well howdy!

Hello the peoples. Hope yer all dandy.

Me, i'm fine. I have been very busy making crazy art, first with about 530 elementary and middle school students, and i just finished a bonkers re-enactment of a 1920's Jewish Children's Work Commune. 28 kids dressed up and pretended to be living collectively in Communist Russia, shortly after the Revolution. It's been intense, but swell.




And so the world turns. Been working with kids so long, i've decided to make it official. I'm thinking of becoming a public school teacher. So, got accepted into Ryerson University's Early Childhood Education programme here in Toronto, set to start in the fall, on my way to Teacher's College and that little piece of paper that folks seem to think is so important. I'll be working with Jumblies and MABELLEarts for the rest of the summer.

The Jumblies project is Phase 2 of that re-enactment project i mentioned above - a movement/installation piece called Di Velt Ven Vern Yinger (The World will Grow Younger) detailing the history of the jewish secular communist summer community Camp Naivelt in Brampton. The MABELLEarts project will be Lantern Garden, the outdoor art garden we started last year. And then i'll be off to studentsville. For the rest of my life!

Maybe. Or maybe i'll discover something else in my scholastic adventures, and go off in an entirely different direction. Anyways, the Lab will be quieter than usual i think, with less beakers bubbling and more internal experimentation happening. I think that THE INFLAMMABLES will have more work to do, and i'm sure other weird stuff will be popping up. I'm looking forward to a change, tho.

In other news, permaculture is very good, i am trying to grow a good supply of tea for us this winter in my birthday herb garden, and the most fun that i'm having these days is composting. Remember to be good to yourselves and the earth, drink a lot of water from faucets and hoses, and become talented artists of unwaste.


Talk to you all soon - noah

Photo of Mimico Creek puppet by Katherine Fleitas
Photo of 12th Jewish Children's Commune by Michaela Otto
Photo of water found on the internet

How much i love our band

Our next gig is on April 23rd at the BREAD Cabaret, at Bread and Circus in Kensington Market. I am excited. I hear it's a small venue, so do what you can to squeeze yourselves in there. There's going to be A LOT of INFLAMMABLES, we'll try not to outnumber the crowd.

***ACTUALLY, THIS GIG NEVER CAME TO BE! BE ON THE ALERT, MY FRIENDS, FOR OUR NEXT APPEARANCE! this post was updated after our unfortunate run-in with fate and mis-remembering.***


I've also discovered that THE INFLAMMABLES has a spiritual sister out there - sort of like a secret Princess Leia to our Luke. If you haven't checked out LESLIE HALL and her amazingness, PLEASE DROP EVERYTHING AND DO SO RIGHT AWAY!
Her band Leslie and the Lys are very very very amazing. If you haven't had your sense of humour removed, go to

www.lesliehall.com

or search the beloved YouTube for her brilliantness and good dance moves.


I dug this out of the Lab's archives this afternoon - i love it, and hope you will too. It's a press release from a couple of years ago.

THE INFLAMMABLES!! AT RED

The ever-fabulous RED Cabaret will be happening at
Lula Lounge again on FEBRUARY 1ST - and Cardboard
heart has some amazingness to share. It's THE
INFLAMMABLES!!! Part rock/folk/doo-wop band, part
ambassadorial envoy from the collective imagination,
and part revolutionary heart-stopping love-machine -
THE INFLAMMABLES will try to tickle your fancy,
squeeze you and please you, and leave you feeling
better than before.

THE INFLAMMABLES - unstoppable performance
crunch/jive/puppet band, is made up of a loose
collection of brilliant and talented musicians and
performers. At RED they will be represented by Andrea
Peneycad, Songstress and Chief Wheezedoodler,
and Noah "Thrash/Slash-Hug-Attack" Kenneally, Plunker
and All-Around-Humdinger. They will be playing
selections from their first album OMYGOD WHIZBANG
JAMBOREE. Don't miss it!!!

I shall keep thee all posted on the details.

THIS FRIDAY!!!!

The INFLAMMABLES will be performing at the MASC. fundraiser at The Gift Shop on Friday - come and see the ridiculousness!

MASC magazine fundraiser!
art, performance, share ideas, mark your calendar

Host: MASC magazine

Time and PlaceStart Time: Friday, February 22, 2008 at 7:00pm

Location: The Gift Shop Boutique 1550 Queen West toronto, ON

info: mascmagazine@gmail.com

It's a gathering because we want to see and hear from people who share our excitement about this magazine. It's a fundraiser because we want to start spending money and making this all happen. It's a party because a party is never a bad idea when you've got 100 cool people together on a Friday night.

