Of course... of study

Continuing coverage of college enrollment in Ely, Minnesota continues.

***

I know now what the world needs, and I've seen the vision of what it would look like.

The world needs a two-year Associates Degree program in ventriloquism. It needs a college to be home. And most importantly, it should be just like Vermilion Community College here in Ely.

My son is enrolling at VCC for fishery and wildlife management, and did he pick a great place.  It's clean, the buildings are modern, the housing is excellent, and the staff is marvelous.  

Did I say the staff is marvelous?  Get out my thesaurus. I need be higher superlative.  I wish they were all ventriloquists or puppeteers to be on my staff.

If several dozen budding ventriloquists and their parents come to my college to register, they will have already made the big decision to commit to ventriloquism.  But the parents need to feel comfortable that it's a good investment, too.

So the staff has to do what the staff here did; they have to show wonderful pride in their school. They need to express with sincere enthusiasm that they are there to help students succeed.

Now, I could also mention that VCC has a taxidermy lab, which could so easily be a puppet and dummy making lab.  I could mention that it has a 200 seat theater, that... well, that's obvious. I could mention that it has a nice cafeteria, because ventriloquist are, in the end, just people and people have to eat, too. (Puppets and dummies... not so much.)

But a good learning environment is 90 percent the faculty and staff.  I am thrilled to have seen the behavior I want on my ventriloquism staff.  

Thanks, VCC people.  You were great.

***

No, I don't see the study of ventriloquism as a four year degree.  That would be silly.

Maybe, if done with some thought, puppeteering might be an extended course of study. I'm sure you could see that, right?

***

This whole trip is making me think about my college experiences at the University of Wisconsin - Milwaukee and the University of Minnesota. Both are fine institutions in fine cities (don't tell anyone in the Twin Cities I just paid them a compliment -they'll think I've gone soft).

But both were very impersonal. I was pretty anonymous in those environments and that's not all bad.  But I wonder if anyone of those anonymous people seeing next to me so anonymously realized that the future producer of Budding Ventriloquist Presents Gridiron Gurus, the researcher for Ventriloquists Down Under Week: The Month,  the conceptual master behind last year's Budding Ventriloquist Winter Olympic Coverage... was sitting right next to them?

Because... they would have cared.  I believe that. I really do.

You see that, right?

And please - don't even get me started on the anonymity at my 3,000 student high school...

Hi, Atus

A meeting around the water cooler...

Chatty Cathy:  Hey, what's happened to the Bud-man?
Suave Steve:  I don't know.  He hasn't posted in days.
Chatty Cathy: You don't think he's ... done?
Suave Steve: Done? You mean, done as in ... done?

Cathy and Steve drink down their cups of water in cold silence. Then Steve crumples his cup and tosses it out.

Suave Steve:  You know, you read the guy's stuff, you cheer him on. You'd think he would have said something.  I just figured that he was taking a long Labor Day vacation.
Chatty Cathy:  He was pretty exhausted after Ventriloquists Down Under Week Month.  And the mystic moment thing wore me out just reading it.  If it turned out that he was... done, who'd blame him?
Suave Steve:  He's not ... done.  He just can't be ... done.

All Knowing Noel joins them at the cooler.

All Knowing Noel:  Why so glum, chums?
Chatty Cathy:  Budding Ventriloquist has gone dark. It's like a Monday on Broadway, except it's every day now.
Suave Steve:  We think he's ... done.
All Knowing Noel: Oh pish posh, people! He's not ... done. I got an email from him. Here, let me read it from you from my *high tech personal communications device.*


All Knowing Noel reads the email:

To my clowder* of regular readers:

Sorry I've been missing in action.  I'm planning something big. How big, you want to know?

After the Ventriloquist Down Under effort was such a success, I was befuddled. Not exactly a blue funk, but maybe kind of a turquoise funk, which is actually a wonderful funk if you can call it a funk. But I was lost in ponderous thought.

What next? How do I top that?

So I went and stood in the rain, hoping the drops running down my face would arouse my creative being. And it did! Just wait until you see it.

It's on the magnitude of the Winter Olympics.  Not the Budding Ventriloquist Winter Olympic Coverage (TM), mind you, but  the actual Winter Olympics.  Something that's going to change the way you think of a budding ventriloquist forever.

And you thought I was.... done, didn't you? 

Yours in ventriloquism,

Dan Bushman, Budding Ventriloquist

***

*A clowder is a group of cats.

VDU Week - Day 6: Yes, I will do the Fandango, thanks...

