I saw the movie Catfish today, unexpectedly.  The Husband and My Kid had just left for school and work and I was finishing my coffee and checking my e-mail when my artistmommy friend called me and said she was going uptown to the 10:00 am showing of the film “Catfish”.  I had intended to spend the entire day cleaning and doing laundry so of course I said “yes” immediately.  I didn’t even have time to shower before I met her at the subway stop.

I recommend this movie.  It’s a documentary.  There’s a secret to be kept by those who have seen it, (remember The Crying Game?  I was so impressed when I saw that weeks into the run and was so impressed that nobody in my Seattle world had given away the surprise.)

I read a review online that said at Sundance, the film had been so well crafted as it was edited that it was taken for fiction…

…which reminded me of my Montana Writers class, taught by Bill Bevis at the University of Montana.  We read the James Welch novel, The Death of Jim Loney and I remember the teacher asking if there were any students in the class who were from the part of Montana where the book takes place and he asked them if the descriptions were true to life and they said yes.  Then he told us that the New Yorker review of the book had called it “far-fetched”.  The film Catfish is like that.

Truth is stranger than fiction.

I very much missed taking part in the New York Clown Theater Festival today.  However,  I did enjoy laying in bed with My Kid who is down with a cold, watching the movie “Shopaholic” starring Isla Fisher the Lecoq trained actress, that’s CLOWN too!

Is that N_______’s older sister picking her up after school?!  She looks 16 at least.. very sophisticated… jaded even???   Do we want our daughter to look like that when she’s in 7th grade?  Maybe I don’t want My Kid to commute into Manhattan after all—even if it is the best middle school available to us…  I just don’t know!

We went to see, Anne Rabson, the mother of a mommy friend from the ‘hood, play her blues at Jalopy tonight and she was fabulous.  Paul Geremia also played.  I had no idea I liked blues music so much.

I thought about clown acts while I listened to the music.

Blues seems more appropriate for a middle-aged clown than the frenetic eager ragtime used for circus and vaudeville style clown acts.

I want to craft my next clown piece against a blues song.

I’m reading Richard Hugo’s book, The Triggering Town, and am finding much to think about regarding the application of his insights about writing poems to the creation of clown pieces.

THE ROTTEN PLANTAINS presents FRENCH CONNECTION (via Texas & Brazil)

ONE NIGHT ONLY

45 Bleecker: Bleecker Street Theatre

Recommended for 18 +
Children under the age of 4 are not permitted in the theatre.

Fred Blin, Claudio Carneiro, Julie Ferrier, Patrick de Valette, and Wayne Wilson are THE ROTTEN PLANTAINS…

Never before have you seen such a gathering of clowns, comedians, and a Brazilian alcoholic (who happens to be our roommate) take the stage. A mix of clowns and circus, cultures and experiences, together, form this new comedy show. Here, they will meet on the stage together for the first time.

From Cirque du Soleil’s Varekai/ Love/Banana Shpeel/Dralion, Jean Pierre Jeunet’s Micmacs, Franco Dragone’s Le Reve, and the Betty Ford Clinic – comes this flawlessly rehearsed production of beautiful idiots attempting to make you laugh.

This is the beginning of their collaboration together, this one night only show, will plan their world tour – from NYC, London, Paris, Rio, Calcutta, Nigeria, Osasco (SP), Australia, Beirut, and the Netherlands. Come join in on this ground-breaking event.

For me, experience of a fourth distinct style of clowning in one week.  Kendall Cornell’s Clowns Ex Machina experimental studies of women and riffing off cultural images.  Jef Johnson’s esoteric deconstruction of the performers exploration of an object in front of an audience.  The New York Goofs with Jay Stewart and Joel Jeske perpetuating the stylized movement of circus clowns and silent movie comedians and finally Patrick de Vallette and his French compatriots from street performance, cabaret and Cirque du Soleil.

My head is spinning as I sort out from all of this what is familiar and comfortable for me.  A colleague at a bar told me she that piece I did about a mother waiting for a subway train resonated with her enough that she still remembers it years later after hundreds of pieces she has seen.  I would like to work on that again.  Puppeteer friend is coming into town this week for an audition and we will have a chance to talk and brainstorm if not actually work together.  Some friends and I are putting together a proposal for a low-stakes evening of clown at Theaterlab later this fall.  I hope to use my nervous energy to advantage by approaching the performance as hosting a party.  I want to generate an energy in the room akin to the memories I have giddy slumber party excitement practicing trust falls and playing games like “Light as a feather, Stiff as a board”.  I don’t know if I can make that happen but that is my intent after this exciting week of many clown styles and time now to process what I have experienced and to distill from all that what is mine to own.

So here I am at the Hilton Hotel in Midtown Manhattan, plugged in to a power source provided complements of Chevy and feeling a little disoriented because in addition to the blogging mommies, the clown voices of the friends I saw after the show last night are still echoing in my head.  I loved it when one of them said: The idea of a clown who is happy on the outside and sad on the inside is bullshit.   People are happy when they are good at their work and clowns who know how to work an audience and get a laugh are happy people because they know they are good at what they do.

