Welcome to good news York. It is Monday morning.
I'm shot out of a cannon Because my Buffalo Bills
won in epic fashion. I cannot tell you How long
I have been a fan and how it's always that the
Bills are on the other end of these kinds of
games it's Mind -blowing to be a part of this.
It reminds me of the 90s years even better. I
don't know. I'm I'm I'm vomiting happiness right
now If you didn't stay up to watch the game I
feel bad for you if you left the game by the
way I'm gonna look over here now if you left
the game You were at the game and you left because
you thought they were down 15 and it was over
shame on you I'm actually really surprised. I
gotta be honest with you I was getting texts
from my friends saying, oh, I can't believe the
Bills fans left. You know, I can't believe they're
showing the crowd. And I went, ah, you're full
of shit. They did. There were fans that were
leaving. And listen, I had season tickets during
the drought years, 17 years of no playoffs. And
even then, people would stay and just get hammered
and watch the full game, because you never know.
So it's very unlike Bill's fans to leave early,
but they did and shame on you lesson learned
Josh Allen is a goddamn God I am so excited that
game was such a big deal for many reasons First
of all I get it week one as Kyle Brand says week
one is a liar You know don't get too excited
and don't get too upset whether your team won
or lost Things are gonna change if you remember
last year, I think One of the teams that ended
up going deep into the playoffs got blown. I
think the Saints blew somebody out last year
in week one. But at the same time, you also get
a pretty good idea of what every team looks like.
Now the Bills are one of the favorites to win
it all and definitely win the AFC East and maybe
even the AFC Conference. But we all knew that
this game, even though it's week one, was probably
one of the hardest games on the schedule. Somehow
the Bills lucked out and every tough opponent
that they face is coming to Buffalo. A lot of
the teams they're facing on the road are not
teams that are going to be too tough. I'm sure
they'll drop one or two on the road. It happens.
It's football any given Sunday, right? But it
lucked out that not only do they get all the
hard opponents home, but they probably got the
hardest game out of the way first. And that was
against the Baltimore Ravens who have a defense
that I know they put up 40 points, but they're
filled with first rounders. and they've got Derek
Henry, and they've got Lamar Jackson, and Zay
Flowers, and Mark Andrews, everybody that you
just saw. To me, I went into this game going,
I know they're gonna lose this one, and it's
not gonna be the end of the world, but it's gonna
hurt, because this could be the difference between
Buffalo going to Baltimore or Baltimore going
to Buffalo in the playoffs if they see each other
again. And we all know what happens when teams
come to Buffalo, minus the Chiefs, what happens
to them when they come to Buffalo in the snow.
Lamar Jackson is... openly said he's you know
he's not great with cold temperatures so they
beat him in normal temperatures at home in an
epic fashion coming back 15 points down I screamed
into so much I did the thing where because I
we have a I have like a man cave downstairs we
have a finished basement I used to watch the
game down there with all the bills memorabilia
you know it's kind of my spot but we got this
brand new big screen and I wanted to experience
it on the big screen and my kids were sleeping,
my wife was sleeping. So I was just doing the
whole like... Anytime something good or bad happened,
I was doing push -ups because I'm old now, so
I can't stay awake too long. So like in between
commercials in the third and fourth quarter,
I was just doing push -ups to get my blood flowing.
Needless to say, there are a lot of Bills fans
that woke up today... Just shitting their pants
going wait. They won that now look It was never
a blowout, but they are the first team in NFL
history to be losing by 15 points or more with
I think it was four minutes left in the fourth
quarter and Pull it off in the regular season,
and it wasn't it wasn't in overtime in regulation
I I am speechless in the best possible way as
I said It's one game, but it's a game against
an opponent that you're probably gonna see later
And that could be the difference in a home or
a way. And remember this. I posted this on my
social media. If this is the last year at Highmark
Stadium for the Buffalo Bills and for the fans,
that was the last home opener last night. It
is set up. Now, I know I posted this on my social
media. I posted a picture with all this nice
music. And of course, NFL fans just shit on me
the entire time. Oh, it's a dream. It's not going
to happen. Buffalo's going to blow it. Maybe
they will. But. Just check out this scenario.
If you're a Bills fan or even an NFL fan, just
imagine this. It is so storybook. And for you
conspirators that think the NFL is a conspiracy,
well, here's your story that they should use
if it is a conspiracy. The Buffalo Bills are
heading into their last season at Highmark Stadium.
They've never won a Super Bowl. They've been
to four in a row in the 90s. Okay? They have
the opportunity, especially now that they've
beat the Ravens and the way that their schedule
is laid out, to finally get the one seed. And
what that will mean is that they get home field
advantage all through the playoffs. That means,
potentially, the last possible game ever to be
played at Highmark Stadium could be against the
goddamn Chiefs, right? At home, last game to
go to the Super Bowl. But there's even more.