Who'da thunk there could actually be as many as six installments of:

Here's the kind of discovery that brings hope and a smile to a budding ventriloquist.  This is Alana and Carol performing a comedy routine based around Queen's 'Bohemian Rhapsody'. Performed at the Music and Arts Junior Talent Search (MATS) Talent Search, State Grand Final, June 28, 2009, at Penrith.


I just love this kind of shtick, and she does it well.  I can't find much more on whether this young lady's ventriloquist career is taking off, but she's off to a great start.  Feel free to smile at this one.

***

What's also pretty fun about this is that it seems that where there's talent shows, there's ventriloquists.  For all the young ladies and gentlemen that can belt out the latest Alicia Keys song or every group of athletic youths who and do that new fangled flip-flop song and dance stuff, there always seems to be a ventriloquist act slugging it out. And - my bet is that the audience and judges just can't wait for the fun and laughs.

***

Sadly, according to http://www.matsaustralia.org/, MATS is temporarily on hold. I hope it's just a temporary, world-economy sucks thing. 

***

What's the exact middle of the wow of a great singer great singer and the fun and laughs of a ventriloquist act?


Lady Gaga.


Lady Gaga is great, for sure. I am reconsidering my position on her being on the "Face that belongs on a ventriloquist dummy" list. (See  "All Gaga - Naa" for my eloquent explanation on why she's not.)  But I just can't quite get past my feeling that it has to be all about looks, not spirit.


I do have the sense that if Lady Gaga knew I thought she spirit belongs in a ventriloquist dummy, she's smile. She's understand.

***

I was just pondering a shtick with my monkey puppet Max were we taking a classic old song and arguing about updating it, and convincing Max that "Tie a turquoise ribbon round the old oak tree" is just so wrong.


But there is something so right about it too, don't you think?

VDU Week - Day 5: Sarah-illusion

This grand event is going so well, Budding Ventriloquist is proud to announce that Budding Ventriloquist is making Ventriloquists Down Under Week...

That's right.  I am making new friends down under all the time, so why quit bringing my dray* of regular readers remarkably refreshing glimpses of the Australian ventriloquist community just because of some archaic calendar convention. So for the rest of August, there's more down under to come, mates! 

My newest friend is Melbourne's Sarah Jones (www.sarahjones.com.au).  Sarah's characters are great fun and you can tell her audience participation just knocks over the audience.

I'm hoping Sarah can enlighten me.  In her bio, she references "vocal illusionist" as  a separate art from "ventriloquism."  Sarah, my new friend - when you send me the news article you told me about, send me an explanation of the vocal illusionist/ventriloquist distinction.

The great reward will be that you will be the very first "returning guest" of Ventriloquists Down Under Week: The Month!  One day, that might (might...) be something to brag about.

Thanks for the video link.  Your audience really does love you.

***

* A dray is a group of squirrels.

***

I know what you're all thinking. You're all composing this letter in your head:

Dear Dan, our dear budding ventriloquist,

We love this Aussie thing. We really do. But what about our other favorite features that we come to Budding Ventriloquist to read about?  Like the Ventriloquist in Space Program?  Like the Slovenian Quagmire?  Or the Vent Channel programming updates?  Or the V Face List? Or the Mystic Moments?

They will return, won't they?  Please say yes - Please? 

Sincerely,

Your Dray of Regular Readers

***

 Yes.

VDU Week - Day 4: Crocodile Fun-See?

The first week was so much fun, BV going to have a bona fide Week 2 of:

And the fourth installment (I'm still calling it Day 4), features my profile of a female Australian ventriloquist, Lindi Jane. Lindi's back story is wonderful; sick in the hospital with heart problems, her grandfather gave her a puppet, the nurses made sock puppets, and Lindi got well. 

Lindi Jane went on to develop a long-running children's television and stage show called 'Snaps Kakadu Club' featuring Snap Crocodious, the cheeky crocodile from Kakadu. You can tell from this clip the joy she brings to children, and the joy she finds in bringing joy.

***

With each one of ventriloquist I find, there's a learning moment for me. And sometimes the learning comes in the form of questions that I ponder watching the videos.  For Lindi, I kept wondering:

• When you do ventriloquism for kids, are they more or less easily fooled by it?  Kids can be pretty tough.
• Is it that she's using animal puppets that make her so "kid friendly"?  My new puppet, George, seems to be a bit scary to kids. Of course, maybe I should figure out more kid-friendly things for George to say. Right now, I've perfected him saying, "Hey you kids, get of my lawn."

Seriously, I know - she's kid friendly because she's kid friendly, and wonderfully so.

***

The Green Bay Packers are in training camp and they are looking at an Australian Chris Bryan as their punter. This is happening at the very same time as this blog is running Ventriloquists Down Under Week.

Coincidence? I think not.

