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Performance Artist - Actor - Maker of Stuff

52 Weeks of No TV

I gave up TV for one year in 2012.  Instead of TV, I made some THING every week.  In hindsight, it was a fecund year. (oh yeah, I used the word fecund)  It was the basis for many projects including my full production of Plasticland:  A Better Place.  It spawned unlikely artistic collaborations, built creative confidence and I got to smash a TV with a golden sledgehammer.  I haven't combed through this blog in awhile but I wanted to peruse it for inspiration.

Week 17's Thing: Saturday Morning Cartoons

Things happen.  And then those things spark other things.  And then another thing happens.  And then that thing is followed by the other thing.  

And all of a sudden, I'm standing in front of my friends about to introduce a carefully arranged selection of the nostalgia-iest 80s cartoons, ads and PSAs.  

It was a party to celebrate an achievement.  I had challenged my community to help me get 100 people to donate 20 bucks to 2 projects. The first:  A Cafe Candide residency trip to Mt. Tremper, NY with the cast, director and our very own guitarist.  The second:  Building a nest egg for my one woman show Plasticland:  A Better Place.      

By God, we had done it.  115 people actually.  

I had wanted to do this Saturday Morning Cartoons themed party for a very long time.  I spent hours culling together the perfect combination of old school Saturday morning fare:  hanker for a hunk of cheese guy, Tom & Jerry and even Pee Wee Herman warning us about the dangers of crack.

I love throwing parties.

I hate the time before people arrive.  I get nervous that no one is going to show up.  This feeling has been nicknamed the "Stella Dallas syndrome." (See the scene from the 1937 film Stella Dallas from which it is inspired here)

It's that vulnerable time before the guests show up and you could be left all alone in your party dress with no one to pin the donkey tail on. 

 It hasn't happened yet but it's how I feel every time I throw a party.   

The party was a rousing success.  A big group of friends who were at a wedding that day even they managed to stop in for a quick hello because the reception was close to the party.  

This party would not have happened without the NO TV project, I would still be talking about doing this party.  The No TV project has been having a great effect on my life.  I do things I've been talking about doing for years. It makes me put myself out there more often.  I have to open myself up to possibility and, in doing so, more possibilites make themselves known.  I feel like I'm doing something with my short time here.    

Things happen.  And then those things spark other things.  And then another thing happens.  And then that thing is followed by the other thing.  

 

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