There's a little wrinkle that we're leaving out.
It would also be the last game in the stadium
that you would witness them going to the Super
Bowl. in the last moments in that stadium but
it would be to defeat the Chiefs who are knocking
at the door of tying the Bills record for going
to four consecutive Super Bowls. So what that
means is the Bills could potentially beat the
Chiefs at home as the last possible game in the
stadium ever while also stopping them from tying
the Bills record of going to four straight Super
Bowls because if the Chiefs go back to the Super
Bowl that means they went to four straight. The
only difference is they won, I think, two of
them. So it's set up for an epic finish, but
I just want one before I die. But enough about
the bills. I'm fired out of a can. Although Danny
Tripodi, our producer, Danny, I owe you a big
thank you. I'm a superstitious guy. When the
bills were down 15, Danny sent me a picture.
We don't need to talk about what the picture
was, all right? That's private. It is a picture.
He made me laugh. I am telling you... Three seconds
after he sent that picture as when I believe
Derek Henry fumbled or something happens when
the game turned and It didn't look back. So unfortunately,
I'm gonna have to make Danny send me Ridiculous
pictures when the bills are failing. Let me know
if you have any weird superstitions in the comments
I love hearing people's superstitions quickly.
Another thing I want to make sure I get to is
our friend Diana Nightingale at David's Refuge
is throwing another great event on September
13th from noon to four. It is the Pine View Run
Champion Challenge in Lafayette, New York. Drivers
are going to race for their fastest time. There's
music, food trucks, silent auction, games. We
wanted to make sure we plug that. We love our
friends at David's Refuge. What the hell are
you doing? Oh, now your meeting's over, so you're...
Just gonna fucking walk in on your own Well,
I'm sorry. I was a little tied up selling a new
content on it, but but we have a new content
I'm very did you seal it away? You sealed it
on deal. This is exciting This is I said exciting
This one's gonna be unique I'm not gonna go into
too many details, but we're gonna do this one
a little differently This is a person who has
written a book. The book's about to come out,
the podcast is gonna go with it, but we are gonna
do a, I don't know, I guess you'd call it like
a Netflix thing, where we are gonna record the
whole season of their podcast in advance, and
then we'll release it over the course of a year,
but this will be a unique one for us. This is
great! It's gonna be really fun. Breaking news!
I think that it's gonna be one of these podcasts
to get some genuine listens and... very motivational,
inspirational, and I don't know, I'm excited,
it's gonna be cool. Buddy, I'm so happy for you,
and for us. Yeah. It's fantastic, and now we're
in opposite - Yeah, you gotta do the work. Yeah,
well, that's fine. We're in opposite seats today,
which is kinda flipping me out. It is weird.
It is weird. Opposite stay. Well, listen, I went
on, you didn't miss much because, well, I have
a great interview coming up with... a woman named
Erica Fee from the Fringe Festival. So I'm excited
about that. But before that, I was just ranting
about the Bills. You didn't miss that. Definitely
didn't. Yeah, you know, sports. Don't give a
fuck. Sports ball. But I was just talking about
our friend Diana Nightingale from David's Refuge.
Yeah, yeah, yeah. They're doing a great event
called the Pineview Run Champion Challenge. I've
heard of that. It's September 13th from noon
to four in Lafayette. Check it out at davidsrefuge
.org. It is drivers are going to race for the
fastest time. So like you and I could show up.
We sign up, of course, like in your in your car
and we race around the track trying to win the
fastest time. I mean, who doesn't? I think you
have to sign up in advance for that. But yeah,
you do. Yeah, yeah, yeah. So I just wanted to
plug that real quick. And I also wanted to give
a shout out to Ray and to Kelly from All Pest
of Syracuse, our clients, of course, their podcast
with us here at Growth Mode. So, my wife and
I had a little bit of a scare as far as we had
some invaders in our home. And what... Well,
I didn't want to say it, but yes, thank God.
Uh... No. We had some visitors in our home. It
could have potentially been, I mean, really bad
and could have taken up our entire weekend. Thankfully...
I immediately text Kelly. She was like, here's
what you need to do. And I'm sending Ray in the
next 45 minutes. Now, we live in Ithaca. Yeah.
They're in Syracuse, OK? This is a Saturday.
And she's telling me. Did she know that when
she promised? No, she did. Because I said to
her, I said, I can't believe you're going to
do this on a Saturday. And you're sending him
all the way to Ithaca. I feel bad. And she was
going to talk her out of it. I know. I should
have been more careful. But she said, don't worry
about it. She goes, if you guys were two hours
away, we would come. Like that whole thing they
talked about on their podcast. And when we had
them on Good News York about their, you know,
the bigger companies that do these kind of pest
control things, they're not for the consumer.
