Mie N Yu...all three of us...

The long awaited Mie N Yu silk road event that I produced the Terra Cotta Warriors (remember them?) for arrived this past Tuesday. I was pleasantly surprised at the reception they received (as well as pleasantly surprised how well the Red Bull armor came out...expertly applied by Charles Lawrance)
They were being photographed by a really neato "photo booth" technology, provided by AMG (Alternative Marketing Group) which would take four pictures, and then automatically send the photo to my email...

KT and I help stand guard at Mie N Yu

And yet another week rolls by and yet another Diamond Dead show comes around...this week will be your last chance to catch them before they go to NYC for the FingeNYC. They will be playing Friday night in FredROCK (Frederick MD) you can get all of the details here.

With the close of the 2009 DC fringe, comes yet another accolade for Diamond Dead...this year we have received "Favorite Musical at DCFringe" by popular vote on DC Theater Scene (thank you devoted dead public...we couldn't have done it without you!)

This week also saw the first production meeting for Hope Operas (I will help transform the back room of Miss Pixies on 14th street into an 80 seat theater every week...how do I get myself into these things?)...what is Hope Operas, you ask?

Some of DC's finest theatre artists are coming together this Fall to produce Hope Operas, six serialized shows that will be raising money for various causes. Each week each serial will present a 15-minute (or two back-to-back 7 1/2 minute) episode(s). The audience will be invited to vote for their favorite serial and based on audience response moneys will be distributed to the serial's beneficiaries.

The Hope Operas are:

20 MILLION BREASTSTROKES TO EARTH

by Chris Griffin

directed by Tom Mallan

benefiting The Mautner Project @ Whitman-Walker

LARRY & THE WEREWOLF

by Jeff Goode

directed by Andrew Baughman

benefiting The Association of Retarded Citizens

THE LONG WEIGHT

by Kathleen Akerley

directed by Brian Smith

beneficiary pending

NIGHTS AT ST. JANUARIUS

by Kerri Sheehan

directed by Catherine Tripp

benefiting the Blood Bank at Children's National Medical Center

NORMA & MAX

by Jon Gann

directed by Suzie Richard

benefiting The Osteogenesis Imperfecta Foundation

TUESDAY

by Deb Randall

directed by Lee Mikeska Gardner

beneficiary pending

SECOND-TO-LAST-CHANCE TO SEE DIAMOND DEAD IN DC AREA BEFORE NYC

I finished the skulls and the header for Diamond Dead just in time for the Saturday show. I believe that it got their mojo back. They had a great audience (which is really important, because this show feeds off of the audience...literally and figuratively...) and there were almost no technical difficulties. The Sunday and the Wednesday 6pm shows went well too (despite the fact that these are some of the worst times of day to see a zombie rock band)...so, in short you have only one more opportunity to see Diamond Dead before they ship off for the NYCfringe....(well, technically, that is not 100% true...they are playing a gig on Friday, July 31 in Frederick MD...but details are still coming in about that gig) If you have any doubts, you should check out this review on the City Paper...

So, here are some up close and personal photos of the Skully additions to the DC Fringe Diamond Dead Set:

"Brains" Skully
Painted Luan cutout, aprox 24"x24"

"Fez" Skully
Painted Luan cutout, aprox 24"x24"

Here's a composite of all three pieces that I will probably put on to www.artbyjared.com because the photos from inside the tent all came out blurry...

Other exciting news this week includes a step forward for an October project (there are always way too many things going on in October!) that has been percolating for a while now...Hope Operas...It's a set of serialized plays that will be presented every Monday in the back room of Miss Pixies on 14th street during the month of October. The audience votes best show every night, and the proceeds go to the charity that is designated by the winning show. I'll be providing minimal scenery, and, er, logistical support...

ABJ productions had a productive meeting with Longview Gallery this week. We are looking into using their (yet to be completed) new space as the venue for Yuri's Night 2010! Things are still in the planning stages, but I am really hopeful that this works out because it is a really cool space, and it would be a really great fit for everyone...keep your fingers crossed!

Speaking of human spaceflight...we celebrated the 40th anniversary of the moon landing last Monday...I am still shocked that there wasn't a parade, or a national holiday...This is arguably just as momentous of an occasion as Columbus discovering America...and we get "Columbus Day" off...why isn't there an "Armstrong" day? I guess you'll just have to save up your celebratory fervor for Yuri's Night 2010!

Lastly, I wanted to mention that we (DC's burlesque scene) are saying goodbye to a great lady tonight...Bambi Bottoms Galore is moving up to NYC and we are having a sendoff for her tonight at the Palace of Wonders...So come on by and lets give her the sendoff she deserves!

Diamond Dead Tent Edition

Apparently the first Diamond Dead show did not go so well. The tent wasn't ready, the speakers were in the absolute wrong place, the projector kept going into sleep mode, etc. (did I mention that it was also the day the press came?)

So, in order to get some of the mojo back, I have decided to contribute a tiny bit more scenery to the tent setup (which is been both a mystery and a hornets nest of rules and regulations this entire time...) Hopefully I can add a bit more visual interest to the stage when the projection is not fired up...

Sketch for Projection Screen Additions, Diamond Dead
Pencil, Photoshop, Watercolor 1"=1'

In a show like this, I think it cant hurt to have a few more skulls...

CAPITAL FRINGE STARTS! GO SEE DIAMOND DEAD AND FICTITIOUS

Sorry for not posting last week...It has been a busy two weeks, so there is a lot of ground to cover...

Capital Fringe Festival 2009 starts up this week, and you should go and get tickets (right now!) to Diamond Dead, and Fictitious. (other Artbyjared approved shows are, Pepe! the mail order monkey musical and Captain Squishy's Yee Haw Jamboree!)

Here's the publicity art and info for Diamond Dead:

Here's the publicity art for Fictitious:



In addition to playing the Capital Fringe Festival in DC, Diamond Dead will be playing the FringeNYC on August 21-24th...they even got this great publicity shot on PLAYBILL.COM!

So, needless to say, you should see Diamond Dead here in DC first, so you can say, "I knew them back when..."

So, I have a few photos to share of the final push to put Fictitious into the theater:

Fictitious Set Design
Pencil and Photoshop

The set in its constituent pieces in the shop...

POW! The fist closeup (its about 4'x8')

The load in went surprisingly smoothly for both shows, so it should bode well for the festival...

On a personal note about the last two weeks, It was a really interesting 4th of July. KT's friends from U of M (Brad and Victoria) came down and provided much of the motivation to do things that, as a local, I don't normally do. We visited the Walter Reed museum, had tickets to a Nats game (in a suite, no less!) and got all of our homies together to see the fireworks from the 8th floor of Artomatic. Not a bad 4th at all...