The end is nigh.
Well in fact its here. Now.
Goodbye goodbye, the travel agent resumes her peripatetic peregrinations.
After a springtime of wonder and delight, of discoveries and invention of growing and greening, of ordering and disordering, its time to no longer be Elsewhere and instead be somewhere else. I haven't really decided where yet, but I have me the wheels to get there now. YES! I bought myself another Ford Escort, ride of champions.
So without further ado let's strike up the wondrous strains of the SuperPiano (the first musical instrument I've ever been able to play with true success, consequently I love it to bits) and roll the closing credits....thankyou, thankyou, you've been a wonderful audience.
Yay come and play! Don't know the game? Doesn't matter! No idea what's going on? Unimportant! Forgotten your name? Make up a new one! And dancing is always a good option.
About once a month Elsewherians play CITY.
This is a performative game that, in the words of the director's at a recent conference in Toronto "allows players to collaboratively participate in the simultaneous conception and production of an alternative social imaginary based on fictional exchange, play, and pretend." In other words let's dress up and play around with the things we've built.
The game is open to the public so there are people who've played before, people who haven't played but know what Elsewhere is about, and people who think they've just landed in an insane asylum and are nervously looking for the way out - or fully participating and having a great time despite not having a clue. Which is fine, you don't need a clue, there aren't rules, no script, no overall plan.
Here's how it panned out on Friday night. These photos are all courtesy of Elsewherian intern Katie Minton.
New immigrants are processed at the station and welcomed to Elsewhere. Citizens present claims for buttons - you can claim for anything - I got some buttons for "Bein' mighty nice" and some for plantin the tomaters.
New citizens quickly become valuable members of the society.
Others, sadly, sicken. However luckily Wendy had set up the hospital for just such emergencies.
Many citizens came by TNT and booked a pleasant holiday
Citizens Mr Andrews and Mr Barclay wanted to go to Egypt.
Unfortunately some well known troublemakers decided to protest the setting up of TNT and the disestablishment of the psychiatrist's office. Guess some folks don't like a change as much as a holiday.
but worth it to see all those happy holidaymakers romping around.
So the game went on, multiple stories playing out spontaneously in multiple places, until at 11pm we closed the doors and collapsed exhaustedly into a dance party. Lots of fun. Hope I get to come back and play again sometime.
All sorts of wonderful colorful tchochkes are on the shelf now that we have built it! Yes, all day hard at work - with brawny help from Katie and Les and brainy help from J - and TNT has THIS:
( Its not really bendy and bulgy in the middle, that's just an effect of the photography).
So a few more finishing touches and the travel agency will be complete - and not a moment too soon, for on Friday we 'Play CITY'.
Watch this space.
Its another beautiful day Elsewhere and we wish you were here. Given that its a bit of a hike for some of you to come on down to South Elm St, how about you drop us a line instead?
Totally Nice Travel is gearing up for its grand opening May 16th. It would be so nice to have some postcards from friends around the world to put on the back of the
rack -
Get into the spirit of imaginative travel , join in the fun. Send us a postcard from a 'satisfied customer' - or an unsatisfied one - maybe from a potential tour guide or business partner - or simply suggesting a cool destination.
Remember "...the pleasure we derive from a journey may be dependent more on the mind-set we travel with than on the destination we travel to." (Alain de Botton, The Art of Travel)
Please address all cards to:
Totally Nice Travel
Elsewhere
608 South Elm St
Greensboro
NC 27406
USA
We look forward to hearing from you.
Wow, so much has been going on.
At TNT we've been working on brochures
which necessitated the building of a brochure rack
Meanwhile the Clotheslines show opened on Friday night. Fantastic crowd, lots of different kinds of people, lots of fun. Jason Watson's interactive performance/event "Draft" was a huge success, many people were drafted and duly drew on artistic reserves they didn't know they had.
Photos from the night courtesy of our gorgeous generous gourmet neighbors Charlie and Ruth....
Claire at the Station (in TNT yellow livery)
And here's a behind the scenes peek at the filming of George Scheer's film epic "Shooting Clothes".
Filmed on location at J's ancestral estate the film is an eerie, haunting tale of washing gone tragically bad....
The director of photography (on right) and director of pyrotechnics and safety (left) consider the artistic merits of blow 'em up first/shoot 'em second versus shoot 'em first/blow 'em up second.
The crew extinguish clothes, pack up and head back into Greensboro.
The neighbors scratch their heads and decide to use the tumble dryer that day.
Much excitement this evening when it was discovered, during the ongoing facade renovations, that we were in fact a lodge:
As well as having 606 1/2 above this doorway which is pretty cool too.
Much paint scraping later enough of the sign was revealed to know this used to be a lodge belonging to the Oddfellows, and they met on Monday nights. They seem like a nice bunch and certainly we fellows here now are Odd, so we are all well pleased.
Its good to be home.
Wow, we're finding some amazing vacation destinations.
And of course we're determined to keep up with the latest trends in travel, so eco-travel being hot right now we decided to add an amazing natural experience to our repertoire of offerings....follow me through the dewy forest to the terrific eco-lodge we've discovered
Looking up though the canopy to the tree-house with the wishing well above that.
If we climb up the sturdy tree we find the natural comforts of the eco-lodge...
and if we stay really quiet and look down through the leaves we may catch glimpses of the delightful denizens of this verdant wonderland...
Stay tuned folks for more exciting destinations....
So the travel agency has a name now - Totally Nice Travel. And some subsidiary partners:
*Happy Overseas Budget Opportunities, for the dollar conscious traveler.
*Best Indulgent Romantic Dream Sojourns and Best Easy Escape Secrets, handling the romantic/weekend getaway market
And we're still negotiating with the Gunn family to secure a partnership with Amazing Action Adventures And Grand Holidays for the more active holidaymaker; and with Dr Hilda of the now defunct Psychoanalysis Service for a Dream Holiday department.
There's still lots of work to be done on the brochures, but we've finished designing the luggage label - here it is, (pre folding, laminating and holepunching)
We're very pleased with it, punchy yet totally professional, aimed at the American market mainly of course, hence the need for a disclaimer.
Almost almost we had a fabulous travelator device in the agency, which would have kept the agent on the go constantly,
So the agent will have to be stuck behind a desk, but at least the decor will be inspiring.
So as you can see, it's a busy busy world Elsewhere.
Gotta fly! bye!
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Claire van der Plas said:
CrikeyLemme think. It would have to be the CIA blocking teleportation into the oval office and all that. and on... read more
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Claire van der Plas said:
no, sadly I don't live in the aviary. You can't stand up in there, its like a mezzanine space above... read more
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on Totally Trippy