A Circus Musical with Puppets!

Well, a note about our upcoming show at The VORTEX is long overdue, but here it is. We are proud to include Jungle Jill and the Jaybirds in this year’s show. Jill Jarboe, Bruce Newman, and Kirk Williams make up the trio of musicians that weave puppets and original lyrics into just superbly positive songs with great messages. Jill creates her own puppets and loves getting jokes, parables, and life-saving information across in fun ways. Kirk Williams was the bass player with The Austin Lounge Lizards, and Bruce Newman has written songs that have been picked up by many groups you’d recognize (The Uranium Savages, The Austin Lounge Lizards, etc etc), and has been a regular performer at Nutty Brown Cafe, Strange Brew, Ruta Maya, and more.

Let me simply say this: I go see everything I can in children’s entertainment and this group is my favorite in many ways-I mean they don’t juggle, so there’s a limit to how much praise I can lay down, but they do everything else–I have plenty of the circus skills to fill in.

And, coming back again this year, we have pianist Bowman Maze. He blew me away with his talent last year and he will be the anchor for Tchaikovsky’s Suite while Jungle Jill and the Jaybirds back him up and fill in with some more upbeat music and songs. Bowman plays in jazz bands around the state and has even managed to play at the White House.  I don’t care about any of that-he just plays really original versions of the Nutcracker Suite while staying true to the spirit of the music.

I would (and actually have, now that I think about it) pay just to hear either one of these musical talents-and I’ve managed to put them on the same bill and throw in juggling, unicycling, parrot tricks, and six circus dogs. That’s going to be one jam-packed show. My biggest regret is that I won’t be able to watch it.

To make it an actual figurative (I can’t believe I just said that) train wreck, I’ve added the owner of Balloonsbydane.com, Dane Dawson, our very own balloon-making Great Dane. We call him our lucky seventh dog.  His best skill, balloon twisting, we won’t even be using. Balloons are like kryptonite for Moose and Mouse. This is proof that they are super hero dogs from another planet, balloonton, or something like that anyway. Anyway (ha ha), Dane is talented enough that there’s plenty more for him to do to keep you entertained (like a train wreck is wont to do) and then maybe, with enough roaring shouts of encouragement made while the entire audience stands in amazement at the end of the show (or appreciation of us mercifully ending), which is sure to happen, maybe, just possibly, Dane could be persuaded to entice, lure, tempt the audience out of the theater and into the swanky Butterfly Bar and large patio area with a delicious food trailer with even better-tasting food to enjoy while you wait for your amazing artistic creation.

Ok, there is so much more to say about this show, but I promised to get a short blog out about it today and I hate writing. And the dogs–what can I say? If I don’t feed them soon I might wind up missing a leg.