be some rough moments, but it’s gonna be fun either way," she says.
Baxter is no stranger to performing and touring. She’s played open mics, showcases, theatres, festivals and bars across Canada, often accompanied by The Great Balancing Act. In their travels, the trio found that tipsy audiences don’t always appreciate jazz-tinged songs about spacegirls and hopscotch.
"We never felt that appropriate in any bar...." Baxter says. "I just wanted to create a context instead of feeling like I was in the wrong place. People were always like, ‘Play some Merle Haggard!’
"I felt like if I played in a more appropriate place for what I’m doing, which is a setting that I create, then it would make more sense to the audience."
Baxter adds that all the musicians were tired of the usual concert format. "We never liked the idea of musicians just playing song after song, and ‘this song’s about that,’ and just taking themselves so seriously.... We’re almost blocking it like a play, but again, it’s a concert at the same time. So it’s just like a variety evening."
So, is a live musical talk show "anti-TV"?
"I’m always a little bit uncomfortable with those kinds of expressions, because I feel like they’re not as creative. When you’re against something, it’s dictating the thing, as opposed to creating something new," Baxter explains.
The performers hope that they’ll be able to take their creation on the road – ideally with three- or four-night runs in various cities – and Baxter sees the Calgary run as a crucial launching pad. "I’m glad that we got started and just had the nerve to say, ‘OK, we’re doing three nights; we have no idea what we’re doing.’ It’s gonna be great, and we’re gonna learn."
Baxter hopes that, in addition to being a learning experience and a showcase for the performers, LullabyandGoodnight will also be a significantly positive experience for those onstage and in the audience.
"It’s all in the interest of promoting love and peace and light in these times of ‘the war, the war, the war,’" she says.
"Not that I’m thinking that we should ignore any of that kind of stuff, but we need some more viewpoints, and we need some people that are saying, ‘OK, if we concentrate as much energy... on creating art and beauty and love as we are (on) creating all the images of this war that are one-sided, we’d be in a lot better position.’
"The artists just have to keep going and just keep making things that fly in the face of all that." |
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