Jerry Lee Lewis, Dame Margot Fontaine, Bugs Bunny, Harpo Marx, Charlie Chaplin, Calvin, Hobbes, Esther Williams, the Arch Bishop of Canterbury, Peewee, Cecilia Bartoli, Olive Oyl and Buster Keaton
"JERRY LEE LEWIS MEETS
DAME MARGOT FONTAINE"
- Audience member
"THE LITTLE TRAMP FOR
THE TWENTY FIRST CENTURY"
- Evan O’Television
"YOU’VE GOT, AND DON’T TAKE THIS THE WRONG WAY, IT’S SUPPOSED TO BE A GOOD THING, BUT YOU’VE GOT A CAROL BURNETT THING GOING ON. SHE WAS MY FAVORITE AS A KID.
...
AND YOUR FACE IS MADE OF RUBBER"
- Gene Preble
"IT CERTAINLY MADE ME WARM AND FUZZY INSIDE. MY FRIEND SAID IT WAS LIKE I SWALLOWED A KITTEN."
-Lauren, Fairytale Vegas Photography
"IT'S LIKE YOU'RE FROM SPACE, ZEA. IN A GOOD WAY. NOT THAT THERE'S A BAD WAY TO BE FROM SPACE. IT'S SPACE"
-Samantha Barnes, Soprano
About me: Decider.com Chicago has posted a piece on real clown reaction to Bruce Nauman's video installation, 'Clown Torture'. Zea Barker was one of the clowns present to hold forth on the subject. Check it out!
STOP THE GENE WILDER REMAKES - T-Shirts Now available online! Printed with love by some awesome folks in Cincinnati!
Mens. Womens. American Apparel.
Hooray!
wireandtwine.com
NEW YORK PREMIERE of Short Film Duet BONY LIL's CREATION + DISTRACTION
September 16th, Joe's Pub
live musical accompaniment by Valerie Thompson, Vessela Stoyanova, and Brendan Burns with live foley by Michael Pope
NY CLOWN THEATRE FESTIVAL 2008
Bony Lil, with Ms. Valerie Thompson, rock the big apple.
SEPTEMBER 11th, 10:30PM
Brick Theatre, 575 Metropolitan, Brooklyn NY
Also, check out the clown parade, pie fight and free opening night cabaret
SEPTEMBER 5th, 4:30pm -11:00pm
Union Square to Brick Theatre
BONY LIL WENT TO SCHOOL
Bony Lil has completed a five week course in the Richard Pochinko tradition with the immensely talented Sue Morrison in Toronto called Clown Through Mask. Then, five months later another two weeks of partnered work called Joey and Auguste. And, to top it off a short course in bouffon taught by New York's bouffon darling, Eric Davis of Red Bastard fame. A smashing time was had by all. Great things are in the works. Stay tuned.
FILM
Over two years in the making Bony Lil's CREATION and DISTRACTION, a duet of short films exploring the extreme opposite ends of the creative process, are complete. These films are a byproduct of collaboration between Zea Barker and Michael Pope (a designer/director duo who have brought you the bulk of the Dresden Dolls music videos, the Dresden Dolls: Live in Paradise DVD, the Dresden Dolls EPK, a Fluttr Effect, a Steamy Bohemians and a Ben Folds music video.) Creation and Distraction feature Bony Lil in a mix of silent live-action and a unique style of blended hand-drawn and stop-motion animation. The first, Distraction, is a classic story of girl meets blank sheet of paper. We watch as Bony Lil labors to surmount the barrage of obstacles as she runs the gauntlet of creative expression. In the second, Creation, Bony Lil is found steeped in the frenzy of inspiration. As she labors to draw characters, they begin to take on a life of their own and crawl off their pages looking for adventure, trouble and love.
Once all the pain-staking animation was drawn, cut out and shot, the remaining ingredient was finding fantastic musical talent to create original scores to Bony Lil's antics. Creation was put in the extremely capable hands of Valerie Thompson, cellist for Fluttr Effect, whereupon she produced a juicy flamanco-influenced string quartet that fits the adventures of the characters like a glove. Distraction was rendered by an all-star cast from Blue Man Group. Hari Hassin (Music Director for Blue Man Boston) and Michael Petrucci (Drum Instructor for Blue Man Boston) steered the ship that at various times contained music directors from the Orlando show and the Rock Tour. They made some jaunty numbers taking cues from Django Reinhardt and James Brown as well as their own splendiforous brain pans. The Icing on that cake was supplied by none other than Brian Viglione, of Dresden Dolls fame, who whipped up a saucy drum solo accompaniment to a rather passionate scene about oatmeal chocolate chip cookies.
INTERNET VIDEO
Bony Lil featured on fringefriday by editor of Yahoo Video. Nice write up with it.
Also nominated for a Yahoo! Video Veddy 2006 in the "Indie Trailer" category.
* yahoo!video * youtube * crackle *
OFFICIAL SELECTION
Blood From a Turnip Puppetry Film Festival 2007: shown as a work in progress
Voltaic Vaudeville: May 2007
Chicago Short Film Brigade: October 2007
Click link above to listen to samples and order - $9.95 + s&h
Tampa Taiko is a professional drumming duo that has performed their unique style for a vast array of audiences, performing at festivals, concert halls, schools, workshops, summer camps, corporate and VIP events. Using a collection of taiko drums made by themselves from discarded wine barrels, Tampa Taiko has developed a dynamic fusion of old and new styles of drumming, bringing a contemporary vibrance to an ancient martial artform.
BUFFALO, N.Y. -- For Buffalo's Polish-Americans, love blooms with the pussy willows on Dyngus Day.
Dyngus Day celebrates the end of Lenten sacrifice and the arrival of spring. Tradition has boys splashing girls with water and the girls swatting boys with branches of the fuzzy buds.
But a case of pussy willow panic is brewing because the Polish day-after-Easter holiday arrives early this year, on March 24th. After an unrelenting winter, the pussy willow bushes are still bare so many celebrants may have to buy pussy willows trucked in from warmer areas. And there's fear that florists will fall short in meeting the demand.
Organizers of Buffalo's Dyngus Day celebration say the branches are crucial to the holiday and can't be replaced by another type of branch. Eddie Dobosiewicz says that'd be like "replacing the groundhog with a monkey on Groundhog Day."
Well thank you for accepting my friend request, Bony Lil! I watched "Fine Day for a Fly" when I was having a bad day and it just restored my faith in things and made me smile. What you are doing is a breath of fresh air in this day and age. Keep at it, please!
