tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13640622501051437012024-01-14T19:43:13.489-08:00GeffnerVentriloquistGeffnerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15191107967661154704noreply@blogger.comBlogger16125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1364062250105143701.post-2931088903531654642021-04-07T15:13:00.002-07:002021-04-07T15:13:47.556-07:00The Honky Tonky Monkey Rag<div><br /></div><div>In 1997 I wrote and recorded this song for my kids' video "Winners". It was one of many novelty songs, skits and bits that I wrote and recorded with my puppets for kids' and family videos. They also were parts of the pitches that I made through the years to tv producers for various concepts of kids' and family tv shows that I created featuring my puppets and me. Several times tv producers responded enthusiastically to my pitches, raising my hopes that this dream would come true...only to inevitably dash my hopes by changing their minds or simply disappearing.<div> <br />Shortly after I recorded this video in 1997 I began shifting my focus from pitching a kids' tv show to pitching my newer concept aimed at an adult audience: Trillo & Suede - a film noir parody featuring a ventriloquist detective and his wooden partner. An eerily similar chain of events ensued with Trillo & Suede over the next two decades, in which I was led to believe many times that various tv and movie producers were all set to offer me deals and/or line up the money for a major Trillo & Suede project...until the deals inevitably vanished along with the producers.</div><div> <br />I also had limited time during the past two decades to pursue my career dreams because as a single dad my top priority was raising my two daughters.</div><div><br />In 2019 I made a decision: since it seemed unlikely that any of my concepts would ever become a reality I will self-fund two seasons of a Trillo & Suede web series. I did it. It has already won a staggering 38 awards for Best Web Series, Best Comedy and more in international film contests!</div><div> <br />Now I'm seeking a way to fund Season 3 and a feature film, but even if Trillo & Suede ends here I'm very glad that I took the plunge out of my own pocket. Even on a very tight budget I feel that I have proven to the world - and to myself - that my concept WORKS. And people can enjoy it AS IS while getting a chance to imagine what "could have been" if I had a Netflix-level budget.</div><div> <br />But in 1997 I had only begun to develop the Trillo & Suede concept and I was still focused more on trying to get a kids' show produced. Most of my videos from those efforts have disintegrated before I got round to transferring them from VHS. I shot this song in B&W with a grainy look intentionally for a vintage feel, but the video is also very degraded. So, here is what remains of the Honky Tonky Monkey Rag... <br /><a href="https://youtu.be/rukuxJcbLbA" target="_blank">Honky Tonky Monkey Rag</a><br /></div><div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><br /><br /></div></div>Geffnerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15191107967661154704noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1364062250105143701.post-7952127502190257602020-09-27T20:21:00.001-07:002020-09-27T20:31:52.335-07:00Trillo & Suede History<br /><br />I created the concept of a ventriloquist/dummy detective duo in a film noir-ish alternate universe back in the 1990’s. In 1999 I wrote my first Trillo & Suede feature film screenplay – The Hong Kong Canary. It was a parody of both The Maltese Falcon and Casablanca.<br /><br />Next I entered a Twilight Zone of Catch-22’s…<br /><br />Production companies would not look at my script unless I was represented by an agent. And agents were not interested in representing me unless a production company had already taken on one or more of my scripts.<br /><br />Agents were also not interested in looking at my script because I was not an established, well-known screenwriter. And, of course, there was no way I could become an established, well-known screenwriter unless I could get one of my scripts produced.<br /><br />I tried submitting The Hong Kong Canary as a pilot for a tv series. I also wrote treatments for an entire season of episodes. However, most tv channels would not accept tv series scripts unless submitted by an agent. And agents were not interested in looking at my tv series scripts because I had never gotten a tv series produced.<br /><br />Somehow my tv series script and treatments got to the desk of the Head of Development at Sky TV, UK. I received an email from her (I forgot her name and deleted the email) which momentarily elated me and then immediately deflated me. She praised my script and concept highly, calling it “brilliant”, “hilarious”, “unique”, “amazing”, etc. Then she said that they don’t want to take a chance on something so innovative and different from their usual programming.<br /><br />Through the years since then I continued to try to find ways to produce The Hong Kong Canary, either as a feature film or as a tv series. I did not have the money to invest in producing it myself. I also wrote four additional feature film Trillo & Suede screenplays. A small production company in the UK, Farnham Films, took an interest in the project and tried to form co-productions with larger companies. Several times I was led to believe that a deal was about to be made, but they always fell through.<br /><br />In 2006 I wrote and produced a short film, Oxford Park, with the help and support of Farnham Films. We hoped that we could use it as a demo that would attract funding for a larger project, but that did not happen. Although I think Oxford Park was good, I also believe that it could have been much better. Since Farnham Films was funding it I was obliged to write the kind of script that they wanted. It was not really the style that I wanted. They were going for more of a horror vibe mixed with British mystery style. It was not the New York-film-noir-gritty-snappy-absurdist style that I had in mind.<br /><br />In the years since then I needed to focus my time and energy on raising two daughters as a single dad. I'll never regret having made that the top priority in my life. Still, I gradually lost hope of ever producing a Trillo & Suede project the way I envisioned it. <br /><br />A few years ago I decided to turn one of my screenplays into a novel. I self-published the resulting novel – While the Village Sleeps – as an e-book on Amazon. You can buy it here… <a href="https://l.facebook.com/l.php?u=http://myBook.to/DummyNoir?fbclid=IwAR2NnZ0sjv83HNqaX56Kx0Ta_lGGWVH472ecKkfDdrDJErH21OR_s5kvwdI&h=AT10hAkjFVYYBpj48qKmTiYav3MZOgIHX8-PGaTqyj-vQZwfHRw5i-cVeD8y3LjkqqMor-yS4mEZ18RQPov0TI9vjfOqZZ8ebtjKo1bdmPlYvz5H2Ov9uyqRw_gSFppgB9a9gYKLTnBROPuWS6VzvSPp%22%20%5Ct%20%22_blank">http://myBook.to/DummyNoir</a><br /><br />In late 2018 through early 2019 I was in deep despair from a combination of personal issues and health issues. At one point I asked myself, “If I die today what would be my biggest regret in my creative/professional life?” The answer was clear: that I never was able to produce a Trillo & Suede project the way I envisioned it.<br /><br />I decided to produce a web series with my own money. A web series could be produced on a lower budget than a feature film, so I decided to go for it. I wrote the scripts and despite all sorts of production problems and stresses - including the need to fire my director/producer while still shooting scenes – I got it done. And I’m pretty darn proud of the result: Season 1 of the Trillo & Suede Web Series.