Grantblings

Puppet Up Down Under 2014 – April 18, 2014 – Musk

I was up late last night talking to Brian and Dan so all I wanted to do this morning was sleep in. That, unfortunately, was not to be. I was up before 8:00 AM to the sound of rain on the window. Yes, it seems after yesterday’s amazing weather, Melbourne was going to give us a little rain. Not a problem though, I still love this city and I let the rain lull me back to sleep.

I got up around 10:30 AM, and Julianna was making plans to visit the Melbourne aquarium. I was actually not going to go but our time in Melbourne is running out and I want to see as much as I possibly can before we ship off to Brisbane.

Around 11:00 AM, I met with a local Melbourne puppeteer named Michael. He wanted to chat about puppetry and making a web series. I’m always interested in talking puppetry with people so I was happy to meet up and spend the time just chatting.

After meeting with Michael, I headed back to the hotel to answer some email and do some writing, I packed up Uncle Interloper and met Julianna, Colleen and Peggy in the lobby at 1:30 PM.

Melbourne must have known that we were going to walk to the aquarium because when we walked out of the hotel the sky was sunny. It was a lovely walk the few blocks to the aquarium. For part of the time we walked along the river nearby and it was very nice. Soon we were standing in front of the Melbourne aquarium.

Today is a national holiday in Australia. So it seems that the rest of the city of Melbourne had the same idea as we did and they were all at the aquarium. We waited in the line to get in and soon were surrounded by all different kinds of sea life. There were some really cool exhibits such as seahorses, turtles, a huge walk through shark tank that also had a manta rays, and an amazing penguin exhibit. We happened upon the penguin exhibit at just the right time. Feeding time. It was amazing to watch the Penguins scramble all over their enclosure to get fish that was thrown out by the keepers. I got some great Uncle Interloper footage as well. Stuff I can cut together as a Podcast once I get back.

After the aquarium, we walked back towards the hotel. We made a stop at a small convenience store where Peggy had seen a type of candy she thought I would get a kick out of. They were Lifesavers but the flavor was musk. Yes, you read that right musk. Here’s the picture.

These aren’t a joke candy. They were sold along with all the other lifesaver flavors. What do musk flavored Lifesavers taste like? They taste like the worst thing you could ever put in your mouth. That’s what Brian Clark said when I tricked him into eating one. To me they taste as if you’ve taken a handful of potpourri and shoved it into your mouth. Pretty gross.

After relaxing at the hotel for a bit, Alan, Julianna, Brian and myself all went out to get some dinner. We had dinner at a Chinese place, and then we walked up to the theater for tech call.

Tonight we got some work in on the choreography for my song improv. Patrick says that the song improv will debut in tomorrow night’s show. I’m nervous but I’m confident that even if it turns out horrible it will still be a lot of fun. And, it will only get better. Right?

Before we got dressed for the show, we met with two kids who are very interested in puppetry. Their parents had arranged for them to come see a little behind-the-scenes tour of Puppet Up. That was a lot of fun. And it was great to see how puppetry was really interesting to both of them.

Then it was showtime. What a great show tonight! The audience was really fantastic and their suggestions were great. The Hot Dogs prevented a nuclear meltdown, we played the game show called Cake or Death, the talent show featured synchronized contortion masturbation and the alien barbershop topic was sheering, as in sheep.

When I am shearing
I got in the sheep stalls
And I shear them clean
Until I can see their balls.

A great show, and a great time meeting the audience afterwards. After the show, I just went back to the hotel to write out this post. I want to try to get to sleep early tonight so that tomorrow morning I could go see the show again and I have wanted to go see at 10:00 AM. So I want to get a good nights sleep.

Sad there’s only a few days left in Melbourne, but I’ve had a world of fun.

Puppet Up Down Under – April 17, 2014 – Improv

Today was a pretty great day. I woke up this morning and quickly headed down to the lobby to meet up with Peggy for a walk across Melbourne. We were headed over to & Studio and Gallery to meet up with Patrick and Brian because Patrick was teaching and improvisation class to some of the local Melbourne puppeteers and artists. The day could not have been any better to go for a great walk. It seems as if the weather here in Melbourne is trying it’s best to convince us to stay now that our visit is dwindling down to just a few days.

We got over to the gallery around 11:00 AM. From bed until about 2:00 PM, Peggy, Brian and I, helped Patrick teach the improvisation class. It was a fun time meeting local artists from Melbourne. Included in the group where the two improvisers that Dan and I saw perform yesterday. Also I’m the class was my friend, the uber talented, Lana Schwarcz. I had convinced her to bring her amazing mini puppet show called The Curator. I was so happy she did and that Patrick, Brian and Peggy got to see it. Always fun to hang out with Lana.