From 7pm to late, the evening will be a combination of participation and performances.

masc is a magazine providing space for young men between the ages of 15-22yrs old to express themselves and their realities. masc magazine presents positive, alternative examples of masculinity and is a catalyst for discussion, particularly around ideas of gender, stereotypes, sexuality and health. masc magazine supports and challenges young men to be better, more whole human beings.

still confused?
see this:
http://citizen.nfb.ca/blogs/masculinity/1041/

oh dear

well.

it's been a while since i put anything up. YIKES! i have been busy, working on gearing up the Islington Junior Middle School Giant Puppet Pageant and keeping going on various things with The Gathering Space. I'll be telling you more about the puppet pageant as it progresses, and you can always go to the Gathering Space blog at
www.gatheringspace.blogspot.com - Many happy surprises there!

really, tho - these days i'm excited about iceland. saw a wonderful film about the band Sigur Ros and their tour of their home doing 10 free concerts in remote areas. It's called Heima and i'm jazzed by it, and by them, and by their amazingly beautiful country.

check these out - sigur ros videos on youtube:

hoppipolla - www.youtube.com/watch?v=PDxMQaMqsig
glosoli - www.youtube.com/watch?v=okLCurB1lJw



found this beautiful photo on the internet, by a man named Marc Isberg. That's what Iceland looks like! Wow!

more soon...

a little catching up

HOwdy folKS!

Well - i have a wee bit of catching up to do - things have been flying feirce and ferocious, and only in the best possible ways.

alleyjaunt was a GAS!! Not only did we all have a really great time - not only were our hosts super-wonderful, with four great kids who helped us set up - not only did the folks who came to visit us seem to have a good experience - we were awarded the MOST FUN award by the Children's Choice awards!!!
YES!!
What a treat. We received a trophy made of mostly of chocolate, wax and pipe cleaners, which we positioned in a place of honour in our garage. We'll put up some photos, as soon as the kooks distribute them.

+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*++++*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+

Then after that, Leah Houston and Cardboard heart's very own Junior Assistant Imaginaut noah Kenneally put together a kick-butt community arts project out in Etobicoke. Called Lantern Garden, It was an outdoor art project for kids and families in a little parkette that is in the middle of the Toronto Community Housing Neighbourhood known as Mabelle. Noah and Leah have been working there with Jumblies Theatre for the past few years and put this great little project together with the help of Jumblies and the Lawrence Family Foundation.

We made lanterns, drew pictures, planted herbs and flowers, drew on rocks, repaired and decorated one of the park benches, repainted the wading pool, told stories, did some sidewalk chalk art, ate snacks and generally had a good time. Here are some pictures from that.


Leah took this photo - Qadar, Osama, Farrah and noah putting the bench back together.


Leah also took this photo - this is the wading pool, freshly repainted by us and the kids.


Noah took this photo - the lantern festival, a celebration of our project - almost 150 folks showed up! We lit the lanterns we'd made, ate cookies and drank lemonade together.

OK! So that's caught up now! Stay tuned for more wild and crazy stories, y'all!

come one, come all to ALLEYJAUNT!!

OK, folks at home, hope you're all well.

ALLEYJAUNT is fast approaching and i wanted to let you all know how much fun it's going to be.

The answer is: LOADS!!!!

check this out - click on it to view it in all it's gigantic splendour :



The Lab is going to be positioned in Garage #24, in the alleyway between Montrose and Crawford. We wanglers will be offering two make-yer-own-box-that-tells-stories workshops a day and a chance for all folks to perform their toy theatres, either on our daily performance parade or in our garage/workshop/theatrespace.

It's going to be fun. It's going to be great. We'll be there from 11pm - 6pm Saturday and Sunday, having fun and making art with anyone who wants to. Remember, IT"S NOT JUST FOR KIDS! Come along and tell some of your own stories, glue things together, have a ball.

We like you. Hope to see you soon!
For more info on Alleyjaunt go to the website - www.alleyjaunt.com

ALLEYJAUNT

Hey there folks at home

Next thing the Lab will be doing, (other than learning how to relax) is the wonderful fantabulous Alleyjaunt, the garage and alley art festival that happens in the alleyways surrounding Trinity-Bellwoods park.
Over the weekend of August 11th and 12th, from 11 am to 6pm, folks'll be able to come and check out the newest incarnation of GLIMPSES OF EXTRAORDINARY LIVES, an ongoing community engaged toy theatre project. You may remember the project from last year's Art Crawl, or from the RED Cabaret - GLIMPSES has been running for almost four years now and is still going strong!
We'll be offering workshops in how to make your own toy theatre and show, and we'll also have a parade every evening to show off our creations and there's even rumour that there'll be nightly puppet shows!
Participating Imagination Re-calibrators and janitors of the collective unconcious will be:
Sir Joel Brubacher
The Lady Lisa Pijuan-Nomura
Dr. Doctor Professor/Philosopher leah houston
and
The Learned Mister Sean Frey.
Of course, noah kenneally, Assistant Imagination Chiropodist and masseur-of-the-unconcious, will be on hand as well as on foot.
Check this blog for more detailed info soon, and the delightful AlleyJaunt website at www.alleyjaunt.com.
Wahoo!

photo by Melanie Gordon
Alleyjaunt logo by Alleyjaunters