<br /><br />Episode 1 of 10 weekly episodes was released on Jan. 1, 2020, on the official Trillo & Suede youtube channel: <a href="https://l.facebook.com/l.php?u=https://www.youtube.com/c/TrilloSuede?fbclid=IwAR2kQF4yNhbB_RO1Lh9vXsCK52k5AG3yLS3P96ahn2QsXJBhUcxEqR52wsI&h=AT3qhwLLwep-HMXGbEnWCs3LIPqmg5y8LwrFvGrRQklN_o32ReoHv27uHNiU9Ht87AmMycR44ggHhySBqemADY6rDB-FDLLIuGb2T4wr5hlrJUcWh2c6EmR-iT5LuLkgyNRfP8kxgKoDPfAOifKJnWrv%22%20%5Ct%20%22_blank">https://www.youtube.com/c/TrilloSuede</a><br /><br />As you probably know, the series has had enormous success at international film festivals, winning all sorts of awards, including Best Web Series at eight different festivals! This has encouraged and inspired me to keep this going. I wrote ten episodes for Season 2 and shot it last month. It is now in post-production and scheduled for release of the first of the ten weekly episodes on Nov. 1, 2020. <br /><br />Meanwhile, I am posting other non-web-series Trillo & Suede videos – and some with other puppet partners of mine – on the channel, for friends and fans to enjoy.<br /><br />I launched an Indiegogo campaign to help finance Season 2, which raised about $1000. The remaining approximately $30,000 of the budget is once again coming out of my own pocket. I will not be able to self-finance a Season 3, so I’m hoping that Season 2 will be successful enough to enable me to find other sources to cover the entire Season 3 budget. <br /><br />Meanwhile, enjoy all the videos on <a href="https://l.facebook.com/l.php?u=https://www.youtube.com/c/TrilloSuede?fbclid=IwAR37Jz-nXpZwmYZGxZNb0W20NvZgwjuscYAP1ZdIjfP23NoyvQpwaNT0C34&h=AT2uK0JcoFWzbICu7-BMcghB6WDUEBUs2mmdvSRvVJ3CPJpWjq6I6Yg8ytTRvnK1E8u2JYso1eoz2LNevLB4tw09J9CsdrzXKdC3k_JKXt_US5mHDrJCwYvu6qBlEk5lylcXwSQun4vGYLhzVFXepo0Y%22%20%5Ct%20%22_blank">https://www.youtube.com/c/TrilloSuede</a>. Don’t forget to subscribe to the channel and click the bell 🔔 to be notified on new uploads. “Like” and comment under the videos and I’ll be sure to reply to your comments. Share the link widely. <br /><br />On behalf of my alter egos, Trillo & Suede, thanks for your support.<br /><br />Geffnerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15191107967661154704noreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1364062250105143701.post-51039409594005111112020-06-25T21:24:00.000-07:002020-06-25T21:51:31.665-07:00The Trillo & Suede Concept<br />
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The Trillo & Suede Concept<br />
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Exciting news: I’m planning to shoot Season 2 of my multi-award-winning Trillo & Suede web series this August – less than two months from now. My long-thwarted dream is finally coming true. Enjoy it all here… <a href="https://www.youtube.com/c/TrilloSuede">https://www.youtube.com/c/TrilloSuede</a><br />
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Many people have asked me various questions about my concept of Trillo & Suede. So far the concept has been mainly in my head, but now I want to write it down for others to see. It also feels helpful for myself to have it in writing to refer to. My concept might evolve over time in some ways, but I don't imagine I'll ever want to change the main aspects. Here it is...<br />
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Trillo & Suede live in an alternate universe in which they really are a detective duo in their “real” lives. They decided to produce a web series based on their real life experiences as detectives and we are seeing that project as it unfolds. This was Trillo’s idea because he has a life long issue of feeling unappreciated, insecure and anxiety-ridden. He has long dreamed of becoming famous somehow, imagining that that would make him feel worthy and confident, and he came up with the idea of shooting this web series for that purpose. He does have SOME belief in his abilities - he thinks that he and Suede are a good detective duo and he knows that he has some other talents, especially piano-playing - but he is plagued by the self-doubts that continuously gnaw at him and undermine his self-confidence.<br />
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Trillo also knows that he is a very talented ventriloquist. In fact, he has proof of that because he is so good at it that he eventually breathed life into Suede without TRYING to do that. It just happened at some point because of the effectiveness of Trillo’s ventriloquist skills. In this universe this is a phenomenon that occurs occasionally, but only if a puppet works with a really good ventriloquist over a considerable period of time. <br />
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But even this knowledge is undermined by the fact that Suede no longer NEEDS Trillo in order to talk, so Trillo feels insecure about not being NEEDED by Suede. Trillo does still ventriloquize Suede because he and Suede are used to doing that - out of habit - but even though Trillo is still (usually) “operating” Suede and throwing his voice into him as a ventriloquist, Suede always says whatever Suede wants to say…since Suede is now autonomous. In other words, Trillo still usually “makes” Suede talk but he has no control over what Suede says. Plus, when Suede really wants to talk all by himself - such as when Trillo is not with him - Suede is perfectly capable of doing that…most notably when he is romancing a femme fatale.<br />
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Trillo created Sam Suede as an alter ego; Suede is what Trillo WISHES to be: supremely self-confident and cool, ESPECIALLY with women. The sad irony for Trillo is that having created Suede, Suede has now become autonomous and none of his self-confidence has rubbed off on Trillo. In fact, being with Suede so much of the time just reinforces Trillo’s lack of confidence and anxieties as he continuously compares himself negatively to Suede. <br />
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Suede is going along with Trillo’s idea for a web series and Suede wants it to be good and successful as well, but it doesn’t mean ALL that much to him the way it means for Trillo. Trillo has invested all his hopes and dreams into this web series so he feels enormous stress about its outcome. <br />
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Trillo writes all the scripts, but Suede helps here and there. Also, Suede often veers off script and says things that take Trillo by surprise, adding to Trillo’s stress during shooting. <br />
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When the fourth wall breaks during shooting - as it often does - all the characters remain who they are. This feels important to my concept, i.e. when the fourth wall breaks Trillo & Suede are still Trillo & Suede; they NEVER become Jonathan Geffner and his dummy. Jonathan does not exist in this universe. <br />
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Likewise all the other characters; Chloe Cliche is always Chloe Cliche, NOT Kristin (the actress). And this season Fiona Fatale will always be Fiona Fatale when the fourth wall breaks; she will never be Sarah (the actress). We do see the difference between those characters ACTING and being themselves, i.e. a femme fatale may stop acting sexy and stylized and suddenly become bitchy and pissed off or whatever, but she is still a femme fatale showing a different side to her personality that is normally hidden from the screen. She is never the actress PLAYING the femme fatale. Likewise for all the other characters we encounter.<br />
