Category Archives: Pop Culture Ponderings

Chris Kayser reprises his role as Scrooge in Alliance Theatre’s “A Christmas Carol”

Christmas is this weekend, which means many people are scrambling to see as many more light displays, Christmas concerts and other festivities as they can before Christmas morning is here. And though reading or viewing Charles Dickens’ A Christmas Carol is a tradition for many, the Alliance Theatre‘s annual production has become a tradition for many Atlantans. For veteran stage actor Chris Kayser, who has been involved in the show for 19 years and is reprising his role as Scrooge once again this year, A Christmas Carol has become a part of his holiday tradition on an even deeper level. As the show comes to a close on Christmas Eve, Kayser takes a moment to talk to Wrestling with Pop Culture about what being part of this holiday tradition means to him.

Chris Kayser as Ebenezer Scrooge. Photo by Greg Mooney

I’ve seen you in various plays over the past decade or so, including A Christmas Carol a few times. As one of Atlanta’s most accomplished stage actors, how do you decide which roles you will take and what has kept you playing Scrooge for so many years?

Being in A Christmas Carol is not like being in a Broadway hit, where the run stretches into months, years. It’s just one of six, seven, eight shows I do every year. It’s an all-star Atlanta cast. I get to work with fabulous singers that I don’t normally work with (I’m such a drama guy). I get to work amid the trappings and resources of the Alliance Theatre. I love being a part of a holiday tradition in my hometown. Dickens is one of the giants of literature and this story is worth telling and re-telling. All actors want to play parts that have an arc, a character that is affected and changed by the events of the play. And this is one of the greatest examples of arc. I hope I’m a better actor each year when I tackle this role, so I try to bring to it the full weight of my age and experience. And, oh yes, both my children were born on the 23^rd of December, two years apart, so I need this doggone job. The play, the job, the role have had a very real impact on my life so I make sure I respect it, take it seriously and try to give my very best each and every time out.

Many things about the Alliance’s production of A Christmas Carol (including you playing Scrooge) have stayed the same for many years. Why have you reprised the role of Scrooge so many times? How would you say your portrayal of the character has evolved over the years?

I don’t set out to do something different every year – particularly if it’s just to entertain myself – while still being open to the possibilities. I just try to tell that story to the best of my ability. What has certainly changed is my perspective. And that has to do with age (I’m 62) – looking back, dealing with regrets, looking ahead to the time I have left, how to use that time.

When the time comes to pass the Scrooge torch, are there any actors you’d like to see play the role in your absence?

The role is a little Lear-like in the sense that when you’re old enough to play Lear, you’re too old to carry Cordelia. The run is a very tough, grueling physical challenge. (nine shows a week, 10:30 a.m. matinees). Tim McDonough, Eddie Lee, David de Vries?

Scrooge finds his redemption. Photo by Greg Mooney

Whether it be the Grim Reaper-like Ghost of Christmas Yet to Come or Tiny Tim, redemption is a dominant theme of this timeless tale. What would you say is the most important thing for audiences to take away from this production of A Christmas Carol?

Redemption, no doubt. If you’re still breathing, there’s time to mend your ways. [There are] so many stories in the Bible about how God loves the people who wake up at the last minute.

What other shows do you have planned following A Christmas Carol?

Next up for me is The Ladies Man at Theatre in the Square. A flat-out door-slamming French farce with a great cast. We close A Christmas Carol on the 24^th and we start rehearsals for The Ladies Man on the 26^th. Hey diddly dee, an actor’s life for me.

For more information, go to www.alliancetheatre.org.

PCW associates help bring “Rudolph” to life at the Center for Puppetry Arts

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When the Center for Puppetry Arts debuted its production of the 1964 Rankin/Bass stop motion holiday favorite Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer last year, it became the first theatre to put on an authorized reproduction of the show. It quickly sold out its entire run, even after adding additional shows to accommodate more guests. This year the show opened just after Halloween and has enjoyed another successful run through Dec. 31.

When they’re not helping tell the story of how Rudolph and his misfit friends overcame insurmountable odds as the Abominable Snowman and a storm that almost forces Santa to cancel Christmas, two of Rudolph’s puppeteers are involved in an entirely different kind of battling known as Platinum Championship Wrestling.