***

As we head though the dog days of summer, I've been meaning to poll my romp* of regular readers with this question - Which of the following summer activities go best with ventriloquism?

• Tenting
• Eating fresh, succulent fruit
• Horseshoes
• Baseball games

Just makes you wish you could text in your vote, doesn't it?  Feel free to leave your comments.

* A romp is a group of otters.

VDU Week - Day 3: My blog's got talent!

No, I'm not kidding - there's actually a third installment* of:

And the third superstar of the Aussie ventriloquism scene is the Melbourne's multi-talented Dean Atkinson.  A roving magician, stand-up comic, and ventriloquist, Dean's ability to work the an audience is really great to study.  You can see from this clip from Australia's Got Talent (AGT) that he knows the magic of audience participation. With his dog friend Fetch, he adds some fun mask work to the audience participation and makes it all look easy.


You can check out more about Dean on his site deanandfetch.com.  Enjoy.

***

One of the great and encouraging things I am finding as I blog the world over is that just about Everywhere's Got Talent, and the ventriloquist acts do really well. Dean Atkinson got some good laughs from judges Dannii Minogue, Red Symons and Tom Burlinson.  Not that there's a formula, but it appears that the calculation is that at least one judge on a show like this has to be named something like Simon.

I can't wait until there's Wisconsin's Got Talent. It's got to be just around the corner. By then I'll be ready.  I've already won My Livingroom's Got Talent.

***

Okay, my daughter would win My Livingroom's Got Talent (MGLT), if we actually had a competition. But then again after piano lessons, dance lessons, voice lessons, and swimming lessons, and all the other advantages her father, who had to learn everything he will ever know about performing comedy from strangers on street corners, never had... Oh, never mind.

Of course, I could have a puppet/dummy judge in MLGT, named Simon (or course), and if I was really good at ventriloquism and had one of those remote control masks like Dean Atkinson uses...

Good god, I'm plotting to cheat my daughter out of winning a living room talent contest. What kind of monster is this blogging turning me into?

***

Dear AGT judge Dannii Minoque:

Of course I think the name is cute. It makes me feel great every time someone actually calls me that. It's a great name.

And I can go with the i instead of y, as a classic way to give it feminine spelling.  But... Do you really have to put ii?  It is kind of like stuttering, IMHO.**

Sincerely,

Danny Bushman

***

* Yes, this is the third installment. It just happens to be on the 4th day of the week.  I was exhausted last night, so I took a night off. If you don't like it, complain to the commissioner's office.

** IMHO = In my humble opinion. That's texting talk. And I only put that in the letter to make Dannii think I'm hip so she'd take me more seriously.

I sure it worked.

VDU Week - Day 2: The doppelganger tradition

It's already Day 2 of:

Today's video is of  Darren Carr and Darold. (See Darren's Bio from where I'm flagrantly ripping off his bio.) According to his bio, Darren is considered Australia's number one ventriloquist.  I would say from watching this video that he certainly knows his craft.


I do like his bio lead-in quite a bit:

At the tender age of eight, Darren Carr started playing with dolls and talking to himself. Luckily for him, coming from a show business background, this was not only considered to be quite normal, but actually encouraged.

(I do hope there's a future for guys like me, freshly 50, only starting to play with dolls, and only a grandpa* who played piano in my genetic make-up.  I have, to my credit, always talked to myself.)


Most impressive is his partner Darold - who carries on the doppelganger** tradition in the ventriloquist world by being the spitting image of Darren. I was agog at the likeness. It's a wow.


Darren also does one of my favorite schticks - the "human dummy" routine.


Enjoy.

***

* A note on my grandfather's piano playing:  He lived past 100 and until his last few years, he loved sitting with any of his 31 grandchildren who wanted to play Galway Bay or Won't You Come Home, Bill Bailey? It is a warm memory to have shared those moments with him.


It's also a warm memory that my old friend Tammy's dad, one of the most wonderful spirits I've ever known, once taught me this little ditty about my grandpa's piano playing:

Oh I want to play piano in a whorehouse

Just like my granddaddy used to do

I'd give up all my riches

To play for those old...

Women

I want to play piano in a whorehouse

Without my pants on.

Though I'm probably going to be in trouble with the rest of the grandkid horde (grandpa was a postal clerk and certainly never visited, much less played piano in, a brothel), these memories fit nicely together for me.

***

** From Wikipedia:  In fiction, folklore, and popular culture, a doppelgänger is a tangible double of a living person that typically represents evil. In the vernacular, the word doppelgänger has come to refer (as in German) to any double or look-alike of a person.


Although he's never mentioned it in public, I may be Robert DeNiro's doppelganger.