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The Trillo & Suede universe has a very film noir look and feel, but it is mixed with modern anachronisms, such as cell phones and computers and modern cars on the street and even modern references that come up in conversations. None of this is ever explained. It doesn’t need to be. It is just the way their universe is. <br />
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I want the viewers to feel immersed in this universe and accept it on its own terms, yet I want to convey the feeling that they can never be completely sure about what’s real and what isn’t. Is it all a dream? Or is the viewer’s life a dream and the T&S universe is the only real one?<br />
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Join the newly launched official Trillo & Suede Facebook group: <a href="https://www.facebook.com/groups/TrilloSuede">https://www.facebook.com/groups/TrilloSuede</a><br />
<br />Geffnerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15191107967661154704noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1364062250105143701.post-50312121767932037562019-04-11T08:13:00.001-07:002019-04-11T08:13:22.983-07:00Christopher Robin<div style="background-color: white; color: #1d2129; font-family: system-ui, -apple-system, system-ui, ".SFNSText-Regular", sans-serif; font-size: 14px; margin-bottom: 6px;">
Last night I watched Christopher Robin, the 2018 movie, with my daughter, Sabrina. This movie starts off surprisingly bleak and sad, but if you stay with it the heartbreaking eventually changes to heartwarming. Along the way there were moments that Sabrina and I found almost unbearably sad. It was sweet, though, that we were watching this together, because we held each other as tears streamed down both our faces.</div>
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I wonder whether others experience this movie the same way that we did. We both related very personally to issues of thwarted dreams, and the heartbreak of fractured family and lost love. If you have not seen this movie and want to, I encourage you to watch it with a loved one or loved ones...and be ready to hold each other tight.</div>
Geffnerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15191107967661154704noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1364062250105143701.post-67852982615877015522019-04-11T08:12:00.001-07:002019-04-11T08:12:19.540-07:00Sentimental about Old New York City<div style="background-color: white; color: #1d2129; font-family: system-ui, -apple-system, system-ui, ".SFNSText-Regular", sans-serif; font-size: 14px; margin-bottom: 6px;">
I'm very sentimental and nostalgic...especially for eras before I was born; and especially for Old New York City; and especially for the 1920's-40's.</div>
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This 1928 film footage from NYC evokes all sorts of wistful thoughts and feelings in me about life in my city at that time. So much was happening here. 1928 was just four years after George Gershwin wrote Rhapsody in Blue, just one year before The Marx Brothers' first movie - The Cocoanuts - was filmed, and just a few years after my grandparents set foot in NYC, immigrating from Poland. It was also two years after my beloved piano was built by Steinway & Sons, also right here in NYC...</div>
<a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lkqz3lpUBp0&fbclid=IwAR1p0RaF32EjvCaNQT6d-q6elrcy2JigNc5s6GwBJhql5ZxmAWYklii5IoI">https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lkqz3lpUBp0&fbclid=IwAR1p0RaF32EjvCaNQT6d-q6elrcy2JigNc5s6GwBJhql5ZxmAWYklii5IoI</a>Geffnerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15191107967661154704noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1364062250105143701.post-4783204408846271282019-04-11T08:10:00.000-07:002019-04-11T08:10:00.703-07:00Values and Priorities<div style="background-color: white; color: #1d2129; font-family: system-ui, -apple-system, system-ui, ".SFNSText-Regular", sans-serif; font-size: 14px; margin-bottom: 6px;">
I performed a ventriloquist show recently for orphans at a Hasidic center in Brooklyn. It is always gratifying to be able to bring joy and laughter to people, but it is particularly meaningful to perform for audiences like this...for children who have experienced true hardship and undoubtedly great sadness.</div>
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It reminds me of how fortunate I am in so many ways, not least of which is the fact that I have two amazing daughters. Having raised them as a single dad, I have great "<span class="text_exposed_show" style="display: inline; font-family: inherit;">nakhes" (pride and joy) to see that they are such talented, intelligent young women...and more importantly, that they are caring, warm-hearted, good human beings, with values that I respect and share.</span></div>
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And that reminds me of how important shared values are in friendships and relationships. I once knew someone who told me that my love and concern for Israel is "very annoying". That same person also expressed "great disappointment" that I'm not interested in ziplining and similar activities. I am no longer friends with that person.</div>
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Life is too short to waste with people who do not share your values and priorities. It is a lesson that I am still learning. And I am still learning to better appreciate the people in my life who DO share my values and priorities.</div>
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And I am still learning to cherish all the good fortune that I have in my life. There is no more touching reminder of that than being able to bring a puppet "to life" in front of a crowd of smiling, laughing, orphaned children. לחײם (l'chaim = to life!)</div>
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Geffnerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15191107967661154704noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1364062250105143701.post-24959447665963422952019-04-11T08:05:00.000-07:002019-04-11T08:05:05.670-07:00My Musical Odyssey<span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: 14px;">When I was growing up I was encouraged by a number of people in the classical music world to work toward becoming a concert pianist. I considered that path intermittently as a child and teenager, but I had too many other interests that distracted me from spending enough time practicing the piano. Plus, I had a severe problem with stage fright.</span><br />
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Eventually I became a professional ventriloquist, and I'm very glad that I did. It has felt like the perfect ar<span class="text_exposed_show" style="display: inline; font-family: inherit;">t-form for creative expression for me, and I have never experienced much stage fright while doing it. It has felt very gratifying to be able to bring joy and laughter to so many people, especially to children.</span></div>
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I stopped playing the piano as a young adult and - for psychological reasons - I did not play it for many years. Then, when my first daughter, Michelle, was born, I began playing songs on the piano for her. Then I started playing classical music for her. From an early age it was apparent that Michelle had an extraordinary talent for singing, so I soon became her accompanist. I introduced her to the jazz standards of the Great American Songbook that I love. I played them for her and with her at home and in concerts. We also performed her favorite Broadway and pop songs.</div>