They pretend to be. And that Ray and Kelly of
All Pest to Syracuse are for the consumer. They
are for the people because they're family run
owned business. They proved it to me. And Ray
came in, took care of everything. He promised
us that we'd have nothing to worry about. He's
like, you got somewhere to go for three hours?
We said, yep. He's like, it'll be done. And so
I just wanted to give a shout out to Ray and
Kelly, all past Syracuse. Saved my weekend. Let's
go out. You have a nice little dinner with the
family. You come back. It'll be all taken care
of. Listen, don't worry about it, all right?
These chemicals fell off a truck. No, we love
Ray and Kelly. I'll be honest. There couldn't
be a better endorsement for them. No. coming
out of the woods, you know, coming all that way.
Like, I wouldn't have done that for you. I know
you wouldn't have, and that's why I didn't call
you. Sorry, Mike. But Ray even... But that sucks.
But Ray had eight other things that day. Yeah.
So, I mean, it's not even just for me. They had
eight other clients that had things going on.
Well, you know, you take part. Well, I felt like,
whether we did or didn't, we felt like priority.
I'm sorry, Mr. Brindisi has an issue. We're going
to have to be there a little later today, folks.
I'm sorry. Yeah. The master, the co -host of
Good News York, you're familiar, right? Oh, yes.
Oh, God. We'll wait for our problems. Stop the
press. Stop everything. Don't let that man be
bothered by an ant. We cannot. But, you know,
as you know, happy wife, happy life. My poor
wife, who doesn't cry often, I wouldn't consider
her a crier. She was upset, she was crying because
she, you know, when these things come up with
pests and rodents and whatever else it is, it
could potentially be thousands and thousands
of dollars. It could take up days, weeks. And
not only do they reassure us. You're a football
to watch. Well, and that's the big one. But I
said I cannot be dealing with this when the bills
are about to play. So shout out to all Pestis
Syracuse. I'm not paid to say this. I'm just
telling you, I don't know where to look because
I guess I'll look here. everything they've said
on our show and on their podcast with us, absolutely
true. I felt it firsthand. They're the best pest
control business, Barnum. And you know, I love
it too. Ray takes pride in that. He's like, well,
I'm glad you didn't call anybody else because
there's nobody better than me. And I'm like,
good for you, dude. Like you, I mean, he's the
Tom Brady of Pest Control. I'm glad that like
bugs are his business, because Ray's the type
of dude that like in another timeline, He's like
a legit hit man. You call him up and go, yo,
I got a problem. I got it under control. Don't
worry about it. He's the man. One more thing
I'll say about that. My daughter, of all people,
brought up something. She goes, dad, what's going
to happen when the pest truck shows up and all
our neighbors are going to know that we have
a problem? I go, you know what? No, they won't.
Because I remember one thing, and this is another
reason why I love all pests to Syracuse, they
purposely don't put bugs. like pictures of bugs
and rodents on their vehicle. Yeah. For that
reason, to respect the privacy of their clients.
I mean, that's that's how much thought they put
into right now. It's awesome. No, I know they've
they've talked about that on their podcast. That's
something that is a common feeling. People don't
want you to think. But yeah, they've they've
handled that brilliantly. And and also, I feel
like to some degree, so many people have gotten
to the point where they have somebody like all
pests now that they figured out that does the
preventative become on a regular basis and put
that down. I feel like that's almost got common
enough. to where like if you see the pest truck
in front of your neighbor's yard, you don't immediately
think they got roaches or something. That's true.
I think you're right. But there's definitely,
I mean, your daughter proves it. It's right.
And it's another thing that they're thinking
of. Yeah, I remember when they said it on the
podcast and, you know, I'm thinking to myself
while we were producing it, like, you know, it's
a nice little touch of things that they do there.
Yeah. But now experiencing it firsthand, I realize
how important that is. Yeah. I love them. Buddy,
listen. I'm pretty much all out of what I've
done today. I've got an interview coming up again
with Eric Afee of the Fringe Festival. But something
I want to talk about this week with you, because
I've got to show you the video. Yeah. Dude, there's
this conspiracy theory going around. And I'm
not a fan. Oh, I know what you're talking about.
You sent me this. Did I? I did. I've heard this
theory. In fact, I almost want to say I'm anti
-conspiracy theorist because it's gotten so out
of control. But every now and then I'll get one
that I'm like, this is fun. Wait a minute. Hold
on. There's this, and I don't know if you've
heard about this, there's a conspiracy theory
going around that everywhere Garth Brooks has
ever lived, gone to school, or played a concert,
people have ended up missing or dead. I'll pause
for laughter, because I laugh too. But then I
went down... The theory is Garth is a serial
killer, right? Correct. Yeah. And I love Garth
Brooks, and I don't think he's a serial killer.