As wife of PCW promoter/booker Stephen Platinum, longtime Center puppeteer Julie Scarborough portrays Mrs. Donner (Rudolph’s mother), Hermey the Elf, the Spotted Elephant and an elf girl. Having been involved with numerous productions at the Center for many years, it was actually a wrestling-themed segment from a puppet show called Weather Rocks (in which a cold front does battle with a warm front in a wrestling ring) that brought her and Platinum together. His acceptance of her invitation to come to a children’s puppet show impressed her so much that she ended up marrying the guy and having a couple of kids with him (the oldest of which was involved in a fetus vs. fetus match at one of Dad’s Garage Theatre‘s B.R.A.W.L. shows a few years ago – while still in the womb!).

Dolph Amick narrates “Rudolph” as Sam the Snowman. Photo by Clay Walker

It was Scarborough who introduced Platinum to Dolph Amick, another Center vet who portrays Rudolph‘s Sam the Snowman, Yukon Cornelius and a tall elf. Amick has been instrumental (literally) in establishing the gimmicks of most of PCW’s roster by creating theme songs that fit with their varied personas.

Amidst their hectic holiday schedule at the Center, the two puppeteers took a moment to talk to Wrestling with Pop Culture about puppets, wrestling and their proud status as the misfits of the performing arts scene.

This year’s production of Rudolph seems to be pretty much the same as last year’s, which is very loyal to the original TV special. Have there been any tweaks to the show since last year’s performance?

Scarborough: Since the entire cast has returned, I feel like my knowledge of my own characters and puppets has deepened. So I could come up with new little moments for them to be real in their environments. Last year we had just gotten the puppets, so they were brand new. Now we’re more familiar with everything and we have a chance to really explore a little more about what these puppets can do and how alive they can be at any given moment. I have a lot of fun with Hermey, finding little places for him to fix his hair or something so he’s just more well rounded.

Hermey and Rudolph have a special bond. Photo by Clay Walker

Amick: [Director] Jon Ludwig talks a lot about how we can’t change these characters because they’re so well known and well loved, but their lives are becoming more complete because we see them at all times and see their reactions to things that we frequently don’t see in the show. It’s like, “What are they doing the rest of the time? What kind of people are they? How do they react?” Jon Ludwig brought up the concept of deepening the characters rather than widening or broadening them. We don’t want to make them wackier, we’re just trying to find what is making them tick a little more.

The show has a very strong rhythm to it. It’s not only the same team of puppeteers, it’s also the same stage manager running all the cues. Even with variations in people’s performances, everybody feels each other so strongly that it really has a very definite rhythm.

That being said, if somebody saw it last year I’d encourage them to see it again because they’re sure to see something they didn’t see before. There’s so much going on, it’s kind of overwhelming the first time. With repeated viewings you’ll say, “Oh, I never noticed that elf in the background hitting that other elf with a brush” or something. Everybody’s doing something.

I noticed more of the background stuff this year and was sometimes more entertained by that than the main action. And since most people already know the story so well, it’s fun to check out the other details more.

Amick: It’s funny how those bits take on a whole story of their own. We’re trying desperately not to distract or call attention to ourselves, but the sequence of events has naturally and organically happened. Now it’s pretty elaborate.

How closely was Character Arts, which owns the Rudolph license, involved with the production?

Scarborough: Last year, with the original production, they were involved very closely. They were in constant contact with Jason von Hinezmeyer, the builder, and he had to get approval for all of his designs and every color choice to make it as close to the original look as possible. They worked very closely with Jon Ludwig, who adapted the script. We were all pretty nervous when a Character Arts representative came to see the show last year. But that was one of the most rewarding moments of the run because he loved it. He knows these characters better than anybody; that’s his whole job. But he was so impressed with what we had done, the look of the show, the way the actors and puppeteers portrayed it, so it was very flattering and we were all very relieved to get his stamp of approval.

Rudolph tries to join in the reindeer games. Photo by Clay Walker

It is very faithful to the original teleplay. There are a few things that got switched around for continuity’s sake. In TV, you can do quick cuts and go back and forth very quickly. During the reindeer games scene, where Rudolph is with the coach, they do cuts back and forth between Rudolph and Hermey’s saga of wanting to be a dentist with the elves making fun of him. Because it takes a lot of effort to change the set from one thing to another, we run the entire reindeer games scene, then we go into the entire Hermey scene. But unless someone has watched the special with rapt attention every minute, they probably wouldn’t catch that.

