And with fall comes....

So summer is finally over, and what a wild ride it’s been! I truly want to thank everyone I had the privilege to work with over the summer and to everyone who came out to see any of my shows. You’ve helped make this the most intense summer of my life; this is one I will never forget! Between cutting my teeth as a busker, inventing a new poi trick (which made the cover of the Sudbury Star!)and doing more shows in 3 months than I did all of 2010 this has really been an absolutely massive season.

If you haven’t caught it yet I recommend checking out the video that I posted from the time I spent in Sudbury for Summerfest 2011. You can see it here:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SrdyunJwpi0

Sudbury Summerfest is a great festival that I’ve been performing at the past two years and I look to be set to return in 2012 as well. I had a fantastic time there on and off the stage and am already excited for when I get return. I have been working with a number of photographers over the summer as well and have some great new images to share which you can see at the top of this post for now, and I will be adding more to the gallery some time next week.

The summer may be over but I definitely don’t have much time to relax! Tomorrow I’m flying back to my home town of Halifax where I may end up doing a few street shows if the timing and the weather cooperates. I would love to show my old stomping ground all the things I’ve learned since I moved. When I return I’ll be performing at Bymark at the Toronto Dominion Center next week on Wednesday September 21st at 7:00PM so if you’re wondering when the next time you will be able to catch me, it’s this Wednesday!

As always I stay active on Twitter and Facebook so follow or add me there through the links at the bottom left of my webpage and get in touch with me. If you saw one of my shows and liked it, or you thought it sucked, either way I’d love to hear from you. I hope you all had a great summer too and I look forward to setting my face on fire for you again soon.

Sudbury Summerfest 2011

Wow, Summer. I am hitting the streets!

It happens every year, and yet it keeps taking me by surprise. The weather is outstanding, the mood and atmosphere is fantastic and wow am I ever busy! This is easily the hardest I’ve ever worked in a summer, and I couldn’t be more excited about it. I did a great gig in Kingston for the Skeleton Park Music Festival where I got to perform along side The Soul Jazz Orchestra! They are a great band, and that’s a big compliment from me because usually I don’t enjoy live music. I punctuated the last half of their set with my full range of tricks and props to give the festival a very energetic ending. Together we got a lot of people on their feet!

I spent Canada Day this year heating up Dunlop Street in downtown Barrie doing some shows leading up to the fireworks. This year I am expanding to doing more busking and busker style shows and the response has been really fantastic! You seem to like me more when I’m talking more than when I’m setting my face on fire! Barrie was a wonderful crowd, I hope I get to go back there soon. People were super friendly and I met some really fun people after each of my shows.

Last weekend I was part of a team of buskers who kicked off the first ever Celebrate the Streets festival in Huntsville. The evening was also the first iteration of Nuit Blanche north, a late night outdoor art exhibit experience based on the popular Nuit Blanche that Scotiabank puts on once a year in Toronto. It was an honour and tremendously exciting to be a part of this event. I’m still energized from the experience and can’t wait to do more street shows!

This weekend I’m performing in Oakville Friday night and Saturday at 3pm I will be at Pacific Mall!

Nearly summer

So if you're reading this from Drakeshow.com you might notice a few changes. This weekend I added a page on my safety policy, a list of some venues and events I've performed at in the past and a description of the circus skills that I use in my show. So now if you didn't already you'll have a better idea of what the drakeshow is all about. What do you think of the changes? Drop me a line on the contact page, I'd love to hear from you, seriously!

So the free show thing didn't really work out. That's ok, I'll just stick to setting my face on fire instead of trying to do this social media marketing thing. :) speaking of setting my face on fire, may has been a very busy month!  I've had a crazy amount of shows, one day I had 5 in 3 cities! Whew! My face was warm that night! 

I also took 2 trips to the states for training and skill sharing retreats with some other artists. I love events like this because if gives me a chance to really focus on the fire art on it's own away from client demands or budget restrictions and I can come up with new material that ends up being s part if my stage and street shows that I can then share with all of you.

