encounters with the famous

Yesterday I met Fringe superstar TJ Dawe. This is TJs first time performing in Ottawa, so, oddly enough, he and I are on similar pages at this point in terms of public excitement about his show. (except for some scripts that he has authored or co-authored coming here before him). Three years ago I saw "Curse of the Trickster" in a huge, packed, hot Edmonton venue, and never forgot his charisma and precision. This year he's performing "Maxim and Cosmo", which are apparently not the names of a Russian guy and a Greek guy, but the names of two respected monthly publications. I still can't shake the idea that it's a show about friendship across the divide between eastern-western Europe and western-Asia-that's-still-really-Europe. Apparently he had a decent crowd for an 11pm last night, and only 1 walkout (he seemed to prefer this to no walkouts, if I read his tone correctly)! Earlier in the evening I met TJ for the first time, in the beer ten entranceway, after years of wondering what he's like offstage. What follows is a transcript of my first encounter with this Fringe heavyweight:

Me: You're TJ Dawe.
TJ: Oh. Who are you?
Me: I'm Alex Eddington. You don't know me, but I've seen your stuff...
TJ: Oh. What show are you doing?
Me: [explains the premise of "The Fugue Code"]
TJ: Oh, are you a musician yourself?
Me: Yes, I'm a composer by training, I've only come to theatre recently. Because of Edmonton.
TJ: Do you know anything about noseflutes?
Me:...yes. I've played them before. I've performed on them.
TJ: I just got my hands on a bunch of noseflutes. [small smile betraying restrained excitement] Would you like to try them?
Me: ...Sure.

And we parted ways, beckoned by beers and shows and friends.