Signs of Our Times

Three of my photographs appear in Signs of Our Times, an online gallery curated by composer and multi-media artist Jane Wang and presented by Mobius Artists Group.

Cosmic Spelunker Theatre Reunion

Somehow, after a long hiatus, Cosmic Spelunker Theatre is rehearsing again-- not the incarnation of Cosmic Spelunker Theatre that produced Waltzing to War but the original trio of myself, William J. Barnum, and James Van Looy. The three of us had not performed together since the last Movement Works in Progress at the original Mobius Arts Space on Congress street in Fort Point. By coincidence, I had just screened an excerpt from this show for Art Hennessey's class at Emerson College.

Bill had broken his wrist sometime after and took time off from working with James and myself and eventually lost interest in coming back. James and I regrouped as a duo, eventually receiving a modicum of recognition. Chad Parenteau who has in recent years taken over the soon to be thirty-seven year old poetry venue, Stone Soup Poetry had steered our countless exchanges towards persuading me to return to Stone Soup. Despite our friendship, I had been reluctant due to events that had occurred when I had been on the Board of Directors long before Chad had become involved with the series (though I did become involved with Stone Soup's online journal, Spoonful.) More recently, Chad suggested a Cosmic Spelunker Theatre reunion to both Bill and James-- they agreed and once he had Bill and James on board, I agreed as well.

In an email dated March 28, 2008, Chad wrote back:

I'm so stoked you're coming back. I thought when I asked James to contact you that I was basically doing my impression of Lorne Michaels trying to reunite The Beatles.

Which besides begging the question as to how Stone Soup became solvent enough to offer us a check for US$3,200-- makes me wonder how it was a performance art troupe managed to become the Beatles of the Boston Poetry Scene during our hiatus. (The British rock analogy I was working with at the time however was that of the "power trio" in part because we were aiming for the sensory overload associated with such groups as The Jimi Hendrix Experience and Cream.) Obviously, we had an impact on somebody.

Currently, rehearsals seem to be aimed at recreating our performance at Mobius for the much smaller room at the Out of the Blue Gallery (incidentally, Cosmic Spelunker's first show was in the original Out of the Blue location) with some material from Waltzing to War and some of Bill's compositions.

The Cosmic Spelunker Theatre Reunion show will be on Monday, May 4th at 8pm at the Out of the Blue Gallery at 106 Prospect Street, Cambridge MA near the Central Square.

Drinking Kool-Aid with Dead Artists

The Boston Foundation last month issued a report entitled "Vital Signs: Metro Boston’s Arts and Cultural Nonprofits 1999 and 2004" where it suggested that smaller arts organizations consider "[e]xiting the market" (page 9.) Curious, as while the Boston Foundation is a philanthropy, it only gives grants to largest of arts organizations-- indeed as Bill Marx reported this past August, to the Citi Performing Arts Center whose internal financial dealings appear to be quite suspect.

Ian Mackinnon, in response, sponsored an "Art Die Off" at Outpost 186 where those of us in the arts community could apologize for not becoming bigger arts organizations and simply die. Purple Kool-Aid and chili was provided. Big RED, and Shiny's Matthew Nash reported and Christian Holland took photographs.

In an entirely extemporaneous speech, I apologized for co-founding a mime troupe in the Boston area, when clearly, the art-form in question was ultimately unacceptable, as evidenced by the failures of Pocket Mime Theatre Company, Mirage Mime Theatre, and Cosmic Spelunker Theater to become major Boston institutions. I apologized for the fact that Cosmic Spelunker created Waltzing to War before criticism of the U.S. invasion of Iraq had become mainstream, I apologized for performing in just the sort of spaces that the Boston Foundation feels should "[exit] the market." I even apologized for confusing the audience by often performing mime while reciting poetry-- it's bad enough to work in a medium or genre that does not fit into the appropriate disciplinary pigeon-holes but to combine it with another genre in a manner that defies expectations?

Ultimately, as the purple Kool-Aid took effect, I did die, landing on my back with a nice loud thud by means of the most elegant prat-fall I have ever taken.

Markus Nechay, and Alisia L.L. Waller of And So No Sin and Mobius Artists Group (which should "exit" because despite recently opening a new space, they are simply not large enough to be seen as viable by the Boston Foundation) also presented. Eric Zinman provided musical accompaniment.

We're dead, and all of you dance companies, small presses, tiny art galleries, and small theatre troupes are next.