Thanks for reading! I don't know why but I find I'm far better at updating twitter and Facebook than I am the news blog. If you ever want to check out what I'm up to and you've already read my last blog post then head over to with of those with the icon links on the bottom right of the site.

Stay hot.

Free Show? Your free show!! THREE FREE SHOWS!!!

I've been practicing and training a lot this winter and it's going great. I'm learning new tricks, I'm in the best shape of my life; everything is going according plan. Except that the off season is really making me miss my friends. I haven't been doing that many shows since the weather is too cold and nasty for anyone to want to stand around and watch a show. But that's changing soon, and I want to see as many people as I can once spring finally comes! So I'm giving YOU (maybe) a free show! I'll perform wherever you want, it's your show!

So here's the deal. Like my Facebook page, and if there are 1000 likes on my page by my birthday, May 2nd, 2011, then three of you will win the free show. It's a gift for both of us! If you already like my page then you are automatically entered, but I encourage you to invite people to like the page too so this thing can actually happen.

Do it here!



Restrictions:

• Winner must provide safe and suitable venue.
• The show is a 10 minute technical performance with fire poi, staff, fleshing, fire eating and fire breathing if the venue is safe for all flame effects.
• The performance is free but if the venue is not reachable by TTC then the winner must pay for travel expenses.
• All persons who currently like http://facebook.com/DrakeShow are automatically entered into the contest.
• Performance can only be redeemed within Canada.
• Show cannot conflict with a previously booked performance.
• Show must be redeemed within the calendar year of 2011.

Wow, I kind of suck at the internet don't I? ;)

So much has been and still is happening, but this won't be a long post because no one reads those. I'll just tell you a little bit about what I've been up to and leave the rest for later updates. Thought definitely if you want to be in the know add me on Facebook or follow me on Twitter. I can drop quick updates from my phone while I'm traveling or waiting for show times that are easier for me to write and for you to read in a hurry.

I've been training with Nick Woolsey of PlayPoi fame and over the past 4 months my spinning has gotten several orders of magnitude better. I have a new torch poi routine that I hope you enjoy watching as much as I enjoy performing. I have been quite busy with shows as well, and I have been posting about most of them on Facebook and Twitter.

Things are quieting down for the winter, but my training has never been so intense. I'm keeping super busy and have quite a few new acts and surprises to show you in the near future. FOr now though I'll just leave you with a photo from a recent performance in Napanee.

Talk soon.

This Summer Rocks

Upcoming shows:

September 11th: Harvest Moonacy, Midlothian Ridge
September 24th: CLH Parade of Lights, Midland
September 25th: Cool Haus, Toronto
October 9: A Glitch In The System, The Great Hall, Toronto

Wow so I haven’t updated since Wildfire. A lot has happened in the last 2 months. First off I have a promo video! Check it out on the video page! A longer one will be coming sometime in the fall but, it’s my face on fire, on the internet and what’s not to like about that?

I had some fantastic shows lately too. I did a duo act with Angelina Del Fuego for Woodlands Graduation that was by far the longest show I’ve been a part of and maybe received the warmest reception of any act I’ve been a part of as well. It was one of the first examples of a less technical and more personal style of show that I’ve been creating and the crowd was excellent, supportive and very encouraging so expect to see more of this style of act in the future.

For the last 2 years I’ve been working on making LED spinning toys that would be bright and interesting enough to watch that I would choose them instead of fire even if fire was allowed in the venue. I’ve completed a set of LED poi and a contact staff that accomplish this goal as well.



It is because of these toys I’ve been asked to be part of a robot themed show during a Vibesquad and Mochipet party on October 9th! I will be performing with 4 others in crazy costumes and I’m really looking forward to it. If you can’t make it to the party I’ll post pictures of the spectacle here, but I think that you’ll want to be at the party.