Amick: I think one of the only significant alterations is that in the original show the women are constantly getting left at home and there’s lots of “We’d better get the women back to Christmas Town” and stuff like that. Whereas in our show, there are so few female characters in the show that the ones we have are a little more proactive. For example, Rudolph’s mom and Clarice both go out to look for him and fight the monster in a way that they didn’t in the show. But it makes a lot of sense that they would. It’s not like we made a crazy choice, it’s just, like, this part is a little dated in a way that’s weird.

Scarborough: I think that’s also a product of the fact that you can see all the characters all the time. When I’m playing Mrs. Donner – in the television show you can only see Rudolph and Donner having their interaction – since I’m there on stage, as much as I can without stealing focus, I react and I’m more on Rudolph’s side. I’d rather him be able to express himself and be his own deer. But my husband obviously has different ideas, so I can kind of express that tension a little bit as subtly as I can.

Another sort of dated thing that, with Character Arts, we weren’t able to do was Jon would have liked to have had an elf of color. Character Arts would not permit that and were very insistent that the look of all the puppets be exactly as they appeared on screen in 1964.

Given the success of this show, has there been any talk of adapting any other Rankin/Bass animated shows?

Scarborough: I don’t know if that’s been discussed yet, but I’m certain that they’re open to that. Stop motion animation is it’s own form of puppetry and we had the original Rudolph and Santa puppets from when it was made in 1964 on display in our museum area a few years ago.

Amick: I remember that crazy Peter Cottontail with Irontail. I’d like to do Santa Claus is Comin’ to Town. That’s a good one. It’s the one where he’s a redhead and has Mickey Rooney’s voice.

Outside of collaborating on puppet shows like this one, you are also both involved with Platinum Championship Wrestling in some unique ways. Oddly, there are quite a few people from the Center for Puppetry Arts who are also involved with PCW. Why do you think that is?

Scarborough: I have to take responsibility for that. I married my husband and your spouse’s friends become your friends and we started to run in the same circles. We’re both in the performance industry and in this city a lot of people know each other, especially in theatrical performance circles. You wind up seeing the same actors in various theaters around town and you get to know the creative community. Because Steve married me, he gained a lot of knowledge of the Atlanta theatre community. He already had a lot of knowledge of wrestling, so he found another pool of talent to draw from such as Dolph, for example, for composing music.

Amick: Not only is there a lot of overlap because a lot of us know each other from the theatre scene, but puppetry and wrestling as performance types still sit in some kind of fringe area. So there’s still some kind of avant garde-ness or edginess or street character to it. I don’t know how to put it, but there’s definitely a sense of doing something risky that’s not quite mainstream. I can see where the types of things that appeal to people in one forum frequently appeal to people in the other. Plus we have a lot of friends in the improv scene, which is huge for the wrestlers.

Scarborough: A lot of wrestling is improvisation. It isn’t scripted the way a play is. They’re living and acting as their characters.

Dolph Amick strikes gold as Yukon Cornelius. Photo by Clay Walker

Amick: Our artistic director, who directed this show, is a tremendous wrestling fan. He is utterly fascinated by the combination of drama and spectacle and improvisation. It gets him all giddy. Like a lot of wrestling fans, he finds it exciting and hilarious and crazy and enthralling and compelling. Actually, several years ago, he did a [puppet] show called Wrestling Macbeth. I remember how startled I was to bump into him at PCW with his wife and he was there week after week, just digging the shows and having the best time.

Speaking from a composing point of view, Steve frequently will have a pretty clear idea for something really character driven that we can work on. But he also is very appreciative of how much drama and impact the music can add to the spectacle without overloading the audience with flashy lights and explosions. We take the spectacle to a degree that’s possible with the budget we have, but also puts the emphasis on the wrestlers. The music, being an intangible thing, can have a tremendous effect and I really appreciate that he is very aware of the effect it has.

You did a lot of the music for the PCW guys, some of which aren’t around as often as they used to be. Have you done any work more recently for PCW or for Empire Wrestling now that it has taken over?