Sooooooo… anyway since I’m not compartmentalizing I will transition for no apparent reason to the BlogHer Conference and say that I came uptown right after I got up this morning and wandered around like Goldilocks in the Three Bears house.  I found some conference room sessions and decided to taste them.  First I tried PROFESSIONAL: Professional Blogging: Your Stats are a Business Asset. But, they wanted to funnel their site traffic into clients and customers.  Then I followed the laughter to  CHANGE AGENTS: Radical Blog Moms: Don’t Even Think About Not Taking These Moms Seriously. But they were so committed to making the world better I was intimidated.  Then I tried PERSONAL:  Where is the Line or the Lie: Storytelling, Memoir and Poetic License. And that room was just right… because they were funny and that’s what they wanted to be.  So I stayed and listened until they were all done.  The End.

Press Release:

The New York Goofs return to The Flea Theatre with the premiere of NEW YORK GOOF SHOW, written and directed by Dick Monday. The three-night-only evens begins on Thursday, August 5 for a limited engagement through Saturday, August 7 at The Flea Theater (41 White Street, between Broadway and Church.)

The performance schedule is Thursday – Saturday at 7 PM. The regular ticket price is $20. Student Rush tickets are available for $15, 30 minutes prior to the performance. For tickets, call 212-352-3101 or visit www.theflea.org. For more information, visit www.nygoofs.com.

The New York Goofs, called a “demented Ed Sullivan Show” by the New York Times, are back in New York for three nights only, presenting their unique brand of comic lunacy at the renowned Flea Theater in Tribeca.

Tiffany Riley and Dick Monday (co-founders and artistic directors of the New York Goofs) have been partners for nearly 15 years. In that time, they have trained all the clowns for the Greatest Show on Earth, created the clown troupe The New York Goofs, and opened Slappy’s Puppet Playhouse in Dallas. In performance, they are the clown team Slappy & Monday who have appeared from China to Mexico, Carnegie Hall to the Kennedy Center, and lots of circuses and festivals in between. As Director of Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey Clown College, Dick traveled to 30 cities each year to help find and train clowns for producer Kenneth Feld. He was awarded this job because of his lifelong commitment to the art of clowning and his illustrious background in circus and clowning in films and television. He has been seen as a funnyman in such classic films as Brain Donors, My Life and Sweet & Lowdown. His teaching has been recognized in the book “Guiding Lights” where he is celebrated as a mentor, or someone who helps guide people toward their purpose in life. Tiffany has been the driving force behind the NY Goofs’ Ultimate School, cultivating students each year from all corners of the world. The finest faculty in physical comedy is assembled every summer to impart their skill to a new generation of clowns and physical comedians. Aside from teaching, Tiffany & Dick create shows for theatrical clowning, circuses, festivals, and even for marionettes. Their goal is to inspire laughter wherever they go, and to prove that laughter is not just for the kids.

I thought this year’s show was better than last year, tighter and faster paced.

Some of the pieces were real gems.

My absolute favorite moment of the show happened privately when the six-year-old daughter of two of the clowns on stage leaned towards me during an audience participation number and said:  ”He’s going to play musical chairs and then he’s going to cheat.  I saw it last night.”

And I had even more fun after the show with the former circus clowns telling clown college stories and tales from the road in the bar after the show.

The Husband and My Kid enjoyed the show as well.

The apartment is dark and quiet.  My family is in bed.

I am wound up after five hours in the studio with Jef Johnson and a dozen other clowns.

Since we were at Theatrelab and a few of us decided to put together an application for their Open Frames Series which had a deadline of 6 o’clock this evening.  So we’ll see what that brings.

On the way home I talked with another clown about writing and clowning and she asked about my Clownmommy stuff which I have kind of let slide, although Lorraine and I are hoping to get together to brainstorm and play later this month.

I’m excited to see the New York Goofs which I haven’t gotten tickets for yet, because we haven’t decided yet if it should be a family outing or if I will be going by myself.  And Patrick de Valette and his friends have their cabaret on Saturday night.

So there is a lot of clown stuff spinning around in my head at this time of day when I am supposed to be asleep with the rest of my family after midnight on a weeknight.

My body wants to keep theater hours.

This morning, in Park Slope, Brooklyn, I watched a woman struggle onto a bus, apologize to the bus driver for the stroller that was not yet folded up, put down her bag, grab the stroller that was rolling, bend down for her bag, catch the baby that was starting to fall out of the front carrier she wore, set down her bag again, deal with the baby, pick up the bag, look for her MTA card, set down the bag, catch the rolling stroller…her mother who was with her keeping the toddler in one place offered two fingers to keep the stroller from rolling away.  After the mother with dark circles under her eyes and half her hair shoved into a rubber band on the back of her head sat down and folded the stroller, her mother said to her admiringly; “You are so adept.”

Then I went to met Jef Johnson on the Lower East Side of Manhattan and we sat at Think Coffee in the Bowery and talked about clowns and clowning for over two hours.

Tonight, more Touch the Moon clownlab at Theatrelab in Chelsea.