But my God, the mounting evidence against him...
I don't know if I want to say against him, but,
you know, I just, that's a fun one for me. What's
the term correlation and causation? Sure. Like,
the guy goes to major cities and people get murdered
there. Yeah. Like, people get murdered there
on the days he doesn't go to those cities, is
what I'm saying. Oh, right. Like, there's some,
like, come on, you could put that together. You
could say I'm a serial killer, because I'm positive
you could track a murder in every major city
I've ever visited. 100 % valid and that's kind
of my chance myself like but I'm just I'm entertaining
that I'm enter I'm entertaining it For no, I'm
with you. I'm with just visit. It's hilarious
I mean cuz I'm you know, we're getting all those
run -of -the -mill those say like this person's
dead this person This is an original one my someone's
part about these type of scenarios is There's
more than one person who has spent more than
an hour Way more putting this together going.
Wait a minute Hold on. Let me look at this city.
Let me look at his concert history that like
you imagine that like hey Matt Somebody with
way too much free time on their hands has had
a lot of Matt come to dinner. Oh, hold on, honey
I'm researching. Yeah every concert Garth Brooks
played to see if he killed people in that city
You know the always sunny meme, you know what's
happening with the strings and but it's just
a fun one to entertain I want to delve more into
it because I'm intrigued I'm more intrigued at
how anyone even because here's the thing. How
did you even start that? So what got the ball
rolling? Where did you connect Garth? Because
it even goes back to when he went to college.
I guess he went to college, I don't know where,
and some girl went missing. They happened to
live only a few, like less than five miles apart,
Garth Brooks' apartment and her while he was...
So it's not even where he was playing concerts.
It also goes back to when he was in school. It's
wild. I think it's dumb, but man, is it fun to
entertain. You know what? You talk about being
wild. The reality is the world works in probability,
right? There's a one in a million chance. But
that one comes up once in a while, right? I think
we're destined to see one day somebody, maybe
Garth Brooks, on their deathbed or after they've
passed away, you open up a thing where it's like,
yeah, I was a serial killer. I killed somebody
in every town I played a country song in. Just
like. Like, yep, that wasn't a, nah, I fucking
did it. You didn't catch me. I mean, we kind
of got that with the Cosby thing, like all the,
you know, the every, like the all -American,
like, dad that we loved. Well, he didn't admit
it, though. That was, they just discovered. They
then, there was, yeah, there's no getting around
that. Everybody, I guess, knew, I guess. You
put the pudding in, you put the ruffies in to
drink, and... I don't know, but you know what
we should do is we should kind of run with your
theory of poking holes in it. Let's just see...
I've been or you've been or Danny's been on certain
dates and just see if anyone's died in or around
them at that time Maybe we shouldn't because
that that might It is suspicious. I always suspect
the quiet guy. Yeah. Well, anyway, um, that's
all I got I got a great interview coming up So
got to get ready for that. Let me get out of
the way so you can do that go close more deals,
dude Congratulations for us. Thanks to you Monday.
It's been a great not even lunchtime yet. The
bills won Everybody in the AFC East also lost.
I won over $300 on last night's game. Syracuse
won this game. Syracuse, it was way closer than
it should have been. They pulled it off. You
closed a deal. Garth Brooks is a serial killer.
This is a great Monday. And we've got Eric Afee
from the Rochester Fringe Festival coming up.
Stay tuned for that right here on Good News York.
Brought to you by Ads on the Go. Get ads on the
go .com. We'll be right back. Welcome back to
Good News York, sponsored by ads on the go. Get
ads on the go dot com. Mike Brindisi with you
flying solo today. I have a very special guest.
I'm very excited to introduce. She is the CEO
of the ESL Rochester Fringe Festival, a one of
a kind festival that has been going for 14 years
in the Rochester area. Eight hundred and eighty
five thousand plus visitors. It is September
9th through the 20th. You've got over 600 performances
in 30 venues, anything from comedy, theater,
dance, music, film. It's amazing. She's amazing.
We welcome CEO Erika Fee. Erika Fee. Thank you.
How are you? Oh, a little tired, but nothing
the concealer can't fix. I'm sure you are. You
are very busy. This festival is no joke. We are
so excited to shine a light on the festival.
You know, Good New York was founded on You know,
things that are awesome in New York State, things
that are different, things that you're not gonna
see about or hear about on the news, because
Lord knows, you turn the news on, it's all negative.
You guys are pretty much a prime example of why
this show exists, so we're so happy you gave
us some time. Now, the Fringe Festival is very
unique in a lot of ways, and it is now nationally
known. Can you tell us a little bit about yourself?