VDU Week - Day 1: All please rise

It's here!  It's finally here!  Can you believe that we are actually living and breathing during:

And Happy Picnic Day!  Remember when I started this? (click here to read all about it) I picked today because it's a Australian Holiday.  Come to think of it, if you Aussies are sitting around reading this, I am especially proud. You should be out having a great holiday, not staring at your computer!


Would you all please rise for the singing of the national anthem of Australia, performed by Chris Woodman and Sid:




Chris Woodman is a Sydney ventriloquist.  He began working as a musician and performing comedy at the age of fifteen. Chris realised early that as a performer he had to be himself.......and a few other people - he had to be a ventriloquist!

His characters include Sid (singing in the video), Mitch, and what appears to be a wild pig named Leon, who brags about being a champion Lamington eater.  A Lamington, by the way, is a sponge cake served as two halves with a layer of cream and/or strawberry jam between, with a chocolate icing.*

His website is www.chriswoodman.com.au.  Thanks, Chris, for providing the video that is the perfect start for  Ventriloquists Down Under Week.

***

For those of you who want to sing along, here's the words to the Australian National Anthem:

Australians all let us rejoice
For we are young and free
We've golden soil and wealth for toil,
Our home is girt by sea:
Our land abounds in nature's gifts
Of beauty rich and rare,
In history's page let every stage
Advance Australia fair,
In joyful strains then let us sing
Advance Australia fair.

Beneath our radiant Southern Cross,
 We'll toil with hearts and hands,
To make this Commonwealth of ours
Renowned of all the lands,
For those who've come across the seas
We've boundless plains to share,
With courage let us all combine
To advance Australia fair.
In joyful strains then let us sing,
Advance Australia fair.

***

Some of you probably checked in yesterday because you've been watching the counter in the sidebar area, and assumed that when it said one day left (on Saturday), that meant Sunday was the start.  Instead, you watched the counter (which right now says there's 17 minutes to go - holy cow!) on Sunday tick down the hours and minutes.


Yea, I was confused too.  Does this mean that my lead-up series and running them on the "prime numbers to go" was all screwed up?  Hope not. 


Ok, I'm going to relax.  Not hang out on a beach relax, but I'm not going to worry about it.  I have a lot of promise to fulfill with this series.


Let's getter done.

***

*  This Lamington thing looks awesome.  I continue to learn cool stuff about the land down under.  I might just throw a Lamington party!  Once I get this posted, I'll be up surfing for recipes.
 Of course, I should be surfing for Aussie ventriloquist acts. But hey, I'm hungry.  Blogging is aerobically draining.
 At least it is if you're doing it right. 

Nicole and you and a boy named Hugh

It's only 5* days until:

Wow, we are getting so close to THE WEEK!

And for one of the final pieces of education that I should have called "What Yanks know for sure about Australia," I think it appropriate to do a basic Celebrity Edition, and I have two simple words:

Nicole Kidman

Ok, I know.  This seems like nothing but a cheap attempt to draw male readers by putting up some chessecake picture of a pretty woman.

And, it is.

So, to do the decent thing for my female readers (though I really don't see it myself), I'll say two more words:

Hugh Jackman

Sure, I have pictures of me at the beach in almost the same trunks, but I don't want any confusion: I am not Australian.

Please, don't write and ask for the pictures of me on the beach. Certainly, don't beg. Just oogle at Hugh; give him his 15 minutes.

***

The answer to the question you are all asking is - No.  Neither Hugh Jackman or Nicole Kidman has as face that belongs on a ventriloquist dummy.  Remember, it's not "good looks" that gets you onthe auspicous V Face List.

Nicole, Hugh:  Love ya both.  Loved the movie Australia, by the way. Don't take not making the list poorly.  Concentrate on the full part of the glass, although right now I'm not sure what that is. But trust me, it's something good.

***

5 is a prime number, as is 3, 2, and 1.  We are sooo close! Can you believe it's almost here.  So many times I've said "when" the week comes, it seemed like forever.  Thanks for keeping the faith that "when" would really happen.

Tattoos and beer

It's only 11* days until:

Seizing an opportunity to talk to an actual Down Underer, I asked her to help me find out about the ventriloquist scene in Australia.  She being from New Zealand, I altered my request just a bit to her native land. While she still hasn't found an actual New Zealander ventriloquist, she did send me this joke that is about the Maori (the native peoples of New Zealand), and curiously, the Australians - Not the New Zealanders.

I was confused a bit, wondering why a New Zealander would tell this joke, then I realized it is a lot like me (a Wisconsinite through and through) telling this joke if I made it a joke about American Indians and Minnesotans. Except given a choice of going to Australia or going to