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In high school Michelle's rare talent for classical singing was discovered and encouraged by my late cousin, Bruce Zemsky, of Zemsky-Green Opera Management. This led to Michelle choosing the path of classical singing. She is now graduating from Juilliard.</div>
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This has inspired me to reconnect with my suppressed passion for piano playing. I don't have the time to practice the piano as much as I'd like, but I'm working on finding more time for it. There is so much beautiful piano music that I now want to learn and play. Meanwhile, I have started a playlist of piano pieces that I have recorded at home. I hope to expand this playlist rapidly in the near future. If you'd like to check it out, you can bookmark it...<a href="https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLSPEtPuQKKV6V9kvPp5JMw11j-Vm86PzE" style="font-family: inherit;">https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLSPEtPuQKKV6V9kvPp5JMw11j-Vm86PzE</a></div>
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Geffnerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15191107967661154704noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1364062250105143701.post-51457424615683625032014-11-22T22:49:00.000-08:002016-01-18T20:28:17.911-08:00Naked Ventriloquism<span style="font-family: inherit;">Naked City was a ground breaking police detective tv series that aired from 1958-63. It was filmed on location on the streets of New York City. I remember watching some of those episodes as a child growing up on the outskirts of the city in Little Neck, Queens. Recently, as I watched some Naked City episodes on DVD, a flood of buried memories burst out of the recesses of my mind. A nostalgia tinged with more than its share of the sadness that is intrinsically part of the bitter-sweetness that is nostalgia.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: inherit;">My troubled childhood did have moments of joy, moments of connectedness to my parents and sister amidst the more pervasive feelings of sadness and alienation. Moments of hope. I remember feeling as I watched Naked City as a child that the show presents an experience of life that mirrored my own. Though I didn't have the words to express it then, I would describe it now as a dark, melancholy noir-like world of forlorn people struggling to escape from being trapped. Whether trapped by the consequences of their own misdeeds, or by circumstances beyond their control, the characters in Naked City episodes were invariably lonely, desperate and alienated.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><br />The series got its name from the iconic noir movie of the same name from 1947. The name is apt as the series strived to strip its characters of their usual layers of psychological and sociological cover, and show us their gut-wrenching emotional vulnerabilities. The characters, including the lead police detective, were psychologically and emotionally naked in a way that was unprecedented in any tv series before and (I believe) since.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><br />This feeling of psychological and emotional nakedness is also reminiscent to me of what drew me to ventriloquism as an art form and career. All my puppet characters are expressions of aspects of myself, whether readily apparent or deeply hidden. So when performing ventriloquism I have the feeling that I am revealing parts of myself that would otherwise always remain hidden or latent. Ventriloquism allows me to do this in a safe way. As I create the illusion that my puppets are real I also give myself permission to reveal parts of myself that I otherwise never would. And by making my audience laugh I get their permission - and encouragement - to push the boundaries ever further between reality and illusion.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><br />In this way I feel that ventriloquism is a means to transform dark feelings into joyous ones, alienation into human connections, hopelessness into hope. This is also a key element of the film noir genre: when done well, a noir film transforms its own gloominess into something greater and larger than itself. There is a coziness, a solace that the viewer feels, if only in his or her empathy with the characters' inner psychological struggles and outer struggles against relentless unbeatable forces. As I now watch and re-watch various episodes of Naked City I feel that this feeling is conveyed consistently throughout the series.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><br />The Naked City tv series - or my vague memories of it - also helped inspire me to create the Trillo & Suede characters of my mystery novel, While the Village Sleeps. The lead character, Van Trillo, is both a detective and a ventriloquist. So I feel that with this novel I have incorporated the two forms of "nakedness" that are the most exciting and meaningful to me...noir and ventriloquism.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><br />Dummy Noir. I hope that this new genre that I am creating will do justice to the heritage of Naked City, and to the spirit of Naked Ventriloquism.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /><a href="http://mybook.to/DummyNoir" rel="nofollow nofollow" style="background-color: white; color: #3b5998; cursor: pointer; line-height: 20px; text-decoration: none;" target="_blank">http://myBook.to/DummyNoir</a><br /><span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 18px;"><a href="http://geffner.com/" style="color: #2288bb; text-decoration: none;">geffner.com</a></span><br /><span style="line-height: 18px;">Trillo & Suede introduce While the Village Sleeps: </span></span><span style="line-height: 18px;">https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SmQnJKKyz7M</span><br />
<a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WkVlkIEewcI&feature=results_video&playnext=1&list=PL78737651F26D6BFD" style="background-color: white; color: #2288bb; line-height: 18px; text-decoration: none;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Trillo & Suede intro video</span></a><br />
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Geffnerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15191107967661154704noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1364062250105143701.post-5889534759322666512014-11-09T08:39:00.000-08:002014-11-09T11:55:16.970-08:00My Fiverr gigs...am I nuts?As you may know, Fiverr.com is a place where anyone can offer to do (nearly) anything for a fee of five dollars. Each offer is called a "gig". This could potentially be a lucrative endeavor for someone who has a gig to offer that many people want, and that is very quick and easy to fulfill via upload. I searched "ventriloquist" on the site recently and apparently there were only one and a half ventriloquists who were offering gigs. I say "one and a half" because...judging by the gig intro videos that sellers can post...there was one legitimate ventriloquist and one lady who called herself a ventriloquist although she didn't seem to have the slightest ability to do ventriloquism.<br />
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After sellers on Fiverr have sold a certain number of gigs they are then allowed to offer "extras", which are add-on elements to their gigs for which they can charge added fees. This could potentially turn a Fiverr gig that is not worth doing into one that is much more lucrative. But as a newbie to Fiverr I am limited to five dollar gigs for now. </div>
