Putting it Together – Share My Stuff
The internet is a noisy place and it is going to keep getting noisier. Yet here I am on the internet adding to the noise because that is where the people are.
I’m talking a lot about trying to make a career out of being a writer. So far I’m doing well at making a hobby out of being a writer because I’m not getting paid all that much to do it. The most important part of the equation is getting people to read what I’m writing.
It’s hard to do that when the majority of information that people see in their Facebook feeds is Buzzfeed quizzes and Upworthy videos.
That isn’t anyone’s fault, you understand, that is the algorithm that Facebook uses to make money. It is annoying, yes, but we are using a free tool and that means we have to live with their rules. I’m trying to game the rules a little bit, though.
Here’s advice I can give to you if you enjoy my (or anyone else’s) stuff. When we post it to Facebook, like it. Even if you don’t read it. Like it. The more people who like something, the more people will see that thing in their news feeds.
Friend a Day – Gary Parker
I met Gary Parker almost 30 years ago when I was trying to get into the Renaissance Festival academy.
The short version of the story is my family had gone on a one-month trip to Europe and I missed the first two weeks of academy in what would be my rookie year. I’d mentioned it would happen at my audition but by the time I got home, I’d been cut.
A normal person would have just tried out the next year. Not me. All my friends had gotten into the festival that year. I didn’t want to wait. So I followed Gary Parker, who was director of the academy at the time, around for most of the evening trying to convince him to give me a chance.
It worked. I think because he just got tired of telling me no.
If I’d not gotten into the festival that year, I wonder if I would have simply chosen to forego trying out the next year. I think it’s very likely I would never have gone back.
So Gary changed the entire course of my life that night.
That would be enough to call Gary a friend.
Since that time, though, he has been one of the most constant sources of encouragement and inspiration for me. I’ve asked him to give advice on a few things I’ve written over the years. At least once, he told me to trash the entire thing. Only the best of people tell you something you’ve written is awful.
He was right, by the way.
I would imagine most people who go to the festival have seen Gary but don’t even realize it. He works primarily with a mask, sitting on a chair and turning a crank any time someone drops money in his bowl. Mostly nickels and quarters.
Nickels and quarters.
The Dregs sing songs for five bucks.
Gary makes kids laugh for nickels and quarters.
For years, he was the leader of the festival academy where he taught a generation of performers how entertain an audience. On the first day, he would get up and lead a bunch of brand new people thought a series of wordless improvisational structures. They were the same every year. He would end with a story about doing one of them at the 1980 Winter Olympics. It was the same story every year.
And it never got old.
We usually only see each other at the festival these days but the first time I see him, he always tells me how his kids and grandkids are doing. Because he cares and because he knows I’m interested.
Every morning, he stands right by the entrance gates to greet the audience. He’s always been one of the first people to greet the audience.
If you’d never stayed late after an academy session, you probably didn’t know how good a piano player he is or that he writes some very catchy music.
When the festival initiated the Lee Walker award, I told anyone in a position to make a decision that Gary needed to get it first. To me, there was no name that could ever be first on the list but his. I’m really glad other people agreed.
It truly amazes me that I can count Gary as a friend. I wouldn’t be who I am today without him.
Gary isn’t online too much so I don’t know when he’ll see this. But you know, it isn’t so important that Gary knows how awesome he is. It’s important that everyone else does.
Friend a Day – Lolly Foy
I’ve don’t remember when I met Lolly. We’ve both floated around the Renaissance festival circuit for a long time so it’s hard to pin down when we became acquainted.
I don’t want to say she was my favorite queen at the Minnesota Festival because I’ve liked them all for differing reasons. I will say that I has as much fun with her as queen as I’ve had with any other actress in the role.
Most performers at the festival fall into a particular class of character. I’ve always played a lower class character because that is what I enjoy. Lolly has played royalty and peasantry with equal skill and that makes her an impressive rarity.
Her range is really remarkable. She’s played the queen, she’s been part of successful music groups, she’s worked on the street, she’s written music, and I understand she’s even acted on the “legitimate” stage! I don’t think she’s been a juggler but maybe that is a skill she keeps hidden.
Lolly has done some acting in a couple of my shows and I really appreciate her natural instincts for a role. As a director, I really appreciate performers who get the material right away. It means they are going to do a great job when they are on stage.
She is loud and cheerful and a great person to sit with at dinner.
She’s also very encouraging of the work of others. When she believes you are doing something of merit, she’ll tell you in ways that help you understand what it is you are doing well. So you can do it better.
I see a lot of Lolly in her two girls. They are both outgoing and energetic and show a kind of passion for life that their mother has in abundance.
In fact, she’s passionate about everything. She throws herself into everything she does and that makes everything she does that much more impressive.
The Renaissance Festival has brought a lot of people into my life whom I would have otherwise never met. I’m so glad that Lolly is one of those people.