How you got involved in in the with the fringe
Sure, so I am the founding producer of the ESL
Rochester fringe festival as you said now now
going into opening our 14th festival It's which
is just seems like bizarre to me because you
know with COVID years It seems like five years,
but it also seems like 500 years And so I started
this festival. I was producing in London. I'm
originally from the Rochester area, but I was
over in the UK. I went there for drama school
after undergrad and I became a professional actor.
And through acting, I got into producing and
I have my own production company. And one of
the things that I loved either performing at
or directing at or producing at was the Edinburgh
Fringe Festival, which is the world's largest
arts festival. In fact, in terms of event size,
it's the Olympics number one, the World Cup number
two, and Edinburgh Fringe number three. So I
was very much inspired by that festival. And
that festival has gone on to inspire about 250
Fringe festivals now worldwide, of which Rochester
is one of them. We were the first in upstate
New York We are the largest multidisciplinary
performing arts festival in the entire state
of New York. And we do welcome people from not
just the Rochester area, but now all over the
country. That's amazing. You know, one of my
favorite parts about this festival and the whole
story is how Fringe started. It's such a great
story. I believe it was over in Scotland, if
you want to talk about that a little bit. Yeah,
so in 1947 in Edinburgh, Scotland, there was
a curated theatre festival, which still exists
today, by the way, called the Edinburgh International
Festival. And there were eight theatre groups
who were not invited to participate. And when
I say was curated means that there was a small
select committee who would decide on all the
program. These eight groups were not invited
and so they just in a post -war spirit they turned
up anyway and they just brought their sets and
their costumes and their props and they arranged
space above pubs and in lecture halls at the
University of Edinburgh that they turned into
temporary theaters and they put on their shows
and there was a reviewer who was trying to figure
out what do I call these shows which are perfectly
legitimate but are not part of the official festival
program. And he nicknamed them the Festival Fringe.
But he also said, this isn't going to happen
two years running. It's just a total fluke. Well,
it did. It's gone on to launch the careers of
everyone from everyone in Monty Python to Kenneth
Branagh, Ricky Gervais. The list really goes
on and on. Americans, a lot of Americans also
have performed at the Edinburgh Fringe and continue
to. There's a huge American contingent. So it's
really kind of a gathering place every year.
It happens for the entire month of August, but
it's going on to inspire other communities to
create their own fringe festivals, all of which
are a little bit different from each other. And
Rochester's, our first year was 2012. The planning
for that actually began in 2008. I was not in
Rochester then. It started with the president
of the University of Rochester wanted a performing
arts festival for Rochester. I was in town, happened
to be in town in 2009, just on a visit. And I
happened to say to someone, why do you think
it is that Rochester doesn't have a fringe festival?
This is the head of the theater department at
the University of Rochester actually. And he
said, it's funny you should say that. the president
of the university is working on this right now.
You should go and meet with them." And I said,
I'm not going to get an appointment with the
president of the University of Rochester my week
back. Anyway, one thing led to another, and I
threw my hat into the ring. And I literally said,
if you want to Fringe Festival, I want to come
back and run it. And that's what happened. That's
absolutely spectacular. I love that. And you
know, Another thing I love about this festival
and and correct me if I'm wrong, but from my
point of view what I what I've seen is That it's
a very welcoming festival as far as it's not
I mean there's gonna be mainstream things that
people like but there's also a lot of Experimental
things and things that are out of the ordinary
so I almost feel like you guys are keeping up
with kind of the origin story of fringe which
was here's these disgruntled performers that
weren't invited and they're like, you know what,
screw you, we're gonna do it, we're gonna do
it anyway. Correct me if I'm wrong, is that kind
of your mission statement with Fringe Festival
is like, let's give everybody and anyone from
all walks of life in the creative space a place
to be able to perform? Well, Fringe Festival's
worldwide certainly provide a platform for artists,
that's part of our mission. There are no stages
and spaces for artists to perform. And if you're
a performing artist, you kind of need a crowd.
You need a space. So this enables people to be
able to perform. What is exciting about our festival
is that we are a bifurcated festival. Now that
just is a way of saying we have two halves. Like
the Etta Per Fringe and like that spirit, we
have about 39 venues that are curating their
own lineups. is very interesting because we don't
have one artistic committee deciding on all the
programming. These venues have skin in the game.
They've got a little bit of healthy competition
with each other. They're really trying to create
very special experiences. And so that is happening.
At the same point, we ourselves as an organization
and we are a nonprofit, unlike most festivals,
we are also curating some shows and we're doing
things differently. than any other fringe actually
in the world. For instance, we have a show that
is coming into downtown Rochester, the final
two nights of the festival, September 19th and
20th, called Sphere. It's by a world -renowned
group called Eventi Verticali out of Italy. And
they will be hoisting a giant sphere up above
the crowd, totally free to attend, by the way,
on a crane. And we'll have acrobats inside the
sphere and outside the sphere. It'll be backlit.
