December 9, 2008
Art Form: Live Performance
December 2, 2008
Live Performance means “Live” – in person, on site. When live performance is taped, filmed, recorded, adapted, edited, processed, it changes and is no longer itself. It is possible that a performance can be enhanced in an altered form, the mistakes edited out, it can be colorized and shined. My performances, when recorded, suffer in translation. Some critical element is missing, making it impossible to promote. The worst of what I do, stripped of meaning and beauty, is then pasted on the website or CD, DVD, grant application, audition tape. It is ugly. It is mundane. I have to explain myself but how? I do not exist as a serious candidate. In a world of recorded art, I am invisible. Each moment of my performance dies as quickly as it is born- filtered, absorbed or forgotten, most naturally, by an audience. They are my editors, my celluloid, my resume, my mission statement; strangers who watch, and applaud, and leave. It’s live, like theater, but without a respectable text, stage, or communal collaboration. It is only legitimate to me if it continues without those conditions. It is good to know who I am.
How To Talk Club Owners During a Recession
July 23, 2008
Remind them that entertainment was the only business besides bootlegging that continued to thrive during the Great Depression. The worse things get, the more people want to drink and forget their troubles. Instead of cutting entertainment, club owners should consider replacing fresh vegetables with canned peas, corn and carrots. Customers can obtain fresh garden greenery from other sources, such as their neighbor’s garden. Read more
Temporarily Out Of Order
March 23, 2008
I am writing lately and my microphone and amplifier are collecting dust in the mud room. I really miss entertaining you guys, but I can’t go back to singing in restaurants and bars and cabarets. My work belongs in a theater. My one woman show “This Can’t Be Happening” will be ready this summer, as will my Doris Duke performance piece. It takes time to regroup when you’ve gone way off track and it feels like absolutely nothing is happening, that you are locked in, trapped by your past, your resume, your pronouncements, your reputation. It appears that I am more of a misfit than you thought.
Comic Lectures
February 1, 2008
Laurel creates an hour long comic monologue in the form of a lecture from the information. She will take on a persona, such as Dr. L.H. Casey, Prof. Casey, Reverend Casey, L.H. Casey PHD- a persona that lends itself to the person or company being “roasted.” The persona is based on a nemesis of the person or organization. This nemesis can be a quality of personality, a real personality, or a representation of a certain personality or group that irks the person or organization being “roasted” Read more