She doesn’t have a blog and she isn’t in a show right now so I can’t link to anything. Go see the next show she’s in!
Shit that Pissed Me Off – 4/25
Christian Comedian Asks A “Hilarious” Question That “Proves” It Is Crazy To Be An Atheist
This is pretty old and I just happened to click-through because I wanted to know if the question really proved I’m crazy.
Basically, his hilarious question is “why are atheists offended by ‘under god’ in the pledge of allegiance if they don’t believe in god?”
HA! You got me there, buddy! Forcing my kids to acknowledge a god they don’t believe in is totally OK. Having a problem with that is completely insane!!!
If they object to saying “Under God,” they are COMMUNISTS!
Let me ask you, though, how you would feel if we changed the word “God” to “Allah?” Or Shiva? Would that be OK with you? Or would you be upset because you were expected to say that our country was under a god you didn’t believe in?
The issue has nothing to do with the existence of god and everything to do with the idea that nobody’s god should be held higher than any other god in the eyes of the state.
So anyway, I don’t think the question proved I’m crazy. You can’t prove a negative, however, so it’s impossible to prove that I’m not crazy.
Friend a Day – Chad Dutton
Chad and I crossed paths at just about the perfect time. He has such a remarkable array of talents, it is hard to believe that he was available to join The Dregs when he did.
I first knew him as a producer and while my experience is limited, I can tell you he is something special at that job. He just knows how to take good music and make it sound amazing. In fact, that is a gift he has with just about anything.
When The Dregs are working on a song, he will typically be the one who notices that the song needs something extra and he’s an expert at figuring out what that extra thing should be. It could be a missing note or it could be a missing shaker but he always makes good choices.
He just has good instincts when it comes to making things better.
As a band mate, Chad is one of the best talents you can hope for, both musically and comedically. He’s also someone I trust to write music with because when I show up with some lyrics for a song, he can almost instantly grasp what I’m looking for, we can get the music written in an afternoon. It’s kind of uncanny.
He’s very talented, yes, but he’s also just a lot of fun. He and I have frequently ended up driving together to out of town performances and I love having him in my car. We talk and laugh and argue and send obnoxious texts to the rest of our band and stop for coffee a lot. The time passes more quickly when he is around.
Chad can be brutally honest and sometimes that can be hard to take. But I appreciate that honesty because it cuts through the bullshit and addresses the problem.
Because he has shared his talent with me for so many years, I always consider myself lucky that we accidentally came together when we did. My life and my art has been better because he is a part of both. For these and so many other reasons, Chad rocks more.
Chad is the Music Director at Stevie Ray’s Comedy Cabaret in Chanhassen. You can catch him there most every Friday and Saturday night.
Friend a Day – Jessica Cargill
I’ve gotten to know Jess through my annual trips to Austin for Butt-Numb-a-Thon. For all that I enjoy the 24 hour film orgy that takes place every December, it is every bit as important to me that I get to hang out with friends I rarely see.
Jess and her husband open up their home to a bunch of out of town people each December and it makes that long weekend one of the best weekends every year.
Jess has just left her long term job and is currently looking to figure out what she wants to do and I can definitely relate to her situation. She seems to be enjoying that process of finding the perfect direction for her life and I think it is great that she is fortunate enough to make that exploration.
When the masses descend on her house, she is nothing but gracious. I’ve never felt anything but welcome. Even when conversation has stretched well past 3 in the morning, as it frequently does.
What always strikes me about her is how willing she is to give of herself to others. If you need a ride from the airport or to wherever everyone is eating dinner, she’ll help you out.
Hell, for a long time if you wanted to talk to her husband on the phone, you had to call her.
Her husband has a powerful personality but I’ve never seen her eclipsed by him. She has as much to say as him. On some topics, she has a great deal more. Conversations with her are lively and opinionated, and very interesting.
Almost everything she says online is positive. She enjoys being with other people and will go out of her way to tell them how much she enjoyed spending time with them. She doesn’t say it because she is being polite. She says it because it is true.
For these and many other reasons, Jess is one of those people who brightens up any day that includes her presence.
Jess doesn’t have a blog but she’s a photographer and you can look at some of her work here.
Alphabetical Movie – Major League
When watching Major League, I can’t help but think of a time when Charlie Sheen and Wesley Snipes weren’t punch lines.
I’m not suggesting that this film represented the finest work of their careers. But they sure come off as likable guys, you know? It doesn’t seem like they will just slip into obscurity or insanity. I think they both show a kind of charisma that suggests they are unlikely to burn out.
Snipes was Blade for goodness’ sake! He and Sandra Bullock are the reason that Demolition Man isn’t a complete disaster. Snipes kind of wills his audience to enjoy that movie.