It'll be beautiful. It's going to be fantastic.
We typically have, you know, 15 ,000 people to
some of those performances. So we do those like
really big spectacle type shows. Those are shows
you generally, not only can you not see elsewhere
in New York, you can't see them often elsewhere
in the United States. Not at all. Not at all.
But then... So then we'll have big shows like
that. And then we'll have, you know, smaller
shows too. We have a show that's totally sold
out, perhaps no surprise, but it sells out in
a New York minute every year called Dashboard
Drama. It's actually on its 11th year and it's
brand new every year, short plays that are held
in cars. And it's four parked cars and you as
an audience member get a ticket to the backseat,
you and someone else. And you see a 10 minute
short play, and then you rotate to the next car
and the next car and the next car. And it's four
short plays, about 45 minutes in total. And honestly,
we have many performances of that, but they sell
right out. When we first started doing things
like that, people were, I think like, what, what
is this? What is this? What is this theater?
What is, what are these shows who, that are not
all in traditional locations? But now. It's fully
embraced, and all the tickets sell out in about
24 hours for that sort of thing. So we have a
huge range. We also bring in comedy headliners.
We have Chelsea Handler in this year on Saturday,
September 13th at the glamorous and glorious
Eastman Theater, 2 ,400 seats. So we just have
a whole range of shows, something for everyone.
That is spectacular. That's amazing. Just absolutely
amazing. And this is exactly what I meant when
I said you're keeping in with the theme of Fringe.
performances that you're not going to get everywhere.
You have had major acts over the years, John
Mulaney, Eddie Izzard, Mike Berbiglia, Colin
Jost. This year you said Chelsea Handler. So
you guys are obviously have been expanding over
the years and adding so much. Now you mentioned
that obviously there's a little bit of a planning
committee such as yourself, but you said other
venues are also kind of doing their own thing
and bringing in their own acts. Is there a process
to where you kind of oversee and make sure that
the acts that they're booking are going to kind
of fit in with the theme and the idea of fringe,
or do you kind of just say, hey, we trust you?
Yeah. No, we don't. We don't tell them what to
book in their spaces. There is an open application
process. Anyone in the world can fill in. That's
in February and March of every year. And as a
show, you would upload the details of your show,
maybe some reviews, maybe reviews from prior
shows, photos, all that sort of stuff. You'll
check off the venues that you're interested in
applying at. There are very few shows that would
be appropriate for every single venue. application
goes through to the venues and then those venues
review it. A little bit like applying for college,
you might get more than one offer, but we're
not, we are absolutely not telling the venues
what to program. We think that they know their
space is better than we do. We trust them. That's
the important part of, you know, having a good
relationship in general. Like we have a degree
of trust. and they knock it out of the park.
So we're not going to be heavy handed in terms
of telling them what they can and cannot place
in their space. That's fantastic. As a performer
myself, an artist, I really do appreciate that.
And I'm sure the other artists do as well. I'm
sitting here talking with Erika Fee of the ESL
Rochester Fringe Festival, September 9th through
the 20th. Erika, something else I wanted to talk
about is... So... Let's just say, and I know
there's a lot, like we talked about, there's
over 600 performances, 30 venues. I've never
been, let's say I'm coming to Fringe Festival,
I walk in, what's the layout like? How do I find
out where to go? What should one expect when
they're coming to the festival? Just, I know
it's too much, but just kind of a summary of
what to expect. Well, the first thing that someone
should do is dive in. And there are a variety
of ways to dive in. One is through our website.
Another is through our app, which is if you just
look up Rochester Fringe Festival, Rochester
Fringe, the Apple App Store or Google Play, you
can find it. And another is our guide, which
is a 120 page festival guide. You can go to any
of those, any of those routes for information
and you can sort by things that you like. So
let's say you're a comedy lover. You can just
sort by all the comedy. Let's say you're only
going to be in town for the weekend. Okay. Sort
by the shows that are in town for the weekend.
Uh, let's say you're bringing your family and
you want shows that are appropriate for kids.
You can do that. Let's say you absolutely don't
want shows that are appropriate for kids. You
can do that. So there's a, there are a variety
of different routes. And we just ask people to
say, you know, one thing that I think is useful
is try something, try one of these big shows
that you've heard of. I mean, you've heard of
Chelsea Handler, you've heard of you know, some
of the PR advertising that's going on for these
bigger shows, but then take a risk on something
else. I love that. Something that you haven't
heard of. Well, speaking of, you know, you're
talking about how there's something for everybody.