I got really busy for a while, but every once in a while if some really critical moment comes up, I’ll get a call from Steve and he’ll be like, “We’ve got to have something special for this.” I’m always looking to write more, but I think the most recent thing was we did some stuff for Sacred Ground: Chapter 2. We beefed up the theme for Mason, who is now the PCW Champion, and gave him a heavier theme. I also did Marko Polo’s new theme. And now I’m doing stuff for Master Jae and, now that Shane Marx has joined the Empire, we decided that needed to be commemorated musically in some way.

For more information, go to www.puppet.org.

“Cavalia” performer takes to the air and horse in “Odysseo”

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By Jonathan Williams

When Cavalia brought its horse-centric Cirque du Soleil-style fantasy to Atlanta two years ago, it quickly sold out its initial four-week run. After selling out an additional six weeks, it was clear that Atlanta was the place for Cavalia‘s new Odysseo show to make its United States debut. When the show opens tonight under the world’s largest touring big top (which is more than twice the size of the original show’s tent), horses will perform alongside acrobats in breathtaking choreographed routines in surreal settings such as a Southwestern dessert, a serene waterfall and a carousel-like display in which angelic aerialists float above four majestic horses.

While most of the human performers choose to focus either on acrobatics or horse riding, one aerialist from the original Cavalia will be returning as both an aerialist and now a rider. As she prepares for her debut in these dual roles, Majolie Nadeau takes a moment to tell Wrestling with Pop Culture why she decided to add equestrianism to her athletic skills and how acrobatics compares to riding horses.

Majolie Nadeau is one of angelic aerialists in "Paseo," one of the scenes from "Odysseo." Photo courtesy 360 Media

You’re one of the few members of the Odysseo cast who was also in the original Cavalia. How would you say this new show differs from the one we saw two years ago?

For me personally the main difference is everything is bigger. I prefer the relationship I have here with the horses and for me it’s really a big change because in the first one I was mostly doing aerial acrobatic dancing and in this show I only do one act in acrobatics and I do seven numbers on horses. So for me it’s a really big improvement and a big difference.

Why did you decide to continue doing acrobatics while also working more closely with the horses?

I didn’t want to do a transition, I wanted to do both. But in this show I had to choose between some numbers with the horses and some aerial numbers. Since I already know everything I can do in aerial acrobatics, I wanted to push the opposite side that I didn’t know as much about. So I trained to do the horses part. I already had a base in acrobatics, so I wanted to push my base in all the levels.

How does working with the horses compare to working with other acrobats?

For me as an aerialist, it’s more working with bungees and ropes. The main difference is, with the horses you cannot understand what he has in his mind. If one day he is not happy, if one day he wants to go do something else, you cannot control it so you have to work with it. You cannot block him and be like, “No, you’re not doing this. You’re doing this.” You have to make it work, whatever happens, but you have to follow the number and you have to follow your horses. You cannot force the horses to do something, you need to play with the horse so it goes into the routine.

In the "Odysseo" finale, Majolie Nadeau performs on horseback. Photo courtesy 360 Media

The horses seem to know where they’re supposed to be within the routine and will nudge or bite each other to keep each other in line.

Some of them will a little. If one of them is not in the right position, another one is biting, like, “Move. This is my place, it’s not your place.” So some of them will, but some of them won’t. It really depends on the horses and the director they have.

When the horses hear the audience reaction and applause, do you think they understand and appreciate it the way the human performers do?

I think so. At the beginning, the applause for horses is a little bit scary because it’s a noise they don’t hear a lot. It’s a big noise, but they get used to it. To say thank you, we pet them and tap them on the neck. But they know what it means when 2,300 people are applauding in the big top. They get used to it, they understand and they like when there is noise. They are interested in the noise and sometimes if they have a lot of energy they will go a little bit crazy and get excited and enjoy the applause.

For more information, go to www.cavalia.net.

New UFC DVD set offers 20 discs of man-groping action

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By Jonathan Williams

Whether you’re a die-hard fan who never misses a mixed martial arts bout or you just have a passing interest in a sport that consists of two guys entering a cage and pummeling each other (or awkwardly grappling on the mat) until one of them submits, pretty much everybody knows that Ultimate Fighting Championship provides some of the most brutal athleticism around. And the past year or so has seen some of UFC’s most exciting and unpredictable moments to date.

