Puppets Are for Grown Ups

I've been doing puppet shows for grown-ups (otherwise known as Puppet Slams) since 2002. Yes, yes, the phrase, "grown-ups" has a slightly juvenile sound to it (likely because if you're saying "grown-ups" you either hang out with small children a lot, or you are one), but let's face it...if I said "Puppets Are for Adults," your minds would race down the gutter farther than a cartoon fedora in a Disney short.

That doesn't mean Puppet Slams have all of the wholesome goodness that a Disney short would (holy lemon balls, no!), but usually you'll find artists with enough sense that you won't see 45 minutes of puppet porn. Usually. Honestly I don't know what you will see, but I know at our Slams here in Phoenix, you'll laugh, you'll guffaw, & you'll chuckle. Maybe less guffawing than laughing or chuckling... but your personal boundaries for what you feel is appropriate may be pushed. In a good way. You may take offense at some things. Some things may offend you with intention. Should you go? Yes. Are you sad that you don't live in Phoenix (other than for the magnificent winter weather)? You don't have to be!

www.PupppetSlam.com is a super snappy website that delivers all kinds of fantastical news about Puppet Slams held all over the darn place! It's so exciting that I felt that it deserved two sentences in a row with exclamation marks. Do you see how awesome it is?? (Now TWO question marks? All caps?? What has this post turned into? A giant vat of amazing!? Why I do believe you're right!) ....... Run by IBEX Puppetry, the Puppet Slam Network is like the cartoon network, only more awesome, not on cable tv, and it will make your Chia pet's hair grow better than that time you gave it a mixture of beer & tabasco sauce. (Sometimes I wonder why people let me have a computer.) (...or the power of parenthesis.)

If there's one thing you should learn from the internet, it's that there are so many fantastical subcultures in the world. You should partake in them. All of them. Or just this one. Either way.

Ok so maybe you're not on the snappy email list that tells you when and where things are taking place. It's okay. I'll hook you up. Because I'm nice like that! Just click on this link & you'll be transported there like a kitten in a carrier on the way to the vet...except it will be a whole lot faster, and you won't be trapped, or crying, scared, or sliding around on a towel while your owner sings you lullabies hoping it will calm you down even though it won't. Stupid owner. And why you continue to sleep in the carrier when you get home completely baffles everyone. You hate it when it's in the car! Silly you.

Hey, do you want avoid relying on me whenever possible? Good choice! You can sign up to receive those snappy emails yourself! Way to be proactive, reader! I think you'll be happy you took that step.

Soooo, yeah. You should go to a Puppet Slam near you. You should sign up for the Puppet Slam Network's email list (brought to you by IBEX Puppetry) and then you should apologize to your kitten..... or something like that.

clunky typing makes me happy

So on average I think I've figured out that I do 7-9 shows per week. A friend asked how long this run is...This run has been going on for about 18 years, I imagine it won't stop. The show I do was commissioned by the city water department in 1990 and the city pays the theater to go to schools to teach kids about the evils of wasting water--with a rapping cactus.
Will I get bored with it?
I doubt it. It's a very challenging show. Meaning, at the beginning of each show I hope I do everything right & at the end there's always something I think "ugh" over. The only really bad part about it is the driving. Granted I haven't unloaded a show in 117 degree weather yet...I'm sure driving will have nothing on the heated load/unload next May-September.
Today I'm driving out to East Mesa...And when I say East mesa, I mean that about 12 feet past the school is the "Welcome to Mesa" sign coming in from the other direction. I know this because I accidentally drove past the school yesterday.
The beautiful thing about going way out there is that it is so amazingly quiet. you realize the only thing you're hearing are your footsteps and the wind. An occasional child in the distance or scorpion playing in the school-yard...but there just aren't cars. Its absolutely beautiful. If I didn't really despise plants and arachnids that could hurt me, I'd live out there. I do love living in the city though. If it was farm country in N. CA I might be more tempted to live far away from places with sidewalks....not that my neighborhood has sidewalks...hmm.

Anyway, I suppose this is now warning that if you buy something from me, you've given me free reign to talk about you...I always think about the people who buy my puppets. They're usually getting them for their kids or their co-workers or friends. I usually imagine these people to be teachers or people who work in IT, in just regular ole, ya know, jobs. I found out yesterday that one girl who has bought from me a few times now is a puppeteer! Yay! Not only that, she just made her Sesame Street debut (congratulations!) Anytime that sort of thing happens (i.e. encouragement by someone who does what I do) I think "oh let me at my piles of felt! I want to make more crazy-butt puppets"

So I guess, with that, I'm off to turn some polyfoam into chunks of flesh & gore for tonight's Frightfully Funny Puppet Slam.

Del Close Marathon

If you plan to stalk me, go to New York this weekend. I'll be performing with Apollo 12 at the Del Close Marathon (Improv festival) on Saturday at 4pm at the Hudson Guild Theater. This will be my 2nd trip to New York. It will be amazing.

If you do stalk me, please tackle me after the show. (I want to be tackled to the ground. Do it, I'll give you a nickel.) I would be very sad to find out that someone I know came and they didn't tackle me afterwards.

I'm hoping to get over to the marionette theater to see--marionettes. If I do, I'll have hit the two oldest puppet theaters on both coasts in one summer. Is it a little bit sad that I even know that? Or is it more sad that I feel as though it's an accomplishment. *Pushes up nerd-glasses*

We had our Puppet Slam this last weekend & my cohort finished the script for me. He did a great job, too. So our Friday show had a great crowd as usual, and the Saturday show had a larger, but quieter crowd, as usual. Saturday crowds are weird.

Before the show I was able to fix Little Red Riding Hood's arms up in a really cool way Nick Barone taught at the workshop. It emphasized how different her arms are in proportion, but it makes it so they're not all floppy-floppy at the side. (Note the before shot to the right & after below.) Here, when I've been thinking almost every arm like this has some sort of armature in it, all it took was some soft-sculpture techniques. Yay that!

Goal: This time next year I will have a set of human puppets for shows that I will have spent a goodly amount of time constructing. (Meaning not 4 puppets in 5 days as per the usual)

Hold me to it, blog-world.