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So, what kind of ventriloquist gig could I possibly offer that would be worth my time for a fee of just five...no, actually four dollars, after the 20% commission that Fiverr.com takes from the sellers? For a ventriloquist gig I'm limited to creating videos for people and uploading them through the site, since anything other than a video gig would render the ventriloquism aspect of the gig irrelevant. So what sort of video could I offer? Have a puppet sing Happy Birthday? Or deliver a message or greeting? Or a poem? Or answer a question? Give advice? It seemed that none of the above would be worth my time, so naturally I decided to do <i><b>all</b></i> of the above...</div>
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I've posted several such gigs in the past few days. Why? I'm known mostly in the New York City area as a performer, so if I get tons of Fiverr gigs it would be a potential way of getting myself known better around the world. Then again, I might find that I don't have the time to fulfill tons of Fiverr gigs. But I can close my Fiverr account whenever I want, so for now I'm very curious to see what comes of this. As of now, I have booked just one gig, which happened to be a very interesting one. An author asked me to create a video with my puppet pretending to be a shy ventriloquist shooting a video in an unusual dating scenario. The short script provided to me was spot-on, and the video was fun to shoot. When the video goes live I will post a link to it. </div>
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Meanwhile, if you want to check out my current Fiverr.com gigs before I change my mind and remove them...https://www.fiverr.com/ventriloquist1</div>
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geffner.com<br />
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Geffnerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15191107967661154704noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1364062250105143701.post-47784246791613565492014-10-26T08:01:00.001-07:002020-06-26T13:06:52.506-07:00Ventriloquism at Rikers IslandOne of the more unusual performance experiences in my career occurred during the recent Jewish holiday of Sukkot. I was asked by Chabad - the outreaching Hasidic sect - to perform a ventriloquist show during the annual Sukkot celebration that Chabad brings to Jewish inmates at the famed prison on Rikers Island, NY. This was a return engagement, actually, as they had asked me to do this same gig two years ago. I knew what to expect at this, my second Rikers Island performance...or I thought I did...<br />
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Two years ago, having never been inside a prison, I was a bit nervous in anticipation of my prison debut. After security checks that lasted more than an hour, I finally was allowed to enter a gym together with about a dozen Chabad members who proceeded to set up for the party. A small band, also brought in by Chabad, set up and began blaring Hasidic rock. A small group of about a dozen inmates gradually entered the gym and took seats at round tables spaced widely apart on the gym floor. The Hasidim yanked inmates from their seats and onto the dance floor (Hasidic rules do not allow mixed gender dancing, and encourage same-gender dancing). Most of the inmates accepted the dance invitations, but a few of them steadfastly refused.<br />
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A few more prisoners eventually filtered in to the gym. Food and drinks were shared. Finally it was my turn to perform. The Hasidim loved my show. But as far as the inmates were concerned, despite being a captive audience, they were also a "dead" audience. They pretty much ignored my show, except for one middle aged man who paid rapt attention to the entire show. He had pulled up a chair close to me as soon as I had begun the show, and seemed to watch intently till the end. He was no more responsive than the other inmates (he didn't laugh once) but he seemed fascinated by my ventriloquist techniques.<br />
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While packing up after the show, I asked the Head Hasid if he knew what the inmates were in for. He said, "Most of them are here for white collar crimes...what you'd expect from Jewish criminals. But a few of them are here for other crimes."<br />
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I said, "Like what?"<br />
He said, "For example, did you notice that guy sitting close up to you throughout the show?"<br />
"How could I miss him. What is he in for?"<br />
"Murder."<br />
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Despite my awareness that one shouldn't judge people by their appearances, I couldn't help feeling surprised. That man looked very ordinary and nondescript. More like an accountant than a murderer.<br />
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"Do you know the details?"<br />
"Multiple murders. He's a hit man for the Russian mob."<br />
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I wondered whether that explained his intense fascination with my show. Had he been hired to whack me and/or my dummy? Was he sizing us up? Waiting for an opportunity when the guards might wander off during the show? Or had he been thinking about ventriloquism as a possible technique to incorporate into his profession, if he ever gets out of prison? Perhaps he could throw his voice to throw his victims off guard before striking?<br />
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I left the prison as quickly as I could, after dealing with another hour of security checks.<br />
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A few weeks ago, my second Rikers Island experience was different. First off, the security was much tighter this time. It took a good two hours to get through security checks entering, and another two hours leaving. Second, the Hasidim had learned from my first show. This time, they arranged for a large contingent of non-Jewish inmates to be invited to see my show, so that I had a much larger audience than the first time. And for some reason, this time the audience response was terrific. Both the Jewish and non-Jewish inmates laughed often and heartily. True, I had also learned from my previous experience, and had honed my act a bit to make it more prison-friendly. But that wouldn't entirely account for the difference in reception. One never knows.<br />
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I had wondered whether my hit man fan would be there. I don't think he was. Rikers is basically a holding prison for people who are awaiting trial or re-trial or sentencing, so there is a lot of turnover. My hit man fan is likely in an upstate prison. Or maybe he beat the rap and is back in Brooklyn, whacking people. Wherever he is, I hope he started a fan club for me. I've never been good at marketing myself, so I'll take all the grass-roots support I can get.<br />
<br />Watch my multi-award-winning hilarious web series, Trillo & Suede: <a href="https://www.youtube.com/c/TrilloSuede">https://www.youtube.com/c/TrilloSuede</a><br /><br />Join the official Trillo & Suede Facebook page: <a href="https://www.facebook.com/groups/TrilloSuede">https://www.facebook.com/groups/TrilloSuede</a><br />
<br />Geffnerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15191107967661154704noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1364062250105143701.post-33309665265919264222013-06-07T23:24:00.000-07:002013-06-08T14:37:23.233-07:00The Secret to Funding an Indie FilmYou've written a brilliant feature film screenplay. People who read it invariably give you very enthusiastic feedback containing words like "brilliant", "clever", "ground breaking", "exciting", "suspenseful", "touching" and "hilarious". You need a measly $55,000 in order to shoot this film on your carefully calculated shoestring budget.<br />
