Frontier Grit premieres

Performing Frontier Grit basically in the lobby of the Retreat at Carrollton.
[photo snapped by Holly Bagwell]

I am on the hustle for a while, like the old days. One idea I had was a short (40-45 minute) storytelling show about real-life events from the 1800s, from the American frontier. I am fascinated with that time period after the American Revolution thru the beginning of the 1800s up until the Civil War. 

I started working on it last month. I have been tinkering on a bunch of plays since the beginning of the year, but this was the first write-then-perform-it project I have had to sit down and see through to completion in a hot minute. The turn-around was faster than a lot of my shows usually are. Instead of several months, this was several weeks. And on this one, I was trying something new. Or new to me, at least.

I was trying straight-up storytelling this time. This meant I didn't need to stage a whole show and play a bunch of characters. Just a detailed recounting of a singular event.

People often confuse a one-person theatrical show with storytelling, just as they confuse stand-up comedy with storytelling sometimes. Solo performance is theatre. A solo play can span however much time it needs. It has a cohesive theme and is often fictional. It has a solid narrative structure, but the story is told from within, by the characters themselves. Storytelling, at least in its contemporary conception, concerns a single event, told by either the person if happened to or by an outside non-diagetic narrator. It is often nonfictional. The biggest difference is that theatre is acted, stories are told.

So, this was a tiny step outside my usual wheelhouse. 

The stories I chose to retell featured John Colter, a mountain man from the early 1800s who barefoot and naked outran a Blackfoot war party; Pamelia Mann, who loaned a yoke of oxen to General Sam Houston's Texas Army during the Texas Revolution and then personally confronted Houston to reclaimed her property; and Kit Carson who in his mid-twenties fought a duel with a towering French-Canadian trapper to defend the woman he loved.

I called the collection of three stories Frontier Grit. I was still memorizing and rehearsing earlier this week.

Memorizing is my least favorite part of performing. It is a slow, arduous process that has no real shortcuts. It is hard and requires uninterrupted focus. Lately, as I juggle many projects and most of it is done at a computer, memorizing these stories was a good reminder that somethings just take time and effort. One has to slow down. It is humbling and frustrating to have to stick with one project for days at a time, sometimes weeks. This means I can't launch into something else. For a while one, difficult thing occupies my entire world.

I don't mind doing hard things. In fact, I feel I am predisposed to tackle more grueling, challenging things more so than a lot of the people around me. But sometimes, I need a stiff reminder. Sometimes, I need something to throw me into the briar patch. This process was a good reminder about all this.

My friend Holly helped me set up a gig for me at the senior living facility she works at. It is called Retreat at Carrollton. She had set me up last summer with a few gigs at other senior facilities where I performed my solo show Robert's Eternal Goldfish.

So, yesterday, August 20th, Frontier Grit had its first audience. The show went relatively well. I felt about 80-85% about the whole thing. The folks at Retreat seemed to dig it. There were maybe a dozen and a half spectators.

It definitely needs to be tightened up and, dare I say, some staging. Now it is just a guy standing basically stationary for 45 minutes in the middle of the room. Visually, it has no levels..

I am so grateful for the opportunity to share my art with folks no matter where I am performing. 

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I Opened an Etsy Store

In the past, I have sold t-shirts with original designs, prints of posters I have designed for events and even, many moons ago, coffee mugs. These were through various online shops. And, honestly, I never really followed up on this stuff. I didn't market it and I didn't sell much. In a world where people learn from their mistakes, I'd let this notion go.

But that's not the world I live in. So, I launched an Etsy store.

It will carry illustrated prints, signed copies of my books and original stationary... to start with. I have more planned, but first I have to see if anyone is going to buy anything at all.

This endeavor is part of a bigger roll-out of me trying to get a little more self-sustaining and entrepreneurial. I like making things. I figure some people might occasionally like the things I make, so I've put some of those things into the marketplace. And, as you can tell from this post, this time I am getting the word out (this will, of course, not be the only rooftop I will shout from).

Anyway, check it out... HERE

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Perhaps you would be interested in adding more excitement and romance, adventure and intrigue to your life. If that's the case, I don't know what to tell you. But I would suggest you subscribe to my newsletter. I mean, who knows? Life is full of surprises. I only send stuff out occasionally, but it is good stuff. Hit the button below...

First collection of The Ongoing Saga of J. Herbin just released!

 

I published a book! Well, another book. This one is a collection of J. Herbin comics and I am super-pleased with how it came out.

I describe The Ongoing Saga of J. Herbin, now in print for the first time, as an "anti-comic." It doesn't follow the usual tropes found in most syndication-style comic strips. It is sort of a minimalist comic with virtually no movement, no set characters, no progression and a protagonist that passively observes from a distance in his own strip.

Grab a copy on the Amazon... HERE

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Perhaps you would be interested in adding more excitement and romance, adventure and intrigue to your life. If that's the case, I don't know what to tell you. But I would suggest you subscribe to my newsletter. I mean, who knows? Life is full of surprises. I only send stuff out occasionally, but it is good stuff. Hit the button below...

I opened a Patreon

I have wanted to open a Patreon for ages. I follow and support a few artists on Patreon. I like the concept of the model. A modern Medici-style way to support creators that one likes, especially those not on a large mainstream scale. Patreon works great for small, indie makers who can genuinely use the support.

However, due to my weird propensity to spread my artistic output over a wide range of art forms and a lot of it is producing an experience rather than a physical product (stage plays, directing, solo shows, improv gigs and so on), for the longest time I did not know how to represent myself on Patreon. Do I pick a lane and sideline all my other endeavors? The world seems to want easy-to-swallow labels for its creative people. 

After hmmming and hawing about this for way too long, just recently, I finally took action. The Patreon is up and I hope folks will check it out.

You can do that... HERE

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Perhaps you would be interested in adding more excitement and romance, adventure and intrigue to your life. If that's the case, I don't know what to tell you. But I would suggest you subscribe to my newsletter. I mean, who knows? Life is full of surprises. I only send stuff out occasionally, but it is good stuff. Hit the button below...