Looking for Kindness Amidst Anxiety with Old Reverend Randell

Looking for Kindness Amidst Anxiety is a one man show, in the tradition of the Vynil Cafe with Stuart McLean (with an overhead projector and a telephone mic tossed into the mix). Here is what Randell has to say about the show:

It all started with some cartoons I made in my art journal while struggling with a year of prolonged anxiety attacks. Through therapy, the idea of kindness became very important to me. I began to share my stories along side my Kindness Cartoons and it really resonated with people and helped me feel seen. It started to feel like these drawings wanted to live somewhere outside my art journal, so I turned them into a little book called "Looking for Kindness Amidst Anxiety."

Around the same time I was also working on my debut album "4-track Gospel" under the stage name . These songs were all about how things like anxiety and pain left me feeling like I didn't fit in, especially at church. The album ends with the title track, an epic story that uses the image of a 4-track tape recorder (how musicians did home recording before computers) as a metaphor. I imagined the gospel writers: Mathew, Mark, Luke & John used up all the tape and there was no place left for me. The song then flips to what can only be described as a mystical experience. In the transition I sing, “It’s kind of strange to say, it’s event stranger to sing. I don’t need you to believe it, or even receive it, I just need to tell it, the way that I felt it!”

I began to realize that these two projects were really one story. And as I have had the chance to share pieces of this at art shows, youth centers and concerts, people always tell me, "You were really speaking my language!" I think most people can identify with the struggles of mental health and we are all looking to find a little more kindness in our lives.

That is the story I'll be sharing on Saturday, November 2nd at the . 541is one of my favourite neighbourhood coffee shops. I chose this venue, because they understand kindness. They have a pay-it-forward model where people can pay a little extra so someone else (who couldn't afford it) can get a coffee in that same shop. I actually have a whole page in my book that talks about this beautiful exchange.

IMPORTANT INFO:

Doors Open at 7pm: Please do support 541 by buying a drink or snack.

Performance Begins at 7:30pm: Don't be late, I would hate for you to miss anthing.

Books & Art Prints will be for sale by Cash or E-transfer.

Tickets must be purchased through Eventbrite. We will not be selling tickets at the door.

Parking: There is lots of street parking available. There is no parking lot.

Listen to in all the regular places online:

Spotify

Bandcamp

Apple Music

YouTube

Host or Publisher Randell Neudorf