Wump Mucket Puppets on WVXU

Baby, if you’ve ever wondered
Wondered whatever became of me
I’m living on the air in Cincinnati
Cincinnati, WVXU…

Wump Mucket Puppets returned to the Cincinnati airwaves on WVXU 91.7 FM to be guests on Around Cincinnati on Sunday April 26, 2015.  Missed the broadcast?  Live outside the WVXU area?  Fear not dear fan, for here is the link to enjoy the interview.

Many thanks to host Anne Arenstein and producer Lee Hay for having Coleman the Sasquatch and Reg the Loveland Frog, along with their  puppeteer, as guests.  This was the first time that Reg had been on the radio, so be sure to listen to his silly bit of singing, with apologies to the rock superstar Prince -who Reg is a big fan of.  Ribbitt!

Listen to previous WVXU interviews here

What is it about puppetry that I love so much? 

Is it seeing my doodles and sketches climb out of my sketchbook and onto the puppet stage?  Maybe it’s hearing the audience laugh and applaud at the silly songs that I write and sing?  I do look forward to meeting folks after the show and have them chat a little with the puppets.  Honestly I love to do all of these things, and my time as a puppeteer would not be the same without the production, performance, and interaction with the audience.  Puppetry has so many great things going for it, I could talk about it for days!

It seems some folks have heard me mention this, and want to hear more!  Don’t get me wrong, I love to perform my puppet characters quite a bit.  Yet if a group or school would like me to yack a bit about my love of puppets, I am on my way!

Later this month I have been invited to speak to the members of the Cincinnati Woman’s Connection during their monthly luncheon.  I look forward to sharing my story with them, and perhaps make a few new friends for the Wump Mucket Puppets.  I hope they know how big an appetite Coleman has!  Maybe I had better bring a snack for him?

This all began when I was invited to talk to a class at the Compass School in Mason Ohio last September.  The students where told to select someone that they would like to meet, and they chose a puppeteer – ME!  With some help from their teacher of course.  Since then I have also been invited to lecture about puppetry at the Ohio Entertainer’s Camp, that was organized my my puppeteer pal Bob Abdou in Columbus, Ohio this past Spring.  It was a BLAST!

Here’s a photo of Bob and I during the pie fight:

Terrence Burke and Bob Abdou

If your class, group, or organization would like to learn more about my friendly tale of becoming a puppeteer, feel free to contact me.  I love to chat about puppets!

My goodness, what a month June has been for our little puppet troupe.  We performed seven shows to HUNDREDS of smiling faces, made our radio debut on WVXU, and even performed our first “Living Room” puppet show.  Wow!

Ever wonder what we use to bring our silliness to the puppet stage?  Let’s review some of our “supplies” in June:

• 2 bags of Honey Lemon Ricola – the puppeteer “lives” on these things
• 14 Constant Comment Green Tea bags
• 327 Wump Mucket Puppets coloring sheets
• 2 rolls of red duct tape
• 1 tank of gas for the Wump Mucket Mobile
• 7 Thank You cards with 7 postage stamps

Oh, how could we forget?  One (empty) jar of Play-Doh!

Thank you to everyone who came to see us in June, and to the kind folks who booked our show.  We had a wonderful time and hope to see you again.  Come see us in July!

Short and sweet blog tonight since I am tuckered out.  Rockin’ puppets is hard work, honest.  Our two performances at the Taft Museum of Art were wonderful!  We had 108 people come and see us, which may be a record for this little puppet troupe.

Everything about today’s shows was great.  The audience, the Taft’s staff, and even The Reds helped by sweeping The Mets!  What was really special is that it was on Father’s Day.  My Dad was very supportive of my interest in puppetry as a child, and to pay tribute to him I had Coleman perform a new tune titled “For Dad”.  I hope that in some way he heard it.

In addition to the shows, my interview aired on Cincinnati’s NPR radio station WVXU 91.7 FM.  My puppets really are popping up all over the town!  A heartfelt thank you to everyone who came to see the shows today, we hope that you’ll come see us again real soon.

I know it’s been weeks since I have shared anything with our wonderful fans.  I am sorry.  Life outside the puppet booth has been a bit bumpy.  Yet let’s not talk about that.

Wump Mucket Puppets are planning several shows that we are in the process of ironing out the details.  Keep an eye on our SHOWS page for updates.

We also have a new video for artist Andy Finkle in the planning stages.  Andy is the very talented guy who painted this FAB portrait of our orange alien pal G’Wazzl.

Take a peek at his webpage at www.andyfinkle.com

Thanks for hanging in there for us gang.  I promise to let you know about all the cool stuff we have cooking for Wump Mucket Puppets in 2012!