refined look than the Commodore here
in Van, but with very much the same
feel, including the tiered standing room
on all edges of the floor, friendly staff,
and a well-stocked bar. Definitely a
great place to catch a show.

We settled in next to the side bar
(from which we would not part for
the next three hours) and caught
most of the set by Har Mar Superstar.
Singing poppishly embellished R&B
to a background of cheesy synth and
percussion, Har Mar (Sean Tillman)
is a sight to behold. Sure, the dude
can write some clever songs, but until
you’ ve seen this kind of stuff performed
by an overweight, balding, rich, sex-
and-drug-addled Minnesotan, you
haven’t experienced real awesomeness.
Strutting around, pulling out mediocre
breakdancing moves, and stripping like
a pro as he belts out witty, sex-filled pop
songs, he’d occasionally stop and say
something like “Fuck, I’m awesome...
I’m so fucking hot... Man, Ill make
more money tonight than you guys will
all month, so I’m gonna play another
song,” eliciting either strong applause or
venomous boos.

After Har Mar’s set, we welcomed
to the stage Mr. Jeff Dowd, who was
the creative basis for the character Jeff
Lebowski. Looking exactly as you
would imagine him, drunk and hilarious,
Dowd discussed the parallels in his life
and the life of the character in the film,
pacing back and forth on stage for a
solid ten minutes until people started
getting bored of their empty glasses.
The centerpiece of the night’s events,
however, is the screening of the film,
which they simply played there at the
Showbox on a giant projection screen.
By that point, many of the Har Mar
fans had left, leaving a small army of
Lebowski devotees to stand and cheer
and yell out lines from the movie as we
all watched.

The cool thing about that part of the
night was that everyone all knew the
lines. Everyone knew each joke and
one-liner and memorable quote and
each ridiculous character, so we all felt
free to stand around and talk and keep
drinking (heavily, I might add), and just
soak up the vibe of the event. Which
isn’t to say we didn’t watch the movie;
it just wasn’t as urgent an element of
the evening as you might think. We
stood around, chatted with some dudes
from Portland, smoked with first-class
character impersonators, and generally
just had a good time.

When the movie was finally over, we
slammed back a few pitchers at the hotel
bar, piled back into our rooms, and tried
to get some sleep. My only regret is that
we couldn’t be present for the bowl-
a-rama party the next night. But that’s
alright, because next year, I’m bringing
my own ball.

 

 

Interview:
Rob the bartender!

no shortage of perfect Walter look-alikes last Friday night.

“The look-alikes are creepy, some of them are really in
character, to the point that it’s almost scary.” He made a
comparison to the Rocky Horror Picture Show, saying that the
level of participation and insanity were pretty much the same
as the other cult favourite.

Not surprisingly, Rob tells us that the most popular drink
of the night is the White Russian. “I’ve sold more Caucasians
than any other drink combined today.” It’s not our fault that
he makes them so well.

tw one man who sees everything at the Showbox

is the bartender. The upstairs bar overlooks the floor and
stage, and is a perfect vantage point for the craziness that was
Lebowskifest 2007. Rob was the man behind that bar, and
seeing as we spent the night standing beside said bar, it made
sense to ask the man who cooked us up so many crushingly
strong White Russians a few questions.

Like us, Rob is a Lebowski fan. “I’ve seen the movie
about 12 times I think,” rivaling some of the biggest fans at
the party. Rob’s favourite character? “Walter.” And there was