PUPPET SHOW, BUT NO SPINAL TAP

I’ve been editing sound cues for a puppet show. How cool is that? 

Puppet Lab describes itself as “an artist incubator celebrating its ninth year of radical, genre-expanding, boundary–pushing puppet work. A formalized process for emerging puppet and mask theater artists to advance their artistic development— to test and create new works within a supportive and challenging workshop environment. This program gives artists the time and space to test ideas, learn from others, and receive and respond to critical feedback.”

I’ve been editing audio for one of the productions in this process, Oanh Vu’s “Phantom Loss”. It premieres on January 17th, 7:30pm at Open Eye Figure Theater in Minneapolis. Ticket info info here.

“Thuy Trinh does not get her mother, the 9th grade, or how to speak Vietnamese. None of this stops her from trying to contact her uncle Vân, who, by the way, is dead. Later, she finds herself in a graveyard talking to the wrong ghost, but vows to help him find out who he once was, because what else does she have to do? Come follow them on this journey as they work to uncover difficult truths, fight demons, and heal old wounds. Using tabletop and shadow puppetry this show uses humor to explore the dark nature of loss and intergenerational trauma. Content Advisory: References death and substance abuse.”

Check it out if this interests you! More info here.

= = = = =

2019: YEAR IN REVIEW

As the year draws to a close, I’m grateful to all the collaborators I’ve had the good fortune of working with this year. So many great experiences have come our way. Here are but a few of them!

CORPORATE VIDEO

I had the opportunity to edit voiceover by LeVar Burton on some videos for the Be The Match charity’s annual gala, scrub dialog of an interview with the Senior Director of Education for the World Bank on some educational materials about qualitative research for the University of Minnesota, plus edit and mix audio on promotional pieces for Made to Impact, the Minnesota Timberwolves, Sisters of St. Joseph of Carondelet, The DC Group, and plenty more.

CUSTOM MUSIC

Many placements of my music on TV this year, both solo compositions and co-writes with my friend Dan Luedke— mostly on European shows like “When TV Stars Go Horribly Wrong” (UK), “Build Your Dream: A New Life in a French Castle” in the Netherlands and a German cooking show called “Die Küchenschlacht” (The Kitchen Battle), but also in the U.S. on Amy Poehler’s NBC show “Making It”.

I also wrote an original score for J.D. O’Brien’s short documentary “Uganda Gold”, created some music for Skewed Visions’ experimental performance installation “Birds of the Future” (more on that later), and scored Felipe Mafasoli’s post-apocalypic film “Nowhere Left To Run” as well as a medical video about T cells.

FILM / ANIMATION

The 2019 Minneapolis- St Paul International Film Festival featured two shorts I had the pleasure of working on: the horror film “Dual” by Justin Staggs (sound edit, Foley and mix) and the experimental animation “Beebox” by Cable Hardin (FX edit, custom music, and mix). “Dual” also premiered online in 2019, as did Andrew Hunt’s comedy horror short “Clean Cut”, which features my original music, sound edit, and mix.

This year’s Twin Cities Film Festival also offered a fair amount of my work. Wayne Johnson’s feature film “Into the Void”, featuring an original score by yours tuly, premiered there. I also engineered and edited ADR, created Foley and cut some FX for Barry Andersson’s “Soviet Sleep Experiment”, a feature that included Chris Kattan among its cast and premiered at TCFF as well.

PERFORMING ARTS

I don’t do much work for the theater these days, but when Charles Cambpell called, I was coaxed from retirement like a gunfighter summoned to take out one last man. Charles and I had been a mutual admiration society for some years, and it was finally the right time for me to collaborate with his company Skewed Visions on “Birds of the Future”— your garden variety post-apocalyptic performance installation about two bird people looking for a better life.

There was a whole lot of great talent assembled for this show— we were truly birds of a feather. Now that I’ve gotten my hands on the video footage, I’m looking forward to putting together some clips to share. Sleep in fear!

HAPPY NEW YEAR FROM JUNIOR BIRDMAN AUDIO!

= = = = =

BIRDS OF THE FUTURE

I hardly do any work for the stage these days, but this was an opportunity I couldn’t pass up. Charles Cambpell and I have been something of a mutual appreciation society for the past few years, and it’s been a lot of fun to finally get the chance to work with his company Skewed Visions to create this performance piece. It’s very difficult to describe, and we’re still not sure exactly what we will have put together by the time it opens this coming Thursday, but suffice to say it’s unlike anything I’ve ever worked on before, and I’m grateful for the chance to explore such a wild and weird soundscape on the way there.

More info on “Birds of the Future”