And what I think is really unique about your
festival, too, is a lot of times you'll run into
events or festivals where it's meant for adults
or it's meant for kids. It's hard to kind of
find a place that's meant for both. And you guys
have pulled that off. I noticed there is a kids'
day, which is really important because that can
be the difference in somebody saying, man, we'd
love to go to that, but we don't have someone
to watch the kids. They can bring their kids.
What is kids' day like and what are some of the
things that they can look for? Well, I'll tell
you, Mike, we purposely hold kids' day on the
last day of the festival because the kids can't
run wild. We have everything from at our hub,
which our hub is at Maine and Gibbs streets in
downtown Rochester. We call it One Fringe Place.
It's really the place where, I mean, we have
all these venues hidden around downtown, but
that's a good place to go. We have everything
from chalk art for kids that's free. We have
a disco for kids. We have pumpkin painting. And
then we have some shows. We have a glamorous
and glorious venue, which I talked about the
Eastman Theater, but we've got another one that's
amazing. called the Spiegel Tent. And that is
an important Belgian music hall. It exists for
all 12 days of the festival. The term tent is
really a misnomer. It's very much a temporary
theater with inlaid old floors and stained glass
windows and mirrors. And we're doing a show there
nightly called Cirque de Fringe. Every year it's
a different Cirque de Fringe. This year it's
called Cirque de Fringe Claws Out. There's a
bit of a cat's theme. It's very funny. It's got
all sorts of cert performers. It's fake. You
just have to see it to believe it. Well, we've
got a show just for kids. That's Saturday, September
20th, Cirque de Fringe Clause out and it's appropriate
for kids age five and over. We have two clowns
coming in from Montreal. They are identical twins
and they are clowns called the Keith Keith Sisters.
They'll be doing a show that weekend out for
us called Jam Sign Up. So we have kids shows
actually throughout the festival. But really
on that final day, we have many kids shows. We
also on that day do an event called Street Beat,
which is, I believe at this point it might be
New York's largest break dancing and hip hop
dancing or all styles dancing competition, which
I feel very uncoordinated and uncool every year.
But it's teams of three versus three. And that's
for the afternoon, free to watch from 12 to 5
p .m. It's just like, ugh, it's very energetic
and super amazing. This is super amazing. I mean,
I think that's your selling point right there.
Fringe Festival, something for everyone. Don't
believe me? We have identical twin clowns. I
mean, you're right there. That sells it for me.
I wanted a couple more questions because I know
you're very busy. Before we go, I wanted to know,
though, Is this something where people should
or could make accommodations or is this more
of a go for the day, come back home kind of thing?
We absolutely have all sorts of people who come
in. We have a list of accommodations, offers
a one on our website. You can definitely come
in and spend a few days. definitely have a packed
schedule. And we have people that come in. We
have people that come in from New York. We have
people coming from all over the place to make
a few days of it. But you can also just come
in for the day. There are a wide variety of options
available to you. And if you come in for the
day, I think you might fall in love with it a
little bit. You'll want to come back for a little
longer next time. I'm already in love with this.
This is fantastic. Now, clearly, with 600 -plus
performers of all sorts, and, you know, you're,
you know, you have 30 -plus venues, this seems
like, is this like, you know, the festival happens,
and then you have a break, and you start planning
right away for the next one? Or are you just,
there is no break? Because it seems like this
might be a year -round thing for you, I'm guessing.
Yeah, well... Every year, I think this will be
the year, this will be the year that I can sit
back and just like eat bon bon and then it's
going to plan itself. And this is going to be,
I'm going to get everything organized. We're
really going to finally make it work. And we're
going to get a proper break. But unfortunately
that has yet to happen. It is definitely a year
round. We are a year round organization. We actually
offer artist master classes. year round, but
it definitely takes a year to plan it. And yeah,
we are already planning for next year. We're
already in discussion for shows for next year.
Something that I was thinking about before the
interview that I wasn't going to ask and then
it just kind of came up was, you know, so I was
in a band for a while and now I do stand -up
comedy. And I've noticed since COVID, things
are a little bit different with live performance
everywhere, not even just live performance, just
in public. You know, a lot of industries are
struggling having people kind of come out of
the woodwork. And then in some cases, some industries,
it doesn't seem like they've missed a beat. Do
you have you noticed any trends that have changed
since COVID with with Fringe Festival? Oh, God,
yeah. So I. I was actually just elected or. appointed
I should say by the governor to New York State
Council of the Arts. So I am now a council member
and I am interested in talking to others about
that because I think there have been so many
changes in performing arts. I mean one thing
that I'm seeing worldwide and I'm sure that you've
seen people have become very last minute in terms
of booking tickets. I mean it's last year I remember
looking at a show and I thought It's Tuesday.
