While on a purported research trip to Florida (really, an excuse for a vacation that included DisneyWorld), I was sitting in an outdoor area enjoying some live music. Looking around, I saw…a puppet cart! I have always loved puppets (because they are inherently fascinating to me, and because–unlike live actors–they always do what I want), and so I had to get a closer look.
On approaching the cart, I saw a complete line of robed puppets ready to be used for presentation at a Sunday or vacation Bible school. They were either Old Testament figures or Apostles. There were also some animal figures, and then…there he was! I had to adopt him immediately and bring him home (which must have caused the TSA agents some surprise, seeing him doubled up in my suitcase when X-rayed).
I have been told that he resembles me, but he doesn’t believe it. However, Prof. SteveO, with his PhD in puppet performance from the University of Puppetsburgh, occasionally acts as a guest speaker in my Intro to Theatre class when I discuss the art of puppetry.
Imagine my surprise when I discovered he was not alone in Southwestern Pennsylvania. This news called for a family reunion of sorts outside Half Price Books in Monroeville.
Prof. Steveo has also starred in some videos available on youtube. I’m linking them below so you can watch them in series. He also did some music videos, providing a body for a voice that has never been completely comfortable singing.
“So Out of Love”
“Axl SteveO” from his long-awaited album, “Sri Lanka Democracy.” A song of loss, as heard in the choris: “Out of my field of vision, you are also out of my sight. And as they say, out of mind. And I’m so out of love.”
“Ballad of the 2012 Believer”
I wrote this about a friend who was hoping that the Mayans were right and that the world would end in 2012.
“Insects”
Insects” depicts the eternal triangle, using insects as a metaphor for the easily recognizable human types.
MUSOFYR 