Featuring UFC 116-131, UFC Fight Night 22-24 and UFC Live 2-4, UFC: Ultimate Fight Collection 2011 Edition features UFC’s biggest battles and key moments from July 2010 through June 2011. This 20-disc box begins with UFC 116, headlined by the highly anticipated match between former WWE and International Wrestling Grand Prix Heavyweight Champion Brock Lesnar and undefeated UFC veteran Shane Carwin to determine the undisputed UFC Heavyweight Champion. Billed as “the biggest heavyweight battle in history,” it pits then UFC Heavyweight Champion (Lesnar) against the Interim Heavyweight Champion (Carwin), with Lesnar retaining (and giving Carwin his first loss) in only his fifth UFC fight. The set also includes Lesnar’s shocking and resounding title loss to Cain Velasquez at UFC 121.

But heavyweight title bouts are only part of the hard-hitting MMA action found here. From 170 impressive matches such as Matt Hamill‘s victory over his former The Ultimate Fighter mentor Tito Ortiz at UFC 121 to featurettes such as Best of Rogan 1-on-1 (featuring UFC commentator Joe Rogan) to ten hours of footage never before available on DVD, UFC: Ultimate Fight Collection 2011 Edition includes almost 50 hours of action, interviews and other excitement. While only the hardest of hardcore fans is likely to fully appreciate everything this set has to offer, there’s no doubt he’ll want to invite all his friends over to relive a year’s worth of octagon action.

For more information, go to www.ufcstore.com.

“The Grinch” is still trying to steal Christmas in this Seuss-y Broadway musical

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By Jonathan Williams

The Grinch. Whoville’s resident Scrooge and ultimate heel has been an integral part of the holidays and pop culture since the animated How the Grinch Stole Christmas! (based on the 1957 Dr. Seuss book of the same name) first aired in 1966. In fact, it simply wouldn’t feel like Christmas without the limerick-like tale of how the green-furred curmudgeon tried to thwart Christmas for the Whos, only to have a Scrooge-like change of his two-sizes-too-small heart (which “grew three sizes that day”) after the good-natured Whos refused to let him spoil their fun.

Bob Lauder plays Old Max, the narrator of this version of "The Grinch." Photo courtesy Brave Public Relations

More recently, Dr. Seuss’ How the Grinch Stole Christmas! The Musical has become one of Broadway’s biggest successes, touring select cities to help bring its whimsical holiday feel to the whole country. In the midst of its 2011 tour, the show opened at Atlanta’s Fox Theatre Nov. 28. The current stage production puts some new twists on the already somewhat twisted tale, most notably by having the narration (made famous in the original animated special by Boris Karloff, who was also the voice of the Grinch) come from the perspective of an older version of Max, the Grinch’s downtrodden (yet upbeat) dog. As Max revisits his surreal past (in much the same way Scrooge does in A Christmas Carol), we see a song-and-dance version of the Grinch’s story with elaborate sets and costumes that retain the Seuss-like splendor we’ve come to adore.

Young Max (Seth Bazacas) and the Grinch (Stefan Karl) try to steal Christmas. Photo courtesy Brave Public Relations

Aside from the two songs taken from the animated classic (“You’re a Mean One, Mr. Grinch” and “Welcome Christmas”), the rest of the songs don’t quite have the same Seuss qualities, but are catchy and Christmas-y nonetheless. Much like Ron Howard’s 2000 film version, The Grinch musical gives the story a bit more depth, with the Grinch sneaking into Whoville in disguise to plot his big plan. And as Jim Carrey did in the film, Stefan Karl of Nickelodeon‘s LazyTown portrays the Grinch with a hint of the Cowardly Lion from The Wizard of Oz (and occasional Jack Nicholson-like traits). He adequately exudes the Grinch’s grump and sleaze, and comfortably carries all of his musical numbers.

Despite the liberties it takes with the original story, this musical production is an impressive interpretation filled with enough visual splendor, chuckle-inducing dialogue and overall wittiness to make Seuss himself proud. After it’s Atlanta run ends, the show will move on to St. Louis before finishing the year in San Francisco.

For more information, go to www.grinchmusical.com.