By the time Sheen makes this movie, he’s been in Wall Street and Platoon! For both of these guys, this dopey baseball film should be little more than a speed bump. Sheen ran over it twice because he appeared in Major League II. His career then migrated to Television, where he did very well until – well – we all know what happened.
Snipes, for his part, decided to skip paying taxes for a while. So he spent a little while in jail.
He’s in Expendables 3 so things are looking up for him. Good news there. The Expendables franchise is not at all about featuring action stars past their prime in mediocre films. Should work out great.
Sheen’s got another show on television so I’m pretty sure that he’ll be able to spend another few years swimming in a pool of cocaine on his days off.
Friend a Day – Mark Lazarchic
Mark loves to argue. He will argue with just about anyone about just about anything. He’ll argue for things he’s against and he’ll argue against things he’s for. Quite frequently, he and I don’t agree.
What makes him the best of people is the fact he can argue with your opinion and disagree with your opinion in the strongest possible terms without ever arguing against you. I’ve had lots of arguments with Mark and we are still friends because we understand that the disagreements are never personal. We are both passionate.
Mark can seem very hard. You have to know him for a long time to really recognize that the hard exterior hides a caring person. Then you begin to understand how much he loves his wife. How much he loves his kids. How much he loves Beethoven.
He is one of the hardest workers you will ever meet. He starts businesses about as frequently as the rest of us celebrate birthdays. He is relentless. He never stops. He never slows down. I would imagine that he won’t even sleep when he’s dead.
It is so easy to argue with Mark and to disagree with him that I fail to make sure he knows how much I admire him. I admire his passion and his focus. I admire the way he is unwilling to be involved in anything that is even one tiny bit worse than perfect. I admire the way he spent hours, days, weeks and months with a daughter who had cancer.
You could say any father would have done the same but the truth is no, not any father would do that. Just the exceptional ones.
His sense of humor is bawdy and loud and his laugh is infectious. When you sit down with him around the fire, you can’t be in a bad mood for long.
As remarkable as the things he has accomplished in his life are the ideas he’s had that never were. He is filled with ideas and never stops coming up with more. He can’t do it all and I think he takes that as a sort of personal insult.
Mark is a hard man sometimes. But that is only the surface. I’m glad that I’ve known him long enough to know the man underneath. It was absolutely worth the challenge.
Mark is a busy guy but he blogs occasionally at Pick Mark’s Brain, where you can find links to his many businesses. I encourage you to use them all. He deserves your patronage.
Friend a Day – Deb Shoenack
I’m proud to be Deb’s friend because her friendship is something that is earned. She doesn’t just hand it out to everyone.
If Deb calls you her friend, you need to have done something pretty special.
I met Deb when we were both part of the band for a dancing troupe at the Renaissance Festival. She played drums with us a few times every day and ran a shop filled with a whole lot of beautiful feather art that never sold and a little bit of horrible stuff that sold all the time. It takes a special kind of artist to be aware that your best work is the work that nobody is ever going to buy.
She would tell long stories about her customers and her life. They were great stories. They were funny stories. They were the kind of stories nobody but Deb could have ever told.
If you get a chance to talk to Deb, ask her about the Ethiopian yak’s tooth necklace.
Deb treated entertainers like equals. She welcomed us into her shop and encouraged us to entrain the audience in front of her door. She made us feel like we were all part of the same show. She was the kind of crafter entertainers gravitated towards.
As many people do, she grew tired of the festival and migrated away. When I walk by the corner of the grounds that used to house her shop, I will always feel a sense of loss.
Deb has a gruff and cynical exterior and I won’t say she isn’t gruff and cynical because I think she’d be insulted if I did. She is gruff and cynical. But she is also kind and funny and fiercely loyal to anyone who has earned it.
She loves her family and is constantly showing pride in them. She embraces the title “Jew Bitch” like it was her given name.
I’m not a big fan of drum circles any more. If Deb was in the circle, though, I’d join in because I wouldn’t want to let her down.
Deb doesn’t have a web page but she is passionately opposed to wolf hunting in Minnesota so I’m linking to Howling for Wolves.
Geeks Without God Gets Cosmic
Last week Molly, Nick and I sat down to record an episode about “Cosmos” old and new. I’m almost sorry we didn’t wait another week because there was a lot to talk about in the most recent episode.
That was probably a risk we took by recording before the series concluded. I’ve been impressed with the way Tyson injects skepticism into every episode. He talks about how science finds answers rather than assuming that conventional wisdom is correct.
Like the classic “Cosmos,” which I also re-watched for this episode, the host is in love with science. I’m sure that some would say science is their religion but that isn’t it. They love the laws of the natural world and they love how each new discovery leads to something new. Tyson is a natural successor to Sagan.
So yeah, this episode is kind of a love fest for “Cosmos.” But what can I say? “Cosmos” deserves it!
I you love the show (or hate it), listen in!
Grail Diary 