NOT Burlesque

Corey Ruffin is one of three original members of Super Happy Funtime Burlesque, which began titillating, shocking, and challenging audiences fourteen years ago. but Ruffin seems to have  re-thought the whole burlesque thing. Debbie Klein ("me") had the opportunity to pick his brain recently.

Me- When I hear the term “burlesque” I think about bawdy doctor/nurse routines, strippers, and Take My Wife Please jokes. Wikipedia’s first definition boils burlesque down to “literary, dramatic, or musical work intended to cause laughter.”   

Ruffin- We don’t call ourselves burlesque but everyone else does, basically.  We started out as a burlesque show fourteen years ago and that’s when we bought our website domain name, so that’s the only place you’ll see burlesque next to our names.  The venues say, “We’re bringing in a burlesque show next week.” We just shrug our shoulders and let it happen. We have a lot of girls in pasties, so to a bunch of people that’s burlesque. There is no single “burlesque” show in the nation that is even similar to ours.We have a live band playing original music.  That alone sets us apart.

We do shows about life and the struggle of living.  We are dripping in satire of the human condition and take a nihilistic approach in the guessing game for what humanities’ [y’s] future may hold.

We always get a good five to ten people who show up expecting to see feathers, sequins, and jazz. We don’t think we’ve had a good performance if a few people don’t run for the door in the first ten minutes.

SIDE NOTE- A review of a skit in an Indianapolis paper (Indy’s Alternative voice,) “Michigan-based Super Happy Funtime Burlesque, wove quite a story of intergalactic intrigue as the setup for all the teaserama business to come. The main story, such as it is, squeezes the cast into wardrobes of various sci-fi archetypes — warrior maiden, robot, et cetera — on a mission to rid the galaxy of an evildoer who's half Jabba the Hutt and half Baron Harkonnen.” 

Me- Who came up with the concept of SHFB?

Ruffin- No one did. There is no concept. We just get up on stage and do stuff about whatever we happen to be thinking about or dealing with.  We’re just being ourselves.

SIDE NOTE-I’ve watched several videos and I’m not sure I buy that they just get up and “do stuff.”  These are choreographed routines and original lyrics and music that I am pretty sure doesn’t happen without some coordination and ideas bandied about. 

Ruffin- There’s no writers. When you live on a bus with nine other people year round, stuff happens by osmosis.  We are inspired by our experiences and just translate those experiences to stage.

Me- I have to say the costumes are really fun, disturbing, and wonderfully sexual and surreal. Do you have a costumer? (Is costumer even a word?)

Ruffin- There’s no costumer. We just wear our normal clothes. I guess by being creatives we just dress differently than “normal” people.  There’s zero costume budget so we just slap together what we have and cover it in rhinestones.  Then we make a bunch of props out of cardboard or whatever is lying around and suddenly we have a show.  The costumes are just stuff we pull out of the trash and add staples and glue.

SIDE NOTE- In the videos one performer wears soft sculptured organs, or meat(?) that hangs from him. The women wear big papier-mache breasts.  There is an act were they wear neon-colored jumpsuits with a cutaway tops.  There’s satin and masks and and and… there’s a bunch of stuff. I have no doubt that much can be obtained from a dumpster or a closet, because I’ve done it.  But I believe that there must be creative talent involved in order to make these things, sew these things, and pull them all together. I don't think they just “happen.”  Methinks Mr. Ruffin may be down-playing a bit.

Me-Are there any introverts in Super Happy Funtime?

Ruffin- Every member of Super Happy Funtime is an introvert.

Me- Was it hard for anyone to get naked and prance around on stage at first?

Ruffin- No.

Me- Where do the performers come from?  You have musicians, dancers, comedians, acrobats, etc.   Do people come to audition?

Ruffin- Our people come from all over the country. It’s very hard to find people willing to not have a day job and be an artist full time.  Most people aspire to work in retail for forty years, cash in their chips, and peace out in the cemetery.  I can’t even find ten people in my own Michigan community willing to approach life as an experiment. A staggeringly small percentage of those types of people have the wherewithal to actually develop a skill or craft, like playing an instrument or being an aerialist.

We were looking for a guitarist for this tour and 99 percent of the people responding were white kids with dreadlocks who smoke weed sun-up to sun-down and barely know three chords. If you are a white person with dreadlocks we want you nowhere near us.

SIDE NOTE-   I don’t know many people who “aspired” to be in retail unless it was merchandising, etc., or aspired to work in a cubicle, retire, then die. It’s just survival. Very few people actually get to do what they really love for a living. Besides, if there were no retail clerks, online or otherwise, who would sell you your underwear? Or deliver your underwear? Or stand at a factory machine and MAKE your underwear?  But that’s just me.

Me- Would you ask a hopeful, potential member of the troop to audition?

Ruffin- We don’t have auditions. Everyone in the show is part of our larger gravitational pull, the community around this thing.  They knew someone in the show first and started coming around a lot.  We hired some people for our day jobs as corporate entertainers (office parties, etc.) and circus performers. Then they wanted an alternative to doing family-friendly stuff for audiences who wear khaki pants and polo shirts.