An Evening with Corey Taylor offers sinfully intimate interaction with the Slipknot/Stone Sour front man

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By Jonathan Williams

Best known as the monster mask-wearing singer for metal band Slipknot, as well as the singer for the more hard rock oriented Stone Sour, Corey Taylor has recently shown his more studious side. First he was a guest lecturer at Oxford University this past June, then he released his first book, Seven Deadly Sins, in July. For the past couple of weeks he’s been on a solo tour that features spoken word and acoustic performances, as well as more intimate interaction with his fans than anything he’s done previously. With the tour continuing through Dec. 13, Taylor took a moment to talk to Wrestling with Pop Culture about the shows, the book and the wrestling-style promo he did to promote the tour.

So you’re about a week or so into your first spoken word and solo acoustic tour. How’s it going so far?

It’s going really well. Unless I say something stupid onstage, like make fun of the Pope or something, I think we’re doing alright.

This is obviously not your first time performing without your Slipknot mask, but it is a more revealing and intimate look at who you are as a performer than anything you’ve done previously. That being said, what can people expect from these shows?

I wasn’t really sure how the audience would respond to it and they have responded so wonderfully. Basically the show is me running my mouth for the first hour, then I take a quick pee break, then I play for, like, an hour and a half. It’s anywhere from two-and-a-half to three hours every night. It’s been a lot of fun. I come out and I rant in the vein of whatever chapter I’m going to read from that night, so every night is different. Then I read from the book, we do a Q&A, then we play some songs. It’s been really fun for me specifically because I love to have one foot in the structured side and one foot in the extemporaneous side. I love being spontaneous and if something’s feeling a certain way you just run with that. The audience has been so into it it’s really been awesome. Basically it’s like if [Henry] Rollins, [George] Carlin and Dave Grohl were the same person. That’s really been the response we’ve gotten.

I just got a copy of the book a few days ago, so I haven’t had a chance to spend much time with it yet.

Well, I apologize in advance.

I’m sure it’s not that bad. Tell me a little bit about the concept behind the book and why you decided to write a book.

I’ve been threatening to write a book for a long time. It’s one of those things I’ve always wanted to do since I was a kid. I’ve been a voracious reader since I was young and once I developed a taste for writing I knew that someday, if I ever got the chance, I’d want to write a book. When the chance came along, I jumped for it.

The concept of the book was originally just going to be about philosophy and me taking the piss out of philosophy in general. Luckily my agent talked me out of that and was like, “Dude, that will be 5,000 pages, it’ll weigh as much as a Volkswagen Beetle, we can’t do that.” I was like, “What do you suggest?” We kind of shot some ideas back and forth and he’s actually the one that said, “Why don’t you write about the Seven Deadly Sins?” At first, I was like, “That’s kind of a hackneyed premise when you get down to it. Why don’t I write it from the standpoint that they’re not sins, they’re just part of being human?” The more I thought about it, the more I truly believed that. So I basically used the book to make that argument that the Seven Deadly Sins are not sins at all; they’re part of being human and making mistakes. They can lead to sin, but the emotion itself is not the sin. I think in this modern literal world, we break it down into what is literal. There’s no room for esoteric mistakes anymore, so for me it made more sense to make that argument and balance it with stories from when I was growing up or being on the road and whatnot and basically say, “Look, I went through all of these ‘sins’ and I came out the other side and I’m a better husband, better father, better person for it. So how can you call that sin?” The reaction has actually been really good.

Did you have to do a lot of re-reading of The Canterbury Tales, John Milton and all that?

I read that stuff a long time ago. I studied it in school and read it on my own and whatnot, but I didn’t want to get too ensconced in the original material. I really wanted to make it feel a little more fresh. That’s one of the reasons I left out the Seven Golden Virtues. I wanted to concentrate on the sins themselves and really pick them apart like that. I knew that if I got too deep into the original material, I would start to quote too much. I brushed up on it briefly, but for the most part I just kind of ran with it. I did my best to make sure everything I was writing was as original as I could make it.

Was the spoken word tour part of the plan the entire time or did that come about after you finished the book?

That came out of nowhere. It came from two things, honestly. It came from my speaking engagement at Oxford and the two gigs I booked after the book had come out in England. I was doing a signing tour in England anyway and I thought, “Let’s just go into a club and do a show.” Those two shows were so much fun that I was like, “We’ve got to do this in the States. There’s no way I would not want to do this in the States.”

