After closing a run of Kooza in San Diego, the whole family drove right away up to Los Angeles to stay with Leo's godparents, Voki and Anais. Also staying with them were our good friends Jonathan and Anne, who all were prepping for their brand new tent show/mini-circus/travelling cabaret, Le Tigre.
Getting into LA late night on a Sunday was easy traffic-wise. And little Leo had no problems sleeping through the drive.
The next day, Monday was reserved mostly for Voki's zombie character workshop. It's one of the first steps in creating a huge zombie circus show. So about a dozen of us gathered in a theatre in Atwater Village, and for about five hours, got into zombie makeup, improv-ed zombie scenarios, and by the end of the night, put on a mini zombie circus. It included zombie acrobatics, zombie ultimate fighting, zombie burlesque, and yours truly featured in a zombie clown scene--a classic damsel in distress being saved by a hero, yet we were all zombies of course.
Through the entire evening, our son Leo was nothing but an enrapt audience member. At no time was he freaked out or fussy. In fact, he seemed to really enjoy the attention of all these zombie-clad performers.
The next few days were spent intensely on helping Jonathan and Anne with Le Tigre. They found a space in the courtyard of the Powerhouse Theatre in Santa Monica--a perfect location to pitch their tent for their inaugural show. Robin had been working on two beautiful banners (shown below) to be hung on the sides of the tent, and she also painted the tiger above the tent's entrance.
A lot of painting, sewing, shopping, done all in and around Voki's apartment in Los Feliz. Three couples (and one baby), all tight friends working together for a common, fun, fulfilling, historic experience. I couldn't have asked for a better group of people to surround myself with.
On Wednesday, we went to visit our friends Lisa and Richard in their sweet Downtown LA pad for lunch and good times. They got to meet the little man, and we entertained each other with various YouTube viral vids. But we had to cut it short to get back to Santa Monica for more Le Tigre set up.
Thursday was opening night. Lots of last minute running around and finishing touches. Fish Circus set up to entertain the crowd in the courtyard next to the tent. All members (sans Anais) were facepainted as tigers by my beautiful and talented spouse, Robin. It was a cold evening, but everyone seemed to have a good time before the actual show. Our friend Sarah was bodypainted with a snake boa. Sarah was there to bartend and mingle, but the cold weather made us rework her role for the evening. She would be my lovely assistant, as I hosted the show.
Showtime! Fish Circus marched the audience into the 40-seat tent to begin the show, and I stepped up to the stage with Sarah to welcome everyone and introduce the first act, The Honeymoon Cabaret. Good clean, naughty fun as always from Jon and Anne as Marc and Svetlana Buttersworth. The crowd was instantly charmed, and it became quickly apparent that this mini circus experiment was going to be a huge hit. They brought on their special guest, Voki and Anais for some good old fashioned Zombie Juggling!
Some racy contortion and a few spent bananas later, the first intermission was announced. Everyone exited the tent for more fun in the cold and listening to the DJ spin tunes.
I introduced the second act of the evening--[with French accent] American Stupid. These are the newest characters from Gazillionaire stalwarts, Voki and Anais, as a rude French gameshow host and his hilariously elderly mother poking huge fun at the mostly (but not all) American crowd. Wheel spinning contestants, funny hats, lame American prizes, even an apple pie eating contest--another successful romp.
Second intermission. More drinks and DJ'ing outside. The final act was about to begin.
I started the final act with a ukulele solo, a reprise of my Creep song that I did originally at the Illusions Bar in Baltimore, this time dedicating the song to my new little bundle of joy, Leo. Good times wailing out Radiohead on the uke. And then I introduced Freaks in the Box. And Jon and Voki came out with their awesome ventriloquist act, with Jon as puppeteer and Voki as puppet. Seemingly harmlessly silly at first, but things go darkly hilarious real quick. At the end of this first part, Anais and I stepped up to start our duet, Tonight You Belong to Me on uke and accordion. During the song Anne popped up from behind to join us on, of all things, a kazoo. Anais and I played it up as though three's a crowd through the whole song. Then Jon and Voki returned as Freaks Clowns, a horrible pair of seemingly ordinary yamma clowns, but again things go way south and disturbing in no time. At the end of the second part, Anne, Anais and I returned to the stage for our final ditty--Anne singing a beautiful rendition of Amado Mio, with Anais and I accompanying. Anne donned a not-painted-but-only-a-little-more-animated snake boa during the song. Then Jon and Voki returned for their final magic act, with Jon as magician and Voki as his high-pitched and high-heeled wife/assistant. A running theme, a lame-seeming premise gives way to a gutbustingly dark undercurrent.
Once Jon pulled the appropriate card out of Voki's absurd prosthetic vagina during a handstand, they exited the stage, and I reentered with Leo in my arms--much to the audible chagrin of the audience. "What?! Oh NOW you draw the line?!" I exclaimed. I brought back everyone to the stage for a final bow, thanked the Powerhouse Theatre, and asked everyone to drop some money into the hat for them, since they let us use the space for no money!
A big success, and an obvious long and successful road ahead for Jon and Anne's Le Tigre. We all went back to Voki's apartment for Thai food and regaled the evening's hilarities.
The next day, Robin, Leo and I met with our good friend Krissy and her beautiful 16 month old daughter, Olive, who of course was smitten with Leo and promptly showered him with hugs and kisses.
Day two of the show, things were even more under control, since we had one show under our belt, and the Powerhouse Theatre let us use the actual theatre for the audience to enjoy Fish Circus and the bar before the show and at intermission. This time the lovely Sarah was bodypainted as a tiger as she tended bar and assisted me on stage. A bigger, even more hip turnout this time, and I didn't think the laughs could get any louder. All the acts went off without a hitch and much to the delight of all attending. Afterward, we all celebrated in class and style, at Denny's, with old friends, Chris and Jen and artist Christopher Ulrich.
The next day, we had to say our sad farewells to our friends and start the long drive to Portland. We swung by to give a quick hello and goodbye to our good friend Joy, whom we tragically missed the whole week we were there!
Being in southern California with Kooza for so long afforded us a lot of great time to spend with our friends there. The drive was long and arduous, but traveling thru wine country and the majestic redwood forests was phenomenal. The whole time, we thought of the Le Tigre crew who had one more show to do without us! Word was out that it all went very well.
It was, in all, a most artistically and spiritually fulfilling week. And rather than wish I didn't have to leave, in an odd way it really made me appreciate what I have. I'm overly thankful that I have a steady, fun job in a field that I love, making thousands laugh each day, that affords me security and (relative) comfort for myself and my family. It suits me to a tee. I mentioned in an earlier post, that I'm a company man. I'm not the kind of performer who is comfortable living hand to mouth and hustling for the next gig. Coming back to Kooza was bittersweet, especially leaving the warm sun of SoCal to the rainy cold of the Pacific Northwest. But this whole week came together perfectly for me BECAUSE of where I'm at and what I'm doing. And thanks to that, I'm making a concerted effort to rid my circle of negativity and shed sour grapes for much sweeter ones. Taking what I have for granted ends now!
Thanks Jonathan, Anne, Voki, Anais, Fish Circus, Lisa, Richard, Chris, Jen, Sarah, Krissy, Joy, K.C. (for the amazing pictures!) and all that came to the workshop and Le Tigre, and of course my Robin and my Leo!
