barry greenfeld is a jew. this is not relevant to this story except that i owe him money, and as a result, feel compelled to help him out on his various projects and ventures.also, he's a good friend...
the first trip into barryland was earlier this week, last monday actually, when barry put on a show at campoverde, the social club owned and run by his niece rachel. rachel loves her crazy uncle barry, but is often frustrated by his haphazard approach to putting on shows. this often leads to over-runs at the bar, and small numbers in attendance. this show had roughly ten people at it when the comedians started, and the room was so small, that only a small alcove was used for the show. so the comedians sat across the couch from the audience and did their routines in a kind of "conversation-speak". By the time i got up, or down, rather, there were four people, and another few comedians there. i tried out some new stuff, and ran through some classics, recieved good response, and the show ended. the whole thing reminded me of rennaisance comedy - kinda parlour comedy.
then yesterday barry called. he had a friend who had a wedding, and there was a party that barry was going to do some comedy at, and he asked me to come and close it out. i would get free beer and food, and i could sell my Cd's.
barry picked me up in a jeep that one of his neice's had driven the bags off and then got barry to try to sell. the jeep was flying along grandview while barry chatted away about what was wrong with it. it had started to rain, and if it rained any worse, i would have to move into the back seat because the sunroof leaked. at about this time barry noticed the traffic in front had stopped and so he slammed on the brakes which weren't good, and the bald tires slid on the wet pavement and we ran into the back of a honda in front of us. so far - so good.
fortunately the damage was slight, and so barry exchanged numbers with the other driver and we continued to maple ridge for the wedding reception. barry took full advantage of the free beer and so when he did his set it was erratic. i remained pretty sober, so i gave them a standard corporate wedding set and sold one cd. i spent some time trying to convince barry to leave. when i finally pointed out the dance floor only had jailbait, grandmas and lesbians on it, barry agreed it was time to leave.
i drove the jeep back to vancouver, being the sober one (barry attempting to get into the wrong vehicle was my first clue), and we got to the media club just after the show there had ended. k foxx was still there, so we hung around for a smoke and a drink. somehow foxx decided to buy a bicycle off a junkie outside the media club, claiming initially that his daughter had recently had her bike stolen and this would replace it. i made a joke about the circle of life, giving his daughter a stolen bike to replace her stolen bike. this somehow inspired kev to phone the police to return the bike to them. they said to call tomorrow. so now we've got a bike that we need to load into the back of the jeep. kevin and barry discuss how the police will not be able to bust us for having stolen goods because kev has reported it. the fact is we have to all pile in the front seat and drive drunk with dope might still be indictable. i sit in the passenger seat trying to figure out which one of these guys is more insane.
somehow, before we leave, another street urchin sells kevin a tennis racquet. I check it out and find the owner's name and phone number in it, so KF phones it to return it at 1:30 am. he leaves a message, sure his karma is safe now.
we arrive at the bosman's too late to get in(somehow this requires me to give kevin a loonie,which i don't get back), so we head to characters. foxx explains that this works out for everyone because its close to where kev lives, and is a short drive over the bridge for me and barry.
outside of characters, we unload the bicycle. barry and kev try to sell it to some guys standing on the street. i make some joke about "peddling" stolen bikes and we go in.
at characters we get after hours drinks - only vodka is served. kev regales us with stories of crime in the bahamas and high paying gigs that i don't get, until we (barry and i) have to leave. i try to get away with only paying for my drink, but fail, leaving any profit i have garnered that night on the table to cover the tab. exhausted at 3 am, barry and i leave. k. foxx - fresh drink in hand - waves goodbye as he begins to regale new friends with some more stories.
barry drops me off at home, and i go inside, wondering what, at the age of 46, am i doing with my life - a question i often ask after an adventure with barry.