The Oxford engagement was really where I came up with the idea for the Q&A. At the end of my speech, I could tell no one wanted to leave. So I was like, “We’ve got a little more time, you got any questions you want to ask me?” It was so much fun. With every question, I had a weird little story I could tell. So it was really cool to be able to kind of incorporate those two ideas into the American tour. One of the reasons the show is different every night is because not only is my rant at the beginning a little different, but the questions allow me to tell different stories and really break it up and give something to people so that specific show is completely different.

How did the Oxford engagement come about?

They had been trying to get me to do that for about three years. I was always on the road or in the studio and I just never had any time to go and do it. So I was really lucky that they came to me every year for three years and finally that last year I was actually going to be in London anyway for the Kerrang Awards and for Slipknot rehearsals. So I was like, “Absolutely! Let’s do it. If I don’t do it this year I’m never going to get to do it.” I’m so glad I did. It was just fantastic and so much fun.

The tour announcement video you did featured you cutting a wrestling promo for a fictitious promotion called the IBWF (I Be Wrestling Federation). What was the inspiration for that?

We were sitting at my kitchen table trying to think of a different way to promote the tour. I hate doing the same crap over and over. It drives me nuts after a while, so I wanted to do something different. And I went, “Oh my God. A wrestling promo!” Everyone around me was like, “That’s amazing!” It was right around the time that the Halloween shops had sprouted up everywhere, so I was able to find everything I needed in one day. We went back to the house, I put on my ridiculous outfit and we shot it in 10, 15 minutes. It was great. I knew people would take that and run with it. The weirder I get, the more the fans are into it for some damn reason. It was a perfect way to set the tour up. Plus it gave us a chance to put Chicken Cow Cow back out there. Search for Chicken Cow Cow on YouTube and it’s the first thing that comes up. It’s my little dance remix thing that I do with my keyboard.

Were there certain wrestlers you drew from stylistically when cutting that promo?

Obviously there’s Hulk Hogan in there somewhere. I’ve been a wrestling fan since I was a kid. If you embrace it for what it is, which is entertainment, I have no illusions about the fact of if it’s real or not. But I know it’s physically taxing and it takes great skill to make it look good and no skill to make it look crappy. I know the people who rise to the top are the best in the business and it’s almost a metaphor for the music business. People come and go, but legends stay forever. My all-time favorite wrestler is Stone Cold, but I also love the Rock, Triple H, Shawn Michaels and the wrestlers I grew up with, which is Hogan, Ricky “The Dragon” Steamboat, Tito Santana, Andre [the Giant], even “Hacksaw” Jim Duggan. I got to meet him and Brutus “The Barber” Beefcake and I was, like, freaking out. I was losing my shit, I was like, “Oh my God. You guys are awesome.” I’m still a fan.

Do you still follow it much these days?

I try to. But it’s like getting to watch football on Sundays, it’s hit or miss. I know the Rock is back. I was actually at the Anaheim show when he came out and they announced him as the guest host for WrestleMania this year. I lost it. I jumped up out of my chair and was losing my mind, so much so that I scared an entire family sitting behind me. They were like, “Excuse me, sir. Could you just sit down? I’ve got kids here and they’re trying to see.” I was like, “No. I won’t sit down. I don’t care. It’s the Rock. Get out of my face.” Then I sat down and was like, “Sorry, I’m just really hopped up on sugar.”

Were you there as a guest of WWE or as a paying fan?

I was there as a fan. It’s very rare that I go to anything as a guest. I’m just like everybody else, I buy my ticket. There’s not a lot of shows that I go to, whether it’s wrestling or music or whatnot. But at the end of the day, I can buy a ticket like anybody else. With the rare exception of if I’m friends with the band I’m going to see, then I’ll call them. But that’s really because I want to hang out with them, catch up with them, see if they’re doing OK and whatnot. But when it’s band’s like Van Halen or Nine Inch Nails or whatever, I buy my tickets, I go and I sit, watch the show, love the show and if I don’t get close seats, so be it.

Now that you’ve done spoken words, acoustic performances and various other musical projects, do you think you’ll be branching out into more mediums in the future?