It's Tuesday. Like, we haven't sold no tickets.
What are we going to do? And then, boom, sold
out. Yeah. Like, who doesn't know what they're
doing on a Tuesday? I know. A Tuesday is something
I book in advance. No, I know what you mean because,
you know, when you're selling tickets for shows,
there's a lot of, there's some times where you
get in that window where you're like, we might
need to pull the plug. We're not selling enough
tickets. And then you go, but we kind of should
roll the dice on walk -ups. And so you got to
find that sweet spot. And so that's not fun.
But now, yeah, it's a roll of the dice for sure.
Yeah. Audiences have become very unpredictable
in terms of their buying habits. They become
very late. And New York State, you know, performing
arts and festivals were closed the longest. So
it has taken a while. The other thing that happened
is that so many arts professionals left the state
and maybe they left the performing arts in total,
but it's finding that knowledge base again. That's
what's tricky. Absolutely. So where, I mean,
every year, just two more questions. Every year,
this festival seems to have grown and gotten
bigger and bigger and so many different things
that are coming and going. Where do you kind
of see this going or do you have a goal in the
near future of how this may evolve or even stay
the same? But what do we expect for Fringe Festival
in the near future? Well, I think, I mean, I
think you know what it's like, uh, coming from
a performance background yourself with COVID
for so long, organizations were just trying to
put one foot in front of the other. Uh, it wasn't
like, you know, we had all of these goals prior
to COVID and then it was, okay, uh, let's try
to get to next week. So I, what's exciting to
me is that I'm hearing more and more venues actually
feel that they can plan out in future. They can
say, okay, let's talk and bring in this show
for next year. So that's really nice to be able
to have a little bit of forward motion that's
beyond the next week. We really, as an organization,
we want to, of course, become a bigger and bigger.
And I say, of course, but I mean, that is the
idea that we're going to become more and more
of a tourism draw. We want to be able to provide
more platforms to artists. We want to be able
to provide more accessible art to people. About
a quarter of our shows are totally free of charge.
The rest are relatively low cost. So we just
want to be able to continue what we're doing,
especially in this arts funding environment that
we're now in. Yeah, yeah, absolutely. And we
here at Good News York want you to continue.
Thank you. Last question, I got to put you on
the spot just a little bit. I've never been.
There's going to be people listening or watching
that have never been. And we're going to go to
the ESL Rochester Fringe Festival. Give me one,
two, or three things that you personally think
it's a must that you got to go see. If you're
going to do the festival and you had to pick
it. Well, the thing is, is that I can't have
any favorite children. I get that. This is all
in the download. First of all, like I said, there's
something for everyone. Some of our relatively
spectacular, very different shows. Of course,
I mentioned Sphere. That's at Parcel 5, Downtown
Rochester, September 19th and 20th. That's to
Sphere, hoisted up by the giant crane. You're
not going to see that anywhere else. We have
an amazing immersive light experience called
Submergence, direct from the UK. We actually
just tested that out last night and it's unbelievable.
But you know, there's just something for everyone.
What I love, I absolutely love, is when people
try out something new, especially when they try
out a show with someone that's totally unknown.
And then they say, oh my gosh, this person is
the next big thing. You know, we had Nate Bergazzi
here. I love him. Opening. opening in 2015 for
a show. And now I can't even book Nate Bargassi.
No. Yeah, he's amazing. He's a... Yeah, I mean,
that just goes to show you, you know, how cutting
-edge you guys have been. I mean, you've been
getting performers that have, you know, before
they broke. And, I mean, that's something to
be proud of. So, Erika Fee, the CEO extraordinaire
of the ESL Rochester Fringe Festival. going on
September 9th through the 20th in Rochester,
New York. Give us the plugs. Where can we find
information, get tickets, anything you want us
to know? Let's hear it. Our website is a great
resource, RochesterFringe .com. You can also
download the festival app, which just search
for Rochester Fringe and If you happen to come
across a Festival Guide, there's a listing of
where they are. They've also been distributed
through many papers, either around Central and
Western New York. Pick up one of those and kind
of dive right in. But RochesterFringe .com, I
think, is your number one location for information.
Well, Eric, Afee, thank you so much for your
time. And we will see you at the ESL Rochester
Fringe Festival. Thank you. All right. You have
a great day and try to get some sleep. Try to
get some sleep after this. Just a little. All
in October. I'm going into a coma. It's bonbons
and pillows. Thank you for understanding. I get
it. All right. You have a great day. Thank you
so much. Thank you. And with that, we will be
heading out, but we'll be back tomorrow on Good
News York sponsored by ads on the go. Get ads
on the go dot com. Check out the Rochester Fringe
Festival. You heard it. Go to the website, get
your tickets. It's one of a kind. We'll see you
tomorrow.