bread & puppet, part 2.

there was no shortage of the hottness yesterday.
from start to finish, we had an epic adventure.
and we brought snacks.


and wouldn't you know it,
today (again) it's raining.
13 days straight.
the sun managed to stay out until we left vermont yesterday, at least,
and we came through the white mountains watching the lightning leaping from peak to peak.
driving through clouds, kids.
elevated states of being,
literally,
we were up pretty high.
the hot fire was spit all day,
even an extended rainstorm can't put it out.


yeah,
about the bread and puppet museum, ya'll,
there's forty years worth of puppets and projects and paintings and protests,
all crammed into the old livestock bays.
it's awesome.

devils, angels, farmers, washerwomen, spirits of everything,
masks, suits, marionettes, stick puppets, living scenery, banners, streamers, ribbons,
every single awesome object,
all handmade,
all folk artsy as all hell.
just-be-dopeness, taken to eleven.

c'mon. look at all the little guys in the background.


some of this stuff is really nasty.
i mean,
seriously. and nasty.


there are miniature paintings, and dioramas,
and placards, and picket signs all across every beam, plank, and timber.
it is completely overwhelming.


this one is on the ceiling!
it's almost 20 feet long.....


there's a makeshift tribute garden, too.
with little spirit huts for all the puppeteers and performers who have died over the years.
family and friends maintain the ghost village,
and add art and sculptures and logs, and stuff,
for thirty years worth of huts.
it's some heavy soul-type business.
no joke.

the circus wasn't slacking this year either;
the band was huuuuge.
there was a punch and judy show (about the usda, and farming, and vermont)
there was a 'jesus at gitmo' slideshow and guitar sing-a-long,
and that was all before the BIG show at the bus....

brown people of the earth.


olympics boycott protests, tibet awareness,
anti-corporate fervor,
the works.
all stuff white people like....
(buy the book, and realize you are a pretentious crackerface)


the big finale,
as usual,
was the 77-year old peter schumann on stilts dressed as uncle sam....
you need to see this show,
sundays until august 31st...
3-5 p.m.
get on it.

there's a level of just-be-dopeness that must be maintained.
it goes all the way up to eleven.
if your fire isn't hot enough,
stoke those Folk Life flames,
and fan the furnace with barbarian bellows.....
never quiet, never soft...........