AMP: Artists' Meeting Place and Resource Collective

"i love that bird on the lady's head."

we were ready, the bus driver pu;;s in and everybody stands and crowds the aisle
"sit down and wait, fool"
come on scam if i don't blend in the driver is going to report me to the
next driver and ..."
yeah but i have to be dressed and you can't do that si a crowd."
puppets really should look their best at all times. it was already a jumble of bags getti haauled out of the racks and the old lady sittin in front was rummaguing in her stuff,in the rack, standin on the seat, in heels. 5'2" eyes of blue, 170 pounds of teetering dame with two grandkids in pearlie. scam was screamin about her nails, so i asked if she needed any help.
"no, thank yew."
grabbed scam awy from her razors and fell into the seat. she flung out an arm to catch herself on the seat back,
that promptly fell back throwing her onto my bag. i'd kept that on the seat
because it held may amp, sooo there she was landing on a hard shell crate. 15 watts of portable amplifier,plenty of power to work 5 to 8, 45 minute shows a day. thought she cracked some ribs, but no,
bounced right out into the aisle on her butt. looked like a cheerleader as she grabbed the arm rests. whooops they let loose under the pressure and she was right back where she started. scam was roarin. i was turnin to put him down, smacked my head on the rack,turned back to help her up,
" you poor boy, you hit your head."
she was already up pretending nothing happened but my little headache.
scam had slipped into the crack between seats. you could see his leather neck. a bandage to repair old stressed paper mache' where the stick goes into his head. this is a 10 year old puppet. there are cracks under the hair.
"ok get me out of here"
"you're safe there"
the old lady is back on the seat.
"uh maam? maybe if you took your shoes off. or... listen i'll get it for you"
reached up and pulled her bags out of her grasp and put it on top of my bag.
picked scam up and sat. spruced the oy up, combed his hair and attached the coat hangers to his velcroed hands. beard pointed and tails down.
"thank yew" screwed up toothless lips. damn glad i'd put my teeth in before we stopped. i smiled my best blue smile for her. thought she was going to pass out. finally something told her i was not the all american boy she'd assumed.
"why dew yew have blue teeth"
"now there's a question i have an answer to. it's rather long" i settle scam back into the seat, "kick back.
i was a rotten toothed kid, genetic and low oral hygiene. once, when 20, i brokeoff a root canal, right front, and that bein 1970 and mick jagger havin a ruby set in a cap, i says to my "doc, hey, what color can i have besides white?" he says after checkin in his book, "red, yellow, and blue." i say, "give me a blue one.". he does. "so i'm workin as a roadie drivin a truck for rock n roll bands, from jersey to maine and out to buffalo. the ladies i was workin with the blue tooth, a big gold earring i was wearin at the thime and gave me the name, bluetooth after i did an ad for a club in northern vermont called the blue pirate, shortened to blue and appended to blue-vid when i was shootin video in the late 80's-90's. lived with that, got another one 6 years later. n then i got to 50. and broke one off and in the pain of 40 yearsin my mouth. said to the same doctor.... "hey can i get em all out now and stop the pain? " he said "for 5000 thou you can."i said "lets do it" so a month later i'm sittin in the boston university dental school buyin two sets of choppers for 800 bucks. i say to the student dentist, i want a set of blue ones and i want a set for my mother. he freaks and three professors later they agree to do it. i'm a charity case, and because i'm in shobiz it will help the student think more about possibilities. i got em http://unclescam.org/teeth7.html