Maybe. People ask me all the time if I want to get into acting and whatnot. I don’t want to be the star of a movie or anything, but I would love to do some supporting stuff and just be the guy that walks by in the background and you’re like, “Did I just see Corey Taylor in that movie?” I want to be the body on CSI so bad I can’t even breathe.

Me and Clown [Slipknot’s Shawn Crahan] are actually starting our own film production company where we’re going to start making crazy, twisted, weird movies. Movies that everyone can enjoy, but also movies that look great, feel great, that are different. We want to make movies that look fantastic, but also scare the crap out of you or make you think. So that’s something we’re working on right now.

For more information, go to www.thecoreytaylor.com.

The Muppets return to the big screen in “The Muppets”

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It’s been 12 years since the Muppets were last seen on the big screen, and apparently many people have forgotten all about the puppeteered music and comedy numbers that once made The Muppet Show a hit for children and adults alike in the late ’70s and early ’80s. At least that’s the case in The Muppets, the new movie that is (thankfully) not a revamping of any kind and mirrors reality in a slightly more surreal version of a world that has not seen the Muppets in all these years.

Kermit the Frog (Steve Whitmire), Mary (Amy Adams), Gary (Jason Segel) and Walter (Peter Linz) invite Rowlf the Dog (Bill Barretta) to rejoin the gang in “The Muppets.” Photo by Patrick Wymore

Their recent appearance on WWE Raw (and other promotional ploys) notwithstanding, it’s entirely plausible that there’s an entire generation or two that has completely missed out on the madcap mayhem that the Muppets were once known for. But in The Muppets, Gary (Jason Segel) is a small-town goodie-goodie who grew up watching The Muppet Show and continues watching old episodes with his little brother Walter (Peter Linz) into adulthood. Despite their lifelong brotherly bond, Walter, being a Muppet and all, is clearly adopted or something, which explains his undying fascination with the Muppets he watches on TV.

When Gary and his girlfriend Mary (Amy Adams) plan a romantic getaway to Los Angeles, Gary can’t help but let Walter tag along so they can visit the old Muppet Theater together. But it appears that that old Muppet magic is long gone as all the historic Muppet landmarks have fallen into disrepair and not a single Muppet is anywhere in sight. And when Walter unwittingly uncovers a plot to tear it all down so oil tycoon Tex Richman (Chris Cooper) can drill for oil, the news is so devastating to his innocent little mind that he vows to track down the old Muppet gang and stage a telethon to save the theater and get the show back on the air.

Tex Richman (Chris Cooper) and his henchmen, Uncle Deadly (Matt Vogel) and Bobo the Bear (Bill Barretta). Photo by Scott Garfield

From there, it’s one satirical song-and-dance number after another as the trio teams up with Kermit to drive cross country (and, in Miss Piggy‘s case, they even find a way to drive a station wagon to Paris) to track down the old gang and try to get them back together again. In keeping with Muppet tradition, the adventure is filled with celebrity cameos including Dave Grohl of the Foo Fighters (as Animohl, the drummer for a Muppet tribute band called the Moopets), Jack Black (who is in an anger management program with the real Animal), Selena Gomez, Whoopi Goldberg, Mickey Rooney and Zach Galifianakis as a hobo.

As the Muppets rally more and more support, it appears that they just might overcome the odds and save the theater from the tyranical Tex, a hapless villain played to the hilarious hilt by Cooper, who even breaks out into a hip-hop number at one point. Once the Muppet gang is back together, everything seems to fall into place despite minimal rehearsal, ramshackle planning and other setbacks.

The Muppet gang is back in “The Muppets.” Photo by Scott Garfield

In the end, life lessons are learned, relationships are mended and the Muppets (as well as the rest of the world) realize that they are meant to be together. Whether or not the theater is saved becomes almost inconsequential, and it seems that the unique satire and cleverness of the Muppets is here to stay. Let’s just hope that such a fantasy carries over to the real world, because even those who are just being introduced to the silliniess of the Muppets will likely agree that the pop culture landscape is a better place with Jim Henson‘s felt-and-fur covered guys around.

The Muppets. Directed by James Bobin. Starring Jason Segel, Amy Adams, Chris Cooper and the Muppets. Rated PG. www.disney.com/muppets.

Review by Jonathan Williams