You hear about Hollywood the concept constantly in the main stream media. Not so often do you hear about Hollywood the neighborhood. The New York Times published this article today doing just that.

They cover a couple of my favorite spots – Runyon Canyon, the ArcLight, Roscoe’s Chicken, Amoeba Records.

No doubt written by an entertainment journalist with nothing to do around Golden Globes times.

As mentioned previously, we have decided on a “democratic solution” to select included projects for Fringe 2010.

In true 21st century style, we will launch a website whereby theatre producers and artists post information about their project. This may include words, pictures, videos, and more, whatever it takes to best represent their group or idea. Members of the community will vote on which projects they would like to see in the festival. The projects with the most votes are accepted into the Fringe.

This begs a very serious question: How does voting work?

Quick answer is that we haven’t decided yet. There are actually many different methods we could employ to decide the winners. Thus we in the Fringe production team have begun a study of the riveting world of voting theory. It’s actually quite apropos to discuss voting methods now as American democracy is once again front-and-center in the news. I recently ran across a very intriguing article on some of the major contemporary thinking in this discipline.

Most common and familiar to Americans is Plurality Voting. Using this system, voters cast their ballot for a single candidate; one person, one vote. The winner is simply the candidate with the most votes. Sound simple? It is, and according to many perhaps the most unfair voting system available. For the fringe festival, this is almost certainly a bad idea for pretty obvious reasons. You may like many acts applying for the Fringe, and indeed all those acts may end up being included. You should be able to vote for more than just one.

A second method, perhaps more appropriate for our purpose, is Range Voting. In this system voters rank each project on a scale of (for example) 1 to 5 stars. The votes are tallied up by simply adding all the points together. A project with 150 “one star” votes would tie one with 30 “5 star” votes. Winning the vote becomes a function of both popularity (number of ratings) and quality (number of stars). This method would be more appropriate for our purposes at Fringe.

A final method under consideration is known as Approval Voting. Using this method, voters simply vote for as many projects/candidates as they wish. Those with the most votes “win”. In Fringe terms, you either support a given project or just don’t. You can support as many projects as you like. This, too, may be a very effective method for our needs.

This is a lot to work with as we decide on the “most perfect” voting system for Fringe. The first option (plurality) is almost certainly a bad fit. At the very least, we’d like to give community members the ability to spread their votes across multiple projects. The question is whether voters can “rate” the projects as well.

One wonders if the founding fathers grappled with these issues. Especially in this primary season, I for one would like something more than a one person, one vote system.

I have always been sort of a theme park freak.

It wasn’t the rides per se that attracted me – it was the experience. When I enter a given theme park, I don’t rush to the tallest coaster, I tend to walk around and soak up the atmosphere. I then start to get very judgmental – comparing everything to great theme parks I have attended in the past. I suppose in an alternative life I should have been a professional theme park designer.

But no, I chose a life in the theatre – which itself is an experiential existence. When we attend the theatre we find ourself transported into the world of the production. We give over a part of ourselves and surrender our grip on reality to adopt this new reality on stage. If only we could reach out and touch it…interact with the world in front of us. Wouldn’t that be cool?

Enter the Fringe outdoor event: An experience in performance, decor, food, and spectacle. We are in the (very) early stages of planning this particular extravaganza and the scale, scope, and ambitiousness of our ideas thus far has me very excited. We are thinking the artistic and theatrical equivalent of a world-class renaissance festival, if that metaphor appeals to you.

So what is this event of which you speak? (you may ask)

To compliment the indoor events – ye olde fringe faire – we produce an event to include various street and outdoor performances. We create a unique experience for the fringe-goer. Walk into the Fringe outdoor event and you are greeted with the world of fringe: Its sights, smells, music, and fun.

Hungry for details? Me too. We are currently seriously discussing the content and form of this part of the festival. With the proper funds, folks, and commitment we can create something very special – a spiritual hub for the fest. This is an ambitious project to compliment a VERY ambitious uber-project, so we welcome our community’s help and support.