Me- How would you describe the current administration?

Ruffin-I would describe the current administration, and all administrations, as something to make fun of.

                                                

Come see Super Happy Funtime.   This is an adult only show.  If you are easily offended, this is not your thing.  If you like edgy anything, please don’t miss this!   2/27/19 @ 8 PM.  Doors open at 7 PM.   Ten bucks in advance.  Fifteen bucks night of the show.

This will be a night like NO OTHER so please take the plunge and come.

I know I’ll be there!   And I don’t go out much. 

By D. Klein

Calling all free spirits, academics, and classically trained modernist types for an evening of amazement

Klimchak is a full-time composer-performer visiting from Atlanta. I had the pleasure of speaking with him at SHAMc this week during one of his practice sessions. 

“I’ve been playing music for a long time,” Klimchak explained. He’s SHAMc’s current artist in residence who will be performing this Saturday evening and presenting a Bolder Talk on Sunday afternoon. 

“I come from a family of drummers—my dad was a drummer; my grandfather was a drummer. Both got married and stopped to have a family, then it became a hobby. For a long time, I thought that would be my path too."

Klimchak, who goes by his last name, is originally from Louisville, Kentucky and relocated to Atlanta for grad school. That’s about when he decided music would be his life's work.

“I was getting set to go to law school but realized I didn’t want to go to law school.”

He composes for modern dance, film, and writes music for theatre as well as his solo performances. “I went pro about 1992 

and have been making a living at it ever since,” he said. “I do all original music.”

I watched him practice with Saturday’s guest percussionist Sean Hamilton and it almost felt like meditation. The music is like nothing you’ve likely heard before.

“I don’t have a really good name for it to be honest … it’s Klimchak music,” he said. His smile is generous and he’s willing to  explain his process.

"Experimental music is probably a 20^th century phenomenon,” he said. “Music got to the point where people needed different things. Electronics gave people a whole new palette to work with. 

“I use a lot of homebuilt instruments. I build elaborate structures and do live improv—it is this written thing that has space to play.”

Along with Sean Hamilton, Klimchak has invited three other regional musicians to join him Saturday evening: bassist/composer Thomas Milovac, New Renaissance artist Elizabeth A. Baker and guitarist/composer Rex Shepard.

“With Elizabeth I will be playing this box that I built that I will be bowing and hitting and playing. With Thomas – he will be playing with his bass but I will be playing with tuned rice bowls and a theramin.” 

I asked Klimchak to give me an idea who the people are who are most attracted to his music. “In most cases they’re interested in something different. There’s a wide range, lots of different streams of people who like experimental music—a variety of people with different interests,” he said. “They’re sort of free spirits, classically trained modernist people, there is a whole group of academics, and I compose for them as well as the free spirits.”

Klimchak, Sean Hamilton and our own Ed Derkevics

KLIMCHAK -Duets
February 2, 2019
Doors 7p.m. / show 7:30p.m. $5 suggested donation

His Bolder Talk will be at 2:00 p.m. Sunday, at SHAMc. Free admission.





Laura Kepner /www.safetyharborwritersandpoets.com

The TypePoetry Project is underway!

If you’ve visited the Safety Harbor Library or SHAMc lately, you’ve probably noticed the typewriters.

(No, you haven’t traveled back to 1965.)

Ed Derkevics, who runs SHAMc Alive every month, and is often sitting with one of his typewriters at Cafe Vino Tinto, has organized TypePoetry in collaboration with SHAMc and the Safety Harbor Public Library. Ed wants everyone who visits either place to take a few minutes and sit at one of the typewriters. 

“I want this to be all-inclusive,” he said. “I want everyone to get involved. I want the whole community using the typewriters.”

A group of kids watched as he was setting up a  typewriter at the library recently. “They didn’t know what it was,” he said. “I had to explain that life was a little slower back then, when it was used.”

If his project goes as planned, it will become a snapshot of the community after about a month. He invites people of all ages and backgrounds to participate. And he wants you to know that you don't have to be a published poet or intellectual. This is about having fun.

There are stacks of 3 x 5 index cards near the typewriters at both locations and Ed hopes the community will use the cards to share their thoughts, words of wisdom, poetry, and stories about typewriters. Please remember to leave your name and contact information on the back of the card because he may publish them as a compilation in the future.

There are others in the Harbor who love typewriters, too. Mary Cummings is organizing a Type-in at the library on October 23^rd. Bring your own typewriter or use one provided and join us beginning at 6 p.m.

“There isn’t room for revision when you use a typewriter,” Ed explained. “You’re in the moment and you have to choose each word carefully. When I sit in front of a typewriter I don’t worry about making mistakes. It’s an intention and it’s a great way to focus on your thoughts. 

“What I hope is that people will capture a moment, a thought, a flash of brilliance, and share it with us.”