By Rob Shostak

A few nights ago, I was walking up Yonge Street in the rain as I passed by the Panasonic Theatre buzzing with its eerie Blue (Man) glow. As uneasy as it may have felt, the Blue Men reminds me of analyst/therapist Tobias Fünke so I laughed and laughed… until I stopped.
Why stop laughing at thoughts of Frightened Inmate #2? Well, lining the street in front of the Panasonic Theatre were bags and bags of Blue Man Garbage. Fourteen clear bags of something white, bagged, tagged and trash ready. My strolling companion informed me that the bags were full of protective gear for the audience in the “poncho section,” to shield the theatre goers’ ballgowns and tuxedos from flying fluo paint spatter.
Hmmm…. at 7 shows a week… 52 weeks in a year… about 2 bags of protective coverings per show… that’s 730 large garbage bags a year from the Blue Men… and that’s just the ponchos.
With all the recent chatter regarding the future of Toronto’s rubbish, walking by and seeing all this waste was both surprising and unsettling. Was the city aware of the need of a few extra Michigan-bound garbage trucks before they welcomed the showmen? I must say, as an avid user of the green-bin/blue-box program, walking by the theatre that night, I found myself feeling blue.
Besides, Blue Man Group is so Pentium 3.