As more decisions are made and milestones achieved, you can bet you will be hearing more about it. For one, I think we need a better title than “the outdoor event”.

Courtesy of our fiscal sponsors at Fractured Atlas, you can now make a tax deductible donation to benefit the early operations of the Hollywood Fringe Festival.

Follow this link to find out how you can give to the Fringe. We rely on our community’s help to lift this festival from the ground, so please pledge your support today. Donations from $1 to $5,000 are welcome online. Please contact us at [email protected] for donations greater than $5000.

Hollywood Fringe is a sponsored project of Fractured Atlas, a non-profit arts service organization. Contributions in behalf of Hollywood Fringe may be made payable to Fractured Atlas and are tax-deductible to the extent permitted by law.

Direction Link for donations:
www.fracturedatlas.org/site/contribute/donate/1354

You wake up with no plans. Browsing the web, you check out the Hollywood Fringe website – some coworkers were talking about it around the water cooler yesterday.

Not knowing exactly what to expect, you decide to give this Fringe thing a try. Browsing through tags, comments, descriptions, and various other little features to help you choose, you select shows and events that most appeal to you. Boom, you buy the tickets in one shot. That was easy, and not too expensive.

Time to step outside. Fringe has clearly arrived. Banners, chalked sidewalks, freaks of all varieties lurking around street corners. Everyone laughing, having a wild time. Something is different in this here neighborhood, you think to yourself.

You begin your day with the experience of the Outdoor Fringe event. Street performers abound vying for your attention and pleasure. That albino fire eater was a site to see. Certainly never seen anyone do that with a grilled cheese sandwich and a pair of pliers.

Delicious snack food cooking on vendor wagons. Unique and artful “gear” sold at stands nearby – “hmm, I think I need a Fringe-branded cigar holder in my life,” you wisely mumble to yourself.

Filled with sun, fun, and joy, you depart the outdoor venue to see some indoor shows. Along the way, you notice masked performers singing a song along the streets ( was that free bird?? ) . No escaping these wild Fringe folk! Feeling feisty, you start singing with them. Bad decision…more masked characters jump out and sing along with you. Ok, maybe not so bad. They slap you on the back as they move on down the road. You are feeling pretty cool.

You head to your first show of the evening – it’s a singing clown act with a libertarian bent. You laugh, you cry. You say hello to the sheepish, cigarette smoking clowns as you move to your next show down the road – turns out to be pretty close! You walk into an improvisation performance heavily utilizing multimedia and turnips. After being called on stage and used as a character in a Charlie Brown bit (that was fun), you decide you are a little hungry. You head to an official Fringe dining venue you found on the Fringe website for some dinner.

You commingle with some of your new Fringe friends, seems they are somehow all there. The masked actors are having some food (poultry) and wave to you. The clowns are eating grits, you wonder why. The albino fire eater sulks in the corner (it’s a tough life, no doubt).

There is a musical act playing at the restaurant: The world-famous Jimbo and his singing monkey. You snarf on your cocktail as the monkey jumps on your table and shakes your hand. You need another cocktail – fast. Someone you just met at the improv show drops by and you share a chuckle about your “famous moment” on stage earlier that evening (“I can’t believe you fell for the football trick! Don’t you read Peanuts?!?”).

Getting dark, time for one more Fringe show. This is a small one, a boutique show that your coworker saw the other night and recommended heartily. The house isn’t packed, but the show is fantastic. You feel you have discovered a gem. You make a note to blog about it in your fringe blog, and to give it a very positive review on their Fringe project page.

You don’t want to go home yet (this is too much fun), so you decide to grab a drink at the official bar you found on the Fringe website. Again, everyone is there! After two or three more drinks, you head to one of the hostels to after party with some of your new Fringe friends.

You spend several hours carousing and meet someone with serious date-potential – such charm and grace. Coming back to consciousness slightly, you realize you have been chatting-up Jimbo’s monkey. You don’t mind so much. That’s one funny friggin monkey – and what a singing voice.