Tag: Puppets

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Cranky Device Pics

I am currently doing sound and stage managing for the Big Tadoo Puppet Crew’s “Breath of Fresh Air” show. The show goes to Alameda County (East Bay) elementary schools and teaches the children how to walk and bike to school safely. We set up two huge cranky/crankie devices at every school, with allen wrenches as the only tool.

The show has been running for three seasons now, and I posted photos of the crankies when I was helping Jonathan Youtt build them out. During our Fall season last year, I snapped a few pics of the tried and true crankies.

The two cranky scrolls are placed for the top of the show. The blue straps were added after the show started running. They give the canvas more structure to stay smooth as the velo-cranks move the scene along.
The two cranky scrolls (center) are placed for the top of the show. The blue straps were added after the show started running. They give the canvas more structure to stay smooth as the velo-cranks move the scene along.
Photo of the front of the scrolls (while I stand on the puppet stage). Notice how the blue straps give tension to the canvas. Both scrolls roll from the middle out, ending up at school!
Photo of the front of the scrolls (while I stand on the puppet stage). Notice how the blue straps give tension to the canvas. Both scrolls roll from the middle out, ending up at school!
June Rollalot (Sirraum) and his mom (Afi) stand in front of their house. Once June starts rolling (and singing), the scroll is cranked to simulate movement.
June Rollalot (Sirraum) and his mom (Afi) stand in front of their house. Once June starts rolling (and singing), the scroll is cranked to simulate movement.

While in NYC December, I caught Bread & Puppet’s theater show. Like their Summer show, they had a ding dong (small performance before and after the main peformance) in the lobby. The performer (ahh, can’t remember his name!) gave an intimate two-person audience toy theater in a suitcase show. He used a cranky too!

As a backdrop for the Bread & Puppet ding dong show, the small cranky box is used to change scenes and create depth and movement. It all fits in the case/stage!
As a backdrop for the Bread & Puppet ding dong show, the small cranky box is used to change scenes and create depth and movement. It all fits in the case/stage!

For more info on crankies, go to my Crankie Archives page and see/read all about it!

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Free Culture Lives!

Sunday at the West Fest, a free concert in Golden Gate Park, I threw a new line in my carny spiel: “Just like the SF Diggers gave it all away in the Summer of Love, our games are free. There ain’t no line, and it don’t cost a dime!” The SF Diggers have inspired me many times over with their mad, creative urge to make the word “free” the real deal. They gave food away to the wayward runaways that flocked to Upper Haight, inspiring the Food Not Bombs campaigns. They hustled landlords to get living space and then crammed in as many homeless teens as possible to get them off the streets, and the Huckleberry Youth Programs is a reminder of their work. The SF Diggers threw free concerts in the Panhandle, the West Fest was a quasi-unsponsored (they did have logos all over things) example of that legacy. Finally, the SF Diggers created free stores, where money wasn’t considered. The Really Really Free Markets and Clothing Swaps stand as 21st Century Examples of this idea.

The SF Diggers, for good or bad, were tied to the San Francisco Mime Troupe. On top of all that free culture listed above, there were also many puppet performances, spontaneous art happenings, and wild, tripped out parties. The Mime Troupe gave their shows away for free in parks across the City, and they had to fight for that right, inspiring the SF Diggers (and bringing on the hilarious arrest of some of their giant puppets). On the East Coast, Peter Schumann’s Bread and Puppet Theater also began to throw free performances in New York, Vermont, and beyond. And Luis Valdez and El Teatro Campesino also began free, radical performance from a Mexi-Cali Latino perspective.

Continue reading “Free Culture Lives!”

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Mandalay Marionettes Theater at Asian Art Museum

AsiaAlive

Burmese Puppet Troupe

Tuesday through Saturday, October 25 through 31

12:00 noon – 4:00 pm

North Court

FREE with general museum admission

Mandalay Marionettes Theatre from Burma demonstrate their culture’s traditional puppet-making process. Watch them manipulate puppets, and create your own artwork to take home. The Mandalay Marionettes Theatre also presents short performances on Target First Free Sunday.

In conjunction with the special exhibition, Emerald Cities: Arts of Siam and Burma.

Performance: Mandalay Marionettes Theatre
Sunday, November 1
12:00 noon and 2:00 pm, Samsung Hall
Free admission sponsored by Target.

Enjoy puppet shows filled with Himalayan adventures, love stories, and dance.

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Ghosts of the River Shadow Play in SF

October 28 – November 8, 2009
8PM, Oct 28 – 30, Nov 4 – 7
2PM, Oct 31, Nov 1 & 8

BRAVA Theater Center
2781 24th St., San Francisco, CA 94110

Ticket Prices
Wed,Thur, Sun: $20; Fri & Sat: $25
*Opening Night (Oct 28): $35 includes performance + post-show reception
*Thursday, Oct 29: Pay-What-You-Wish ($5 min. donation suggested)
*Student, Senior & Group discount available via phone & in person

Box Office: 415 647 2822 | 24/7 Online Box Office

More Info: http://www.shadowlightghosts.org

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UPDATED: Puppets and Carnies… mmm

Yoo hoo…. I’ve been working hard this past month, doing sound tech (5 mics and about 25 sound cues) for the Big Tadoo’s “Walk and Roll to School” puppet show for TRANSFORM in Alameda County elementary schools. Just finished week two of the Fall Tour, leaving the kids with the urge to either bike and walk to school (or maybe put on a puppet and sing a great song).

Come visit me and a few events I’ll be participating in for your fall carny/puppet goodness:

The Sustainable Living Roadshow will have two games at Treasure Island Music Fest this weekend. If you stop by during Flaming Lips, you won’t see me there!!!

Big Tadoo will have a public performance of the show on Halloween with for the 3rd Annual Scraper Bike Day in Oakland. Never heard of scraper bikes? Check out this site for more info on a cool, inner-city urban bike movement.

CANCELLED due to permit problems (fingers crossed that we’ll perform for them soon!)

October 31st
Fremont Highschool parking lot
4610 Foothill Blvd. tween 46th and 45th
Oakland, CA 94601

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Rootabega Opera Teaser Vid

Heya HappyFt pardners. Haven’t posted much in the past weeks because I’ve been laying low, reorganizing, re-energizing, and trying to land from a year or so on the road. So not much has gone on in these yon parts of the Left Coast. Well, I did come out of a great men’s meditation retreat at Spririt Rock a few Wednesday’s back and landed smack into Christine Marie and Dan Cantrell’s Rootabega Opera. I’d known about their project for months and was never sure if my schedule would allow me to be part of the show, but they had a small part throwing shadows that they kept for me! And I jumped in slowly but with relish and spanch. Great to land back into the “shit” as Wes Nisker calls life, into an amazing fantasy land of shadows, clowns, and amazing live music. The flame throwers and metal art of the Fire Arts Festival also provided a strange take on reality after a week of looking inward.

Here’s a YouTube teaser that Christine edited last night. I threw the sun shadow. Hope you all enjoy it.

Life will return to HappyFt soon as well. For all the micro-latest, head over to FaceBook. For stencil goodness, keep the RSS feed humming over at Stencil Archive…. TTFN