After the class, I decided to take a taxi cab back with Patrick and Brian. When we got back to the hotel, Brian and I went and had lunch. Then we walked around downtown Melbourne including stops at a shoe store to look at a pair shoes Brian was looking at, and then to the comic store where I picked up a few comics.

After that we headed back to the hotel. Brian got to work on his writing while I read some comic books and then headed down to the gym to work out. I ran on the treadmill for a bit, lifted some weights and then headed back upstairs to get ready for the show.

Exciting to rehearsal today as today was the day that I showed my song improv to the rest of the cast for the first time. They all seemed to be pretty excited to work on new piece for the show. It is a fun piece that involves all the rest of the cast. We did sort of a stumble through blocking out some of the choreograph, and everyone seemed to like it. No word on when it’ll make its debut in the show, but it will probably happen sometime here in Australia.

Then it was showtime. We had a great show tonight with a great audience. The hotdogs gave birth, we learned about the dangers of working in a hospital, and we played a game show all about getting Brazilian waxes. We also had the alien barbershop the topic of which was regicide.

If you do regicide,
Some folks will cheer.
But I would not,
Because the prince is here.

That was a reference to Prince Harry who is currently visiting Australia with Kate and the baby. All in all, a great show filled with some very funny scenes and some awesome audience suggestions.

After the close of the show, and taking audience photos, we headed back to the hotel. Then Dan, Juliana and I went out into Melbourne to see a comedy show. We saw Marcel Lucont, a character played by comedian, who is a French expert. The show was okay. Not necessarily my cup of tea but there were some funny parts.

After the show, then I grab some dinner and then we came back to the hotel to hang out a bit with Brian. After that it was time to do some writing and then head off to bed.

Puppet Up Down Under 2014 – April 16, 2014 – Sleep

This morning I had grand plans of getting up early, working out and then going to catch a 10:00 AM kids show with Dan. The comedy fest has kids shows that run during the day because many schools are on their ‘Spring Break.’ However, I had been up until after 2:00 AM the night before and when I woke up after 8:00 AM, my head hurt and all I wanted to do was sleep. So, I begged off Dan and went back to bed and wound up sleeping until noon!

After waking up, I went straight to the gym to work out, run on the treadmill and such. Then, I came back up and showered. Around 3:00 PM, Dan and I walked over to catch a different kid’s show, this time an improv show for kids called Improvilicious. It was a half improv half scripted show that was a brief history of theatre. I can see how these guys, I believe Australian, would be very popular in schools and libraries. Fun to see different forms of improv.

After the show I grabbed some food, hadn’t eaten all day, and then just relaxed back at the hotel. Soon enough it was time to head to the theatre for tech call and tonight’s show.

The show tonight was great fun. The audience was really into the show ant their suggestions were great. We saw an HR video about working on the Death Star (Do not make eye contact with the Emperor). We saw the Hot Dogs sell insurance. There was the game show Cocaine & Chlamydia (the show about Snorts & Warts). And the first act in our puppet variety show was ‘Puppet Up’, so puppets doing a puppet show. I got to do Alien Barbershop again. The topic was Tight Rope Walking.

When you’re tight rope walking
Just don’t look down
And either way it ends
Your underwear will be brown

I slipped a little during Java tonight. On the final ‘spin’ that Big Java does, his foot slipped off the rail a bit. Need to look at that tomorrow to try and nail that better. That hasn’t happened too much, but I really want it to be as clean as possible.

After the show we went to see a show called Sammy J & Randy. This is a show involving a puppet, Randy, that our puppet wrangler Bek has done work for. The show is just amazing. As a puppeteer to sit there and watch what ‘Randy’ does on stage is mind boggling. You just can’t describe it. I will never again complain about holding my arm up during a long scene again. Ever. Look Sammy J and Randy up on YouTube. Funny show, funny songs. A good time. Look them up on YouTube and check out their album.

After Sammy J and Randy, Patrick, Julianna and I went out and found a place to eat. We had some good conversation about ideas we have to make the show even better. Some pipe dreams, some that may happen. Who knows.

After that it was back to the hotel to write this and hit the sack. We still have a bunch more shows to do, but our time is getting shorter here and I’m getting the blues. But I’m going to enjoy every minute, for sure.