09.18.08 kulturnatib

Art award, almost
Like many, I am a surfer dude. Yet, as with them, only in the safer waters of the internet, though some would argue that these waters are even more treacherous.

Certainly that can be said for the Too Good To Be True banners that proliferate in the internet like pimples on a teener's face. Still, people must continue to fall for this ruse because there they are continuing to snare people with,'You Have Just Won Something That Is Too Good To Be True.'

When I was told the other week that I have been nominated for an arts award, it was just like one of those TGTBT internet banners. But, more compelling.

Enough that I looked at the source of the news. And then like the conscientious journalist that I try to be, I looked for confirmation from an independent source.

There they were; Both original source and confirmation. Yet, I wondered, where was my invitation to the awards event? Still, I reasoned if this was really what it was, they cannot or will not turn me away. I should just show up.

The awards venue was to be at a community cultural center. Driving through the area earlier in the day, we didn't see the center. But we saw an old church. There was some confusion with some friends about which church this was. St. Patrick's, maybe, as it is on St. Patrick's Street. No, others disagreed. St. Patrick's is somewhere else.

Turns out that this church was the old St. Brigid's that has now been converted into the St. Brigid's Centre for the Arts and Humanities, which, if you didn't know about the conversion and you stumbled inside, you would never know.

It is a more than century old church. And it showed. And, no disrespect to the religious sentiments of the faithful, what better showcase for the arts and humanities of which the divine is its loftiest goal than to keep it just the way it was?

The first guest band performers, though, quickly dispelled that sentiment or faith, if you like. It was no longer the way it was. It is no longer the way it is. And as if to underline this sense of confusion of text and context, this band -- metal or trash rock, I believe that's what they would be called these days -- was introduced with a reading from the Gospel of Mark where Jesus was casting out Legion or the demons. Hmmm.

The original notice, posted in one of the most widely used cultural and art events portal for Ottawa and the immediate region, said that this was a formal wear event. Sunday's best, in other words, which, makes sense especially for a church.

But artists, being who they are all over the world, this sense comes out a little different. A tie, I thought, would be just enough nod towards formality without being too formal that it would make me look like I was trying too hard not to miss my own funeral.

I wasn't too far off. There was only one person I remember going full monty formal wear-wise. He had reason to be. He had to have the look of Authority. He was up on stage handing out the envelopes with the winner's names, which, despite the look of Authority he screwed up a few times. Happens.

Mine wasn't among the winners, though it was called out. I was among what my friends at Habagat would call the first, second and third losers, though not in that particular order. It didn't matter.

But it did. I would be falsely humble to deny that it did. Or, does. Yet, only in the acknowledgment that I am, so to speak, in the game. Though, I am not playing for that alone. Hmmm.