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There is a surefire secret strategy to obtain this micro budget for your terrific indie movie. I'm sure there is.<br />
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I just don't know what it is.<br />
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I thought that Kickstarter might be the answer. My project is live as I type this post; our deadline is June 30, 2013 to reach our funding goal of $55,000. If we reach it, we shoot the movie. If not, those who pledged donations will not pay us a penny, and the movie will not be made. Again... I've been down this road many times with several of my screenplays. Just when investors seem to be lined up and ready to sign checks, the deals and/or investors themselves never fail to vanish.<br />
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Before posting my movie project on Kickstarter I was aware that narrative films rarely get funded on Kickstarter. Most of the successfully funded films on Kickstarter are documentaries, because the filmmakers can then appeal directly to the appropriate swaths of people who feel passionately about the topic, i.e. "save the rainforest", "cure X disease", etc. I've been getting loads of encouraging emails and messages from friends and fans since my project launched on May 22, saying that the movie sounds great, they look forward to seeing it, they wish me all the best, etc. But very few of these people have sprung for a donation toward our budget...despite that fact that I'm offering lots of rewards for various levels of donation, i.e. signed DVD's and posters, t-shirts, Skype chats with my dummies and me, private ventriloquist lessons, invitations to watch us shoot the movie and to attend a cast party, a chance to appear in the movie, etc. Heck, for just a $10 donation a backer would get access to an online screening of the film before it is released to the general public. But even that doesn't seem to have any appeal to the vast majority of people who have been telling me that they would love to see the film.<br />
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I think I know why: since my movie is not a documentary, the only way that I could have attracted enough donations to reach our budget would be if I had a "star" attached to the movie. That's just the way it is with the psychology of movie-goers. Unfortunately, Tom Hanks and Leo DiCaprio were not available for this project. Nor were Meryl Streep or Emma Stone. I must face the brutal fact that I am not a "star".<br />
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There's one good thing that is coming out of the looming failure of my Kickstarter campaign: I feel inspired now to dust off my novelized version of this screenplay, While the Village Sleeps, which I nearly got published a couple of years ago. That's a topic for a different blog post. But I've decided to self publish this novel soon as an e-book.<br />
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So all is not lost. You, dear blog reader, will soon be able to read While the Village Sleeps...if not see it.<br />
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Here's the Kickstarter project...<br />
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http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/609133593/while-the-village-sleeps<br />
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<br />Geffnerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15191107967661154704noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1364062250105143701.post-89093426309232632852013-05-24T21:51:00.002-07:002013-05-24T21:51:44.424-07:00The other Jonathan Geffner<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">There is another Jonathan Geffner who lives in the same county as I do. We have communicated via Facebook occasionally over several years but have never met. He is one of the first contributors to my fund raising campaign on Kickstarter.com for my "dummy noir" movie. I am grateful for his support, but would expect nothing less from a man with such a cool name. </span><span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">By the way, if you haven't pledged a donation yet to our project, why the heck not? The deadline is June 30th, 2013, so get off your tokhes and do it already...</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/609133593/while-the-village-sleeps</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">Anyway, I'm thinking of writing a short film entitled Jonathan Geffner, about two Jonathan Geffners who simultaneously get amnesia, then simultaneously awake to believe that they each are the other one. I'll hire the other Jonathan Geffner to play one of the Jonathan Geffners and I'll play the other. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;"><span style="background-color: white; color: #121a0d; font-size: 14px; line-height: 21px;">Since we are both musicians we can do the music together. I can't wait to see the credit roll...</span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;"><span style="background-color: white; color: #121a0d; font-size: 14px; line-height: 21px;"><br /></span></span><span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">Jonathan Geffner </span><span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">a film by Jonathan Geffner</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">Characters </span><span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">Jonathan Geffner played by Jonathan Geffner </span><span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">and </span><span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">Jonathan Geffner played by Jonathan Geffner</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">music by Jonathan Geffner and Jonathan Geffner</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">Any resemblance of the two Jonathan Geffners in this film to any other Jonathan Geffners living or dead is purely coincidental.</span><br />
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Geffnerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15191107967661154704noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1364062250105143701.post-248980209498721072013-05-22T21:29:00.000-07:002013-05-22T21:36:22.710-07:00New feature film project launched on Kickstarter!<span style="background-color: white; color: #37404e; font-family: 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18px;">Our Kickstarter project - While the Village Sleeps - has launched! Please visit our project now and help make this movie. Our deadline to fund the movie is June 30, 2013. Please share the link widely. Thanks for your support...</span><br />
