I am writing this post with a coffee in my hand and my feet up, nicely parked on the couch in the living room, tunes wafting into the room from where my roommates are busily building puppets. It is so, SO good to be home.

I arrived back into Toronto just in time to finish off my tour at Scotiabank Toronto Buskerfest. I can’t think of any better place than my own turf to finish off a long and awesome tour, which definitely ended on a high note! This year, the festival was MASSIVE. I was so lucky to have been a part of something so magical and wonderful, and to have been greeted with open arms by the public, who spared no chance to tell me that I was missed last year. You guys are pretty awesome, you know that? Toronto Buskerfest has a special place in my heart, always, because it was my very first festival oh-so many years ago and were it not for TO Buskers, I doubt I’d have the act that I do today, to be honest.

Well, enough of that emotional crap. Let’s talk about some other things! The season is far from winding down for me, it seems, with a double-festival weekend on the 11th and 12th, where I will be performing at the Junction Arts Festival, as well as the Taste of the Kingsway. Two days later, I board a plane for Singapore for the second time this year. I’m looking forward to going back to Singapore, if, for no other reason, than go to back to Arab st. and shop for some fabric

On a side note, I am holding off “Picture of the Weekend” until Friday; I’ve been steadily getting submissions from all you awesome folks out there from the Toronto Buskerfest, and I want to make sure I have all the submissions in before I make a final decision. Please get them in before midnight on Friday! I will have the feature up on Saturday at some point.

Alright, everyone, I am going to sign off and get back to decompressing from my amazing whirlwind tour! You have an excellent day and stay COOL!!

Thank you so, so much to all the awesome and amazing fans in H-town! I met so many wonderful new people, worked with some amazing performers, and reconnected with old friends. I can’t thank that awesome costal town enough for it’s generous hospitality and unabated enthusiasm for buskers. Holy crap, I’ve been spoiled!

Marie Antoinette, Photo by: David Dumont, 2010.

Next up, is the photo of the Weekend from the final weekend of the festival, August 14-15th. This one was tough because I found a few AMAZING shots that weren’t technically emailed to me for the “Photo of the Weekend” feature, which means I am not going to post them, but, I did get some killer awesome submissions, so here is the best shot I found, which, coincidentally happens to be of my other character, Angelina!

Angelina in Halifax, Photo by Adam Cox, 2010.

Alright folks, and now for the upkeep stuff: the season is winding down, but it is set to go out with a bang: this upcoming weekend, it is Scotiabank Toronto Buskerfest! I was booked up last year and unable to perform, and since I had to bow out of the Ferrara Buskerfest in Italy this year, I squeaked into this year unexpectedly. If you are living in Toronto, please come down to the historic St. Lawrence Market from August 26-29th, to bear witness to some amazing street shows!

I will be performing two brand-new installations as well as bringing out some old favourites, including Marie Antoinette Eats Cake! Check my twitter feed for the guerilla show one day during the festival! It’s short and sweet and full of icing!
Talk to you soon, folks!

Madame Guillotine!

But, back to Halifax! Since I’ve had some time to kill before this festival starts, my friend and I took a walk down by the harbourfront and discovered an AWESOME old prop stocks set-up that was perfect for yet another shoot with Marie Antoinette. This is my favourite shot of the day, poor Marie doesn’t see it coming!

Looking forward to another wonderful day in Halifax before I officially check in and get started in the Buskerfest! Already the folks I’ve met have shared their enthusiasm for this festival, upon hearing that I’m a busker who came in for the show. I’m very stoked to be performing for this audience!

….I’m also stoked to attempt to eat seafood every single day I’m here. So far, I’m winning!

Related show

• Date: Thu, Aug 5th 2010 - Sun, Aug 15th 2010
• City: Kate Mior in Halifax, Nova Scotia
• Venue: Halifax International Buskerfest

I’m having such a fabulous time here at the Capital Ex. The shows are going very well (I cracked my picture frame during one show earlier today, but MAN was that gag worth it!) and I’m having a really good time here! People seem to be digging my shows and I’m have a rocken time doing an act I seldom get to perform out in festivals like this, the Living Portrait.

Snappin' a quick shot before heading out to do my first Living Portrait show at the Capital Ex!

My gig aside, I would love to take this opportunity to extol the virtues of the invention of Skype. Holy crap, guys, I LOVE skype! Being on the road so much can make you lonely; often you get so disoriented and out of touch with the ones you love that even memories of them are as fleeting as that shisha smoke you happened to have just smoked. But with the magic of skype, it’s like you never left!

The other night,  juggler Evan Young and I had a “skype party”, which I ended up carrying out with another set of friends after he went to bed. It was hilariously (or pathetically, depending upon your perspective) awesome!

Tonight, through the magic of skype, I fielded a really awesome interview with The Promoter Guy, Willy Badger, who will also be performing at Halifax International Buskerfest along with me. He even used the magic of technology to record said interview and now yes, you can hear the Mime speak!

Dear Conway, does my voice actually sound like that in real life? :O

So yes, to the creators of skype: this is my humble open letter to thank you for your awesomeness and genius. If it wasn’t for you, street performers around the world would all be a heckuva lot more isolated!

Oh, and FYI Edmonton: I totally just re-listened to my interview and I just realized I sounded depressed at my first mention of being in Edmonton.. I was actually trying to remember where I was, and that by no means reflects how I feel about your awesome city! So it goes when you live on the road…

Related show

• Date: Fri, Jul 23rd 2010 - Sun, Aug 1st 2010
• City: Kate Mior in Edmonton, Alberta
• Venue: Northlands Exhibition

I am currently in Winnipeg working on something slightly different, finishing up filming the last part of a project I began for Accountable Development Works in Sierra Leone. From Winnipeg, I will be embarking upon X-Canada Tour 2010!!, which will have me hitting up Edmonton and Halifax before returning to perform at Toronto Buskerfest.

After Brant and I had our little car incident, I decided to cancel the European portion of my tour; I was scheduled to hit up the Edinburgh Fringe and Ferrara Buskers in Italy, and well, this year, I’ve spent four out of the seven months out of the city, most of it out of the country. My personal life is starting to feel the drain. Traveling can be a psychological drain. Take it from me, kids: living out of a backpack is great and simple, but sometimes it can really take it’s toll. Plus, I kinda don’t want to lose my healtcare benefits. :p

Kingston Buskers Rendezvous. Photo by Hannah Zhang

So, onto “Photo of the Weekend” from Kingston Buskers Rendezvous. Man, I got a LOT of photos from you guys! Thanks so much! It was SO hard to pick one but I ended up cheating a little and going with a creative two-photo photograph by Hannah Zhang. Is there a name for this creative presentation of photographs?

Anywhoo, let’s all bask in the glory of Hannah’s lovely shot, and wish her congrats on making ‘Photo of the Weekend’!
As I’m currently on the road for the next month, check back often for more posts! After all, I can’t think of anything better to do  (other than juggling) in airports than sitting down to pen a post or two. Plus, with working buskerfests, you can guarantee there will be some more weird stuff I get in my hat!