On The Road

We had a full itinerary of Fairs and other such places to go to, from as far North as Wisconsin and eventually ending up in Florida. Once we got to these places we were scheduled to do 3 shows daily as well as 3 Puppetmobile runs(I'll explain later) as well as selling posters of Granpa Cratchet after each show. The Puppetmobile was a custom made miniature car that resembled an old Model-T; it was made so that the puppeteer can squeeze in the back and it made it look like the puppet was driving the car. After each performance of "Granpas Chicken Coop and Roadkill Cafe'" Granpa would make his way to the lower level to sell posters to the kids for $1 each..the kids also got a hug from the puppet(the great thing about the posters was that we got to keep 50% of the profits). I distinctly remember our best poster sale show was at the county fair in Wellington Ohio where we sold over 200 posters...nice!!
One of our stops was in a small mountain town in PA called Gratz, the Gratz County fair to be exact. It was a small event where the main ettractions were our show and Bruno Blaziaks Amazing Tiger show which was located about 100 feet from or trailer. Day and night we heard tigers snarling and Growling; at showtime we heard Bruno's Tiger Coming In Music..a short show, then the Tiger Going Out music. The entire week in Gratz was raining...in order to stay dry we would use the puppetmobile to make trips to the payphone which was located quite a distance away at the sheep barn. It must have been quite a site to see a puppetless tiny car travelling at great speed around the fairgrounds. We were desperate for any type of activity in th is small town reminiscent of "Deliverance"...we asked the locals where all the youong people hung out..they all said, "The Fuzzy Bunny"; I think they said there was a rave there every Saturday night. We had nothing better to do so we headed over to the Fuzzy Bunny...Imagine a smalle bar with a few toothless people drinking Pabst...ala a Gratz rave.
One of the last stops on the road was the State Fair of Virginia in Richmond. I beleive it is one of the larger fairgrounds in the country and we were there for a full week. A bunch of old friends decided to come down form DC to experience the Fair life with us. I think there were 10 of us living in the Super Unit..we drank a lot of beers and ate Church's Chicken for the couple of days they were there. Directly across from our show there was an exotic Petting zoo that featured a baby giraffe named "Romeo". Late at night we would get on our Microphones and call out Romeo's name...after the 3rd night taunting the Giraffe the Zookeeper lady finally came out and gave us a piece of her mind.

The land of Puppets

Upon coming back from Las Vegas I had a few odd jobs. The first was at one of the mall kiosks selling Gold Overlay Jewelry aka "Gold by the Inch". Then I got a gig as a historical interpreter at a Colonial Homestead in the Hudson valley; I would dress in colonial garb and give tours to tourists. The great thing about the job was that there were a lot of Non-English speaking tourists so I would often make stuff up or speak in gibberish...that was fun. During this time I was sending out headshots and resume's for various acting gigs. One day I received a call that was a "Phone Interview" from a touring puppet theater out of Indiana. With very little effort I got the gig, but they wanted me to go out on the road by myself for 5 months. I didn't like the idea of spending all that time alone so I persuaded them to take half the pay if I could bring a friend along. Next thing I knew I was on a plane heading to Indianapolis where I would rendevouz with my buddy Gary. We were met by this guy named Chris Rafinski and his giant Church Van...we piled in and headed to the farm which was about a 2 hour drive.
Kokomo, Indiana is in the middle of Gods country. Right across from a Hog Farm was the puppet Training facility for the "Granpa Cratchet and Friends" variety shows and the home of Bowman Entertainment. There was a bunch of us there for the 1 month long of intensive Puppet training...I don't remember all the names so I am gonna fill in with some other names. There was Doug who was a very Gay Christian Guy, the Funny Fat Kid, and the seasoned "Golden Boy" veteran from puppet shows past. Everybody got to live inside the Bowman Farmhouse except for Gary and I who lived in the "Super Unit"(SU) which would eventually be our home on the road as well. The SU was a 40' converted semi trailer with living quarters, including a washer/dryer as well as a Puppet theater that folded out from the side. Gary and I both had long hair and smoke a shitload of weed...after a month of intensive training we were ready to hit the road.

Life-Part 1

Upon the last meeting with my therapist I didn't have much to talk about, so I decided to tell him some stories about my life...in particular about being on the road as a puppeteer. Some info on the therapist; he doesn't talk all that much and shows very little emotion. He also has some peculiar health issues that are evident by the fact that his face looks like it has been removed and then glued back on, he's eyes also tear for no apparent reason. As I began to talk about my adventures he started to literally crack up, I mean casing pain from the hard laughing. "Have you ever written these stories down?", he asked me. I replied "Nope"..so here I am.
After graduating college with a degree in Acting(That is super useful) I thought it would be a good Idea to pack up all my stuff in my Toyota and head out to Las Vegas to live with my old friend Andrew and his family. Loaded up with cartons of cigarettes and bottles of effedrin I hit the road. The first day was awesome, Phish blaring from the speakers....The feeling of freedom was everywhere! That first day I made it just past Richmond Virginia. I was eager to reach my destination as quickly as possible...the next day I made it as far as the panhandle of texas, just outside Amarillo when the flash floods started. I turned on the radio and they suggested that anybody in a vehicle should abandon it and get to higher ground. Ofcourse I wasn't about to leave my sweet Celica behind...I made it to a best Western at the next rest stop. After taking an hour nap the sun was out and I continued on my trip....a quick overnight rest in Tulsa and the next day I was in Vegas!!
Las vegas was like the Holy Mother Land to me at that time...an expression of everything a 22 year old could ever dream of all in one place!! Andrew's family lived in a suburb called Summerlin wich is a beautiful place where family's from all over came to find something better. After a couple of weeks searching for a job I landed one of the most interesting jobs I have ever have, I became a $5 Pizza Man. The job was simple, we would meet at a particular pizza shop at 9am for a pep talk and discussion of strategy; then load the pizzas into the warmers and load our cars with pies. First stop,construction site...armed with our shirts that literally said, "$5 Pizza Man" we would unload a doaen pies in about 5 minutes. Back to the shop to load up with more pies and then it was door to door at inner city apartment complexes for the remainder of the day. On more than one occasion I had to run away from various gangs and illicit individuals for fear of being jacked. After spending most of my cash on Gatorade and special equipment that prevented my dashboard from melting I decided I wasn't cut out to be a $5 Pizza Man. I spent a total of 5 months in Sin City until I decided I had too leave and get back to my girlfriend...that was a wise idea considering when I got home she informed me that she was into women.