The Lady Liberty Blues

OK, this is old news. But you’ve gotta see the pictures anyway!

On July 24 and 25, 2008, an ensemble cast performed The Lady Liberty Blues, written in the main by Wes Andrews and directed by Jess Smith, at Live Girls! Theater in Ballard, a Seattle neighborhood.

I was in charge of all the shadow imagery. This was my first time creating puppets for a show, and my first time performing with them. These will give you an idea of what we accomplished:

The Little Boy Who Lived in a Jar

The Chair of Motivation

Little Cartoon Baby Bob Dylan

The Rat Cage

Secret Orcon

OHP!

If you want more information on the show, Wes created a blog, which lives nearby.

More from Dalaipalooza.

You asked for more? Oh…no?…OK…well…whatever.

I spent a lot of my time that day looking at the ground or just above it.

And then there were the pigeons. You have no idea how long it took me to get a shot of their shadows in flight. Savor this one:

85th and Greenwood.

There are a lot of killer shadows at 85th and Greenwood at 11:00.

I took these with my cellphone so the resolution is pathetic.

You get the idea, though.

Cartoon werewolf.

Every once in awhile an idea turns out better than you expected.

When I set out to plan my middle school class for the Spring, I made the crazy decision to attempt shadow masks. I’d never made them, and didn’t have any resources to explain the technical details to me. Tonight I took on the task, throwing caution into the shadows.

And like that I’m a frickin’ cartoon werewolf.

In anticipation of Drunk Puppet Night 2008.

I can’t believe I forgot this event existed. I must go. I must get on the bill!

I wish I had seen whatever this is:

You should come. In November. Check the updates page, here.

“No wonder many ladies fell in love with him.”

So in a couple of weeks I will start teaching my shadow theater class again. This is the second time in history. I figured it would be prudent to start out by introducing the prevailing traditions from, for instance, Indonesia. But pictures are so inadequate for puppets. They really are. I needed wayang kulit. I needed them bad.

So I went to Ebay.

What do you know, there is a guy in Central Java who has a store and sells such things. His store, debakoel, is here.

I bought two puppets, which were in Singapore and are flying this way now.

Pabu Kresna
“His name as a boy was Raden Narayana, the son of Basudewa with Dewi Badraini. He was the twin brother of Sembadra, both of them had smooth black/dark color of skin. He was tall with slender body and a good-looking face, brilliant and wise. No wonder many ladies fell in love with him.”

Just look at that detail. No wonder.

“He loved very much Sembadra and Arjuna. He always patiently took care of his temperamental elder brother Kakrasana/Baladewa. He was the incarnation of Betara Wisnu, the protector of life. After defeating King Yudakala Kresna of Dwarawati, Narayana became the king of the kingdom of Dwarawati and his official name was Prabu Kresna.” (from Planet Mole)

I don’t know who this guy is. I just thought he looked like he could eat anyone that messed with me or my friends. I bet he casts a wicked shadow…

I gots a flickr account.

For my shadows. And other things.

Please visit.

I’m calling this guy “Zeus”. He is mighty good at wearing pants.

Making shadows on a regular basis is a lesson in lack of restraint.  These things emerge from my cutting without much mental oversight.  I guess that’s the creative process.  The best part is figuring out which sections will be capable of moving.  After I had seen Zeus’s head, it was clear that he needed broad shoulders and muscular arms that could rise and fall like a scale.  The bolt of lightning in his hand was an unexpected gift from the design I carved into his pant leg.  He was created using my fancy new tool, an X-ACTO Knife with a blade that can swivel:

Arts Corps Student Showcase 2008.

My students rocked the event. You can get a hint from these shots:

I know a lot of dreamers.

When you wake up in the morning, first thing before you put on your pants, send garbled descriptions of your night visions to vivian at Maybe Dreams.

Here is a sample of what she’s got up so far:

chicken fried steak with jazz.
March 10, 2008

pwny:
in this dream, i’m eating chicken fried steak with Jazz from the transformers. and i am overwhelmed with the fact that this is the single greatest moment in my life up to that point. i was making sandwiches out of the the CFS, mashed potatoes, and biscuits. a common practice on CFS day.

Then look out in your local town or city for postcards from the killer music blog we are dreamers.

There was a crooked man.

My first foray into smaller shadows: a self-portrait of generalspecific…