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<a href="http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/609133593/while-the-village-sleeps?ref=email" rel="nofollow nofollow" style="background-color: white; color: #3b5998; cursor: pointer; font-family: 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18px; text-decoration: none;" target="_blank">http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/609133593/while-the-village-sleeps?ref=email</a>Geffnerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15191107967661154704noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1364062250105143701.post-8390680839756301532011-11-30T22:04:00.001-08:002011-12-03T10:21:40.905-08:00Ventriloquism is DeadAt least<i style="font-weight: bold;"> my</i> kind is. Or so they say. "They" being all the tv and movie execs with whom I've talked over the years about various projects featuring me and my puppets. They see ventriloquism as an obsolete art. Passe, anachronistic, old. Quaint but kaput. I've received that kind of feedback consistently over the many years that I've pitched various ventriloquism-centered tv series and movie screenplays to producers and execs. Despite receiving much lovely praise about my ventriloquist skills and about the quality of the scripts and pilot episodes that I've written, the unending string of rejections that I've received always seem to contain either direct or veiled reference to that negative view of my art form.<br />
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I don't buy it. I believe there is a huge potential market for the projects that I've written and proposed. I know this from the enthusiasm of my audiences at my live shows; from the feedback that I've gotten from my self-produced educational video series, Puppet Power and Puppet Pride; from the feedback that I've gotten from my self-produced short film, Oxford Park; and from the feedback that I've gotten from my occasional guest appearances on tv shows. It would just require a different mind-set on the part of the people who hold the power to make these things happen.<br />
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But mind-sets are difficult to change. Especially when there is no precedent in recent years for the kind of projects that I want to do. I see it as a positive that my projects would stand out as different from most others now in the mass media. But the people who hold the purse-strings see it as a negative - as a gamble not worth taking.<br />
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The recent phenomenal success of ventriloquist Jeff Dunham would seem to negate all this. But his meteoric rise to fame has been in spite of this reality. His very non-traditional business strategy brilliantly bypassed the roadblocks to ventriloquial fame and fortune. The great ventriloquists of the past - Edgar Bergen, Paul Winchell, Jimmy Nelson, Shari Lewis - rose to fame mainly via kids and family entertainment venues. I modeled myself after those ventriloquists, and early in my career decided to focus on kids and family venues. Winchell in particular was my hero. His spot-on technique combined with his whimsical, charming, high-energy comedy routines - suitable for all ages - constituted, for me, the ultimate ventriloquist persona and act.<br />
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Dunham paid his dues for many years in the adult comedy club circuit. Dummies (puppets) being used as props to tell "adult" jokes has turned out to be the only path to large-scale success for the modern ventriloquist. Dunham leads the pack, but other "adult" ventriloquists have also become very successful in recent years, including Terry Fator (winner of an America's Got Talent contest), Ronn Lucas and David Strassman.<br />
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I don't regret my career path. The comedy club circuit would have meant many years on the road for me, and my temperament was not well-suited for life on the road. Especially after my first of two daughters came along nearly fifteen years ago, there was no way that I could have chosen to spend most of my time away from home. As it turned out, I was married to a woman who was away from home most of the time, and so I was virtually a single dad way before our separation. As a result, I got to be with my girls, watch them grow up, experience all of the childhood milestones with them, and am now (I hope it is safe to say) close to both of them. What price tag can one put on that?<br />
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Not to say that I don't envy Dunham's career. I certainly do. But he deserves his success. He is very talented, made smart marketing choices and he paid his dues. <br />
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I became aware of my inferior career path of "kids venues" as opposed to "adult venues" many years ago, and thought that I had hit upon a way around that. I came up with the concept of a ventriloquist detective who uses his vocal skills as well as his wooden partner to help solve cases. And so, Trillo & Suede were born. Well, Trillo was born, Suede was carved. And I aimed the scripts that I wrote to <b><i>adult</i></b> audiences.<br />
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But I soon found myself up against other roadblocks. The ones facing any screenwriter who creates a concept that is too "different" from the tried and true formulas that have already worked. With the encouragement of Ian Lewis, president of Farnham Films, UK, I wrote several Trillo & Suede feature film screenplays over several years - each of them inspired by an apparent funding source in one of several different countries. But the funding sources each disappeared sometime before a deal was reached.<br />
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Ian and I did manage to self-produce a short film that I wrote: Oxford Park. We shot it in England in two days and it had quite an impressive run on the international film festival circuit. But it failed to attract funding sources for any of my "real" scripts, the feature film ones. Ian and I are still trying to come up with a way to shoot one of these movies. We figure that we could shoot one of them on a shoestring budget of USD 150,000. But in this recession, neither Ian nor I can afford to invest our own money.<br />
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Last year I finished writing a Trillo & Suede novel, While the Village Sleeps. It was tentatively accepted by a publishing company, then they decided against it. That was my one shot at publishing it the traditional way. Without an agent, there are very few publishing houses that will look at manuscripts from unpublished authors. And agents are less and less inclined to look at anything written by unpublished authors. But one cannot become a published author until one is published, right? Catch-22. I'll self-publish it one of these days.<br />
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Meanwhile, I still bring this "dead" art form to vibrant life frequently at schools, libraries, camps, private organizations, etc. And the Trillo & Suede characters will live theoretically forever in Oxford Park, and in a Making Of documentary, and in a little intro video to the T&S characters.<br />
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I even bring dummies to life in other languages, on occasion. Mainly Yiddish and Hebrew. I'm fluent in the former, somewhat fluent in the latter. Lately I've become quite popular in Hasidic circles. Not bad for a non-religious, Yiddish-speaking ventriloquist. Go figure.<br />
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So, the next time someone tells me that ventriloquism is dead - or that my kind of ventriloquism is dead - I'll reply with a toast...<br />
