We're all choked up

And kind of proud. Sheer bloody-minded persistence, strategic social networking, a little insouciant slacker net-whoring, and you, our beautiful, twisted, twisted fans, have finally made this site the numero uno "Astronaut Love Triangle" hit in Google. At least until Google AdSense spots us.

We're Professional Visual Artists Now!

Hey guess what!

We sold our first piece of visual art. Not only that, but it is a found object piece. Also before we sold it, it was in a gallery show, Hit and Run 2 at the Gallery Petit Mort, along with works by Chris Love, Keir MacDonald and Jenn Farr. And if that's not enough, the buyer is famous local blogger and art collector, Zoom.

Here she is holding her new acquisition. Key Ring is made from organ keys that Aggie found outside a church in the Glebe, a frame I found several years ago, fabric that Manny acquired, and backing and screws that Jimmy acquired. Jimmy is also the one who put it all together.

Edible Performance Art: the Poutizza

Several months ago, Jimmy Jettz had a dream. In this dream he saw two great foods come together, the pizza and the poutine.

This Wednesday, instead of practising our old material, developing new pieces or working on choreography, the members of Astronaut Love Triangle gathered to create and eat the world's first poutizza.

As expected, it was another artistic triumph for Jimmy. More nourishing than his love ballad, Caroline, more energy-packed than his Large American Car.

Although we all agreed that next time, he should try it with a thin crust.

Our logo in crayon

The Elgin Street Diner provides crayons that you can use to draw on your placemat while you wait for your chili dog to arrive.

The staff are nice about not suggesting you might be too old for crayons.

If you do a good picture, I hope you'll be careful and not spill any of your chili dog or poutine gravy on it.

Kick-Ass-tronaut Love Triangle Evening

On a particular Wednesday evening when Astronaut Love Triangle was planning to gather for a practice, Aggie and Sassy could not attend.

"Change of plans," announced the always thinking David Scrimshaw. "We are going to have a Dork Bot kind of evening instead. Young Keir and Jenni Benny you are welcome to join us."

Jo Stockton, this post goes out to you and your own particular kind of friendly gatherings.

Young Keir made cool enviable head-phones out of a dollar store pair of ear-protectors. They are completely sound proof, so that you don't have to play music at an ear damaging volume while riding on a noisy bus.

Jenni Benny chatted with me and knit while I spent an hour unraveling the wool for my project.

Jimmi Jettz fiddled with a 3 year project to build an amplifier. He and Young Keir mumbled something about it going to number 11 which made them laugh.

David Scrimshaw wired alligator clips to power supply plugs. This made sense to the guys and was greeted with approving grunts.

The glue gun short-circuited - it sizzled, popped, and let off stinky smoke. Jimmi Jetz performed an autopsy on it and cheerfully related the morbid details of it's spontaneous demise.

I, Manny Blue, baked cookies.

With the first batch, I forgot to add the eggs. Young Keir was amused with the look of them and named them Flatturds. David tried one, and declared them incredibly good.

The second batch had too much egg. They morphed into one big cookie. Jimmi Jettz took a bite, and mumbled, "Hum, they taste crunchy-eggy jensaisquoi."


Yes, I always bake in high heels and a boa.

Steve Martin in the Smithsonian

Being Funny
How the pathbreaking comedian got his act together

The act tightened. It became more physical. It was true I couldn't sing or dance, but singing funny and dancing funny were another matter. All I had to do was free my mind and start. I would abruptly stop the show and sing loudly, in my best lounge-singer voice, "Grampa bought a rubber." Walking up to the mike, I would say, "Here's something you don't often see," and I'd spread my mouth wide with my fingers and leap into the air while screaming. Or, invoking a remembered phrase from my days working in a magic shop, I would shout, "Uh-oh, I'm getting happy feet!" and then dance uncontrollably across the stage, my feet moving like Balla's painting of a Futurist dog, while my face told the audience that I wanted to stop but couldn't. Closing the show, I'd say, "I'd like to thank each and every one of you for coming here tonight." Then I would walk into the audience and, in fast motion, thank everyone individually.

The new physicality brought an unexpected element into the act: precision. My routines wove the verbal with the physical, and I found pleasure trying to bring them in line. Each spoken idea had to be physically expressed as well. My teenage attempt at a magician's grace was being transformed into an awkward comic grace. I felt as though every part of me was working. Some nights it seemed that it wasn't the line that got the laugh, but the tip of my finger. I tried to make voice and posture as crucial as jokes and gags. Silence, too, brought forth laughs. Sometimes I would stop and, saying nothing, stare at the audience with a look of mock disdain, and on a good night, it struck us all as funny, as if we were in on the joke even though there was no actual joke we could point to. Finally, I understood an E. E. Cummings quote I had puzzled over in college: "Like the burlesque comedian, I am abnormally fond of that precision which creates movement." Precision was moving the plot forward, was filling every moment with content, was keeping the audience engaged.

VIDEO: Steve Martin's groundbreaking performance on "The Tonight Show"

Hairy rockers, Picnic 7, Amsterdam, The Netherlands 3.JPG

Hairy rockers, Picnic 7, Amsterdam, The Netherlands 3.JPG
Originally uploaded by gruntzooki

Are you thinking what I'm thinking?

A New Fan?

You would think Mitch Clem had been at one of our gigs.

SamSam the Bubbleman

Fifty children wrapped up in record-breaking bubble

Paul Rand: Form and Content

Paul Rand - Wikipedia