Thursday, November 10, 2011

Show this Saturday, Nov. 12, at Northwest Library!


Join Red Yarn this Saturday, November 12, for his first show through Multnomah County Library! Red is performing the new and improved one-man show "Bob Rabbit in the Deep Woods." As Bob hunts for a new best friend, he encounters a possum, a frog, a snake, and a whole lot of great American folk songs. With engaging puppetry, interactive songs, and lively storytelling, this show will be fun for the whole family!

Red Yarn presents:
"Bob Rabbit in the Deep Woods"
Saturday, November 12, 3:00-3:45 p.m.
Northwest Library (2300 N.W. Thurman Ave)



Saturday, October 29, 2011

November shows!

Join Red Yarn each Wednesday morning from November 2-16 at Cafe au Play, a non-profit community center cafe in SE Portland. Red will perform his unique mix of folk songs, puppetry, and storytelling. Meet puppet characters like Bob Rabbit, Jim the Hound Dog, and Mr. Possum, and learn their stories through classic folk songs. Be prepared to laugh, dance, and sing along!

Red Yarn @ Cafe au Play
5633 SE Division
Wednesday, November 2, 9, & 16
10:30-11:30am
$3/person suggested donation

Hope to see you there!




Friday, October 7, 2011

Busy September for Red Yarn!

Whew! What a month! We revamped Red Yarn Puppet Band with four awesome new members, built several animal puppets, created a show called "Hep Cats & Hound Dogs," performed at a community festival and a birthday party on the same day, built a giant puppet in a day with a group of friends, applied for a teaching artist gig in the spring, wrote and recorded a song on commission, and laid the groundwork for a busy year with Red Yarn. Rather than tell the story of this busy month, I'm posting pictures in chronological order.


Andy's & Jessie' non-puppet band, These Branches, debuts at the Friendly House open house on Sept. 8th:

New puppets--Jim the Hound Dog and Bruno the drumming cat--in process. Plus Hep Cat Eddie--a puppet that former RYPB member Tony Candelaria started last year and new member Addy Kessler finished last month:


Preparing for the Slabtown Festival with the newly revamped Red Yarn Puppet Band:

Red Yarn Puppet Band at Slabtown Festival in Northwest Portland on Sept. 17th:
Photos (c) 2011 Neil Heilpern (Nikki) - Used with permission.


Building "Zozobra" with friends at Cape Lookout State Park on Sept 24th:

Tuesday, September 13, 2011

RYPB show on Saturday, September 17!

Red Yarn Puppet Band has its first show in a long time at 11:45am this Saturday, September 17, at the Slabtown Community Festival in the parking lot of Northwest Library (NW 23rd & Thurman). We'll debut a new show called "Hep Cats & Hound Dogs," starring a rockabilly feline named Hepcat Eddie and a hillbilly canine named Jim the Hound Dog. As usual, we'll be weaving together classic American folk songs to form a narrative. But this time around we're focusing on some strains of folk we haven't explored with RYPB--rockabilly, country, and hillbilly music.

Right before the show, at 11:00am, we'll gather in front of Chapman School (NW 25th & Raleigh) and lead a parade of costumed kids, parents, and pets to the festival site. Red Yarn Puppet Band will serve as marching band and pied pipers of the rowdy crowd. The parade is organized by Andy's workplace, Friendly House, who is also a co-sponsor and beneficiary of the Slabtown Festival.

We are excited to announce a brand new line up for Red Yarn Puppet Band! We just recruited four new members: Addy Kessler (high school art teacherand all-around amazing artist), Jonathan Owicki (clown, balloon artist, accordion player and Tears of Joy puppeteer), Kate Belden (actress, builder, trumpeteer, and former Tears of Joy puppeteer), and Kaician Kitko (mask man, dancer, and former Imago performer). Jessie Eller-Isaacs (middle school teacher, singer, and "hype woman") and Andy Furgeson (musician, puppeteer, teaching artist, and Red Yarn ring-leader) have stayed constant.

Hope to see you on Saturday!

Cheers,
Red Yarn





Thursday, August 25, 2011

Red Yarn Puppet Band is recruiting puppeteers & musicians!

The Red Yarn Puppet Band, a Portland folk-puppet-combo, is looking for a few good puppeteers and musicians to join their community-based performance group. Teaching artist, musician and puppeteer Andy Furgeson, AKA Red Yarn, formed RYPB in Summer 2010 as an extension of his American folk music and puppetry explorations. RYPB uses handmade puppets to animate old folk, blues, and country songs, early rock'n'roll, and original music, mostly with animal themes. A leporid, folk-singing hybrid of Br'er Rabbit and Bob Dylan, a neurotic, avant garde opossum, a Cajun frog who leads a family band with his rodent wife, a hillbilly hound dog, and a sleazy rockabilly cat are among the colorful characters that inhabit Red Yarn Puppet Land.

RYPB has performed for children and families at community events, for adults at Beady Little Eyes' puppet slams, and has provided puppet spectacles at local indie rock and dance shows. They have a show booked on Saturday, September 17 at the Slabtown Community Festival in NW Portland, and would like to incorporate new members in time for that performance. Most gigs are paying, albeit a small stipend for each band member.

If you would like to learn more, please contact Andy at andyfurgeson@gmail.com or (503)577-0445.

Thanks for your interest!

Red Yarn
A Young Audiences Teaching Artist

Tuesday, March 1, 2011

News and Red Yarn Photos!

It's been a while! Good news on the Red Yarn front: I was invited to join the roster of teaching artists at Young Audiences! That means I'll be one of the local artists that schools can invite to lead residencies. For now, I'm offering my "Folk Song Puppet Show" residency through YA. I'll teach students a folk song, they'll build puppets out of its characters, then we'll put on a musical puppet show. I'm just getting my promotional materials up on their website, so no work in schools yet, but hopefully by next school year I'll have some gigs. Wish me luck!

This weekend my friend Aaron Hewitt came over for a Red Yarn photo shoot. Jessie graciously held up puppets behind me for more than an hour. Get a load of these pics!