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"L'chaim!"<br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18px;"><br /><a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WkVlkIEewcI&feature=results_video&playnext=1&list=PL78737651F26D6BFD" style="color: #2288bb; text-decoration: none;">Trillo & Suede intro video</a><br /><a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SLYR1hy2wso&feature=results_video&playnext=1&list=PL78737651F26D6BFD" style="color: #2288bb; text-decoration: none;">Oxford Park movie</a><br /><a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VAfr6evlP94&feature=results_video&playnext=1&list=PL78737651F26D6BFD" style="color: #2288bb; text-decoration: none;">Making of Oxford Park</a><br /><a href="http://trilloandsuede.com/" style="color: #2288bb; text-decoration: none;">http://trilloandsuede.com/</a><br /><a href="http://geffner.com/" style="color: #2288bb; text-decoration: none;">geffner.com</a></span><br /><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18px;"><a href="http://www.youtube.com/user/HarpoMarx22" style="color: #2288bb; text-decoration: none;">Geffner youtube channel</a></span></span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18px;"><br /></span></div>Geffnerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15191107967661154704noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1364062250105143701.post-40801516624529643772011-11-30T12:05:00.001-08:002011-12-01T06:48:42.569-08:00Sign of Hope for Middle East Peace<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">A recent phenomenon throughout the Arab world gives hope for peace. Localized, Islamized versions of classic and current Broadway musicals are becoming all the rage in many Arab countries. This heralds a refreshing counterweight to the more conservative wing of Islam. And the fact that Broadway musicals have always been largely a Jewish enterprise - the product of (more often than not) Jewish writers, composers, lyricists, directors, producers, etc. - portends well for a softening of Arab attitudes toward Jews generally. Here, then, is a list of the more popular Moslem Musicals today...</span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: small;">Fiddler on the Mosque<br />
Annie Get Your Hookah<br />
Chitty Chitty Baba Ganoush<br />
Bye Bye Burka<br />
A Funny Thing Happened To Me On The Way To The Intifada<br />
Kiss Me, Koran<br />
Meet Me in Mecca<br />
My Fair Fatwa<br />
La Cage Aux Fanatics<br />
The Best Little Prayer House in Tunisia<br />
Barefoot in the Mosque<br />
Dreamgirls (76 Virgins)<br />
Avenue Al Qaeda</span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: small;">Damn Yankees</span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: small;">How to Succeed in Business without Being Jewish</span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #333333; font-family: inherit; font-size: small;"><b>Now if only the Jews would reciprocate by producing some Jewish versions of classic Moslem works of art...</b></span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18px;"><br /><a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WkVlkIEewcI&feature=results_video&playnext=1&list=PL78737651F26D6BFD" style="color: #2288bb; text-decoration: none;">Trillo & Suede intro video</a><br /><a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SLYR1hy2wso&feature=results_video&playnext=1&list=PL78737651F26D6BFD" style="color: #2288bb; text-decoration: none;">Oxford Park movie</a><br /><a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VAfr6evlP94&feature=results_video&playnext=1&list=PL78737651F26D6BFD" style="color: #2288bb; text-decoration: none;">Making of Oxford Park</a><br /><a href="http://trilloandsuede.com/" style="color: #2288bb; text-decoration: none;">http://trilloandsuede.com/</a><br /><a href="http://geffner.com/" style="color: #2288bb; text-decoration: none;">geffner.com</a></span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18px;"><a href="http://www.youtube.com/user/HarpoMarx22" style="color: #2288bb; text-decoration: none;">Geffner youtube channel</a></span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><br /></span></div>Geffnerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15191107967661154704noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1364062250105143701.post-59728456421664588182011-11-30T07:00:00.000-08:002011-12-01T06:49:29.474-08:00Sign of insanity?<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;">Talking to oneself. Often. For long periods of time. In different voices. With distinctly different personalities...</span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;">I'd say the above is pretty indicative of insanity, wouldn't you? And it's what I do for a living. So that makes me...</span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;">No, I <b style="font-style: italic;">know </b>that my puppets aren't real, and that I'm throwing my voice...</span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;">...or do I?</span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;">Well, talking to myself is what I'm doing right now. If no-one reads this blog, then I'm retroactively insane. So somebody please read this and save me from insanity.</span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;">Ventriloquism is a lonely profession. Moments of intense joy and inspiration as I feel my puppet partners coming to life through my considerable skill; moments of gratification when I bring joy and laughter to an audience, giving me the fleeting feeling that my existence has a purpose. Then the show is over, the audience gone, I pack up my dummies and equipment and head back on the road. Me and the dummies, alone together.</span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;">Not that my <b><i>life</i></b> is so lonely. My profession yes, but I'm a single dad to two wonderful daughters. They take up loads of my time, and it's anything but lonely around them. The divorce is not finalized yet, but the marriage has been over for a long time. All for the better, I feel. But this profession of mine...weird, you think? To you, maybe, but to me it was the perfect profession, as soon as I discovered my talent for it as a young man. There's a cliche, an image of a shy ventriloquist who uses his dummy to say things that he would never have the courage to say himself. That cliche is quite apt in my case. And doing it all these years has made me less shy. There are other adjectives that are often associated with ventriloquists aside from "shy", like withdrawn, reclusive, antisocial, weird, mad..."withdrawn" fits me, perhaps, but I don't accept the others, especially the "mad" one.</span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;">Then again, mad people don't know that they are mad, right?</span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18px;"><br /><a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WkVlkIEewcI&feature=results_video&playnext=1&list=PL78737651F26D6BFD" style="color: #2288bb; text-decoration: none;">Trillo & Suede intro video</a><br /><a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SLYR1hy2wso&feature=results_video&playnext=1&list=PL78737651F26D6BFD" style="color: #2288bb; text-decoration: none;">Oxford Park movie</a><br /><a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VAfr6evlP94&feature=results_video&playnext=1&list=PL78737651F26D6BFD" style="color: #2288bb; text-decoration: none;">Making of Oxford Park</a><br /><a href="http://trilloandsuede.com/" style="color: #2288bb; text-decoration: none;">http://trilloandsuede.com/</a><br /><a href="http://geffner.com/" style="color: #2288bb; text-decoration: none;">geffner.com</a></span><br /><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18px;"><a href="http://www.youtube.com/user/HarpoMarx22" style="color: #2288bb; text-decoration: none;">Geffner youtube channel</a></span></div>
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</div>Geffnerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15191107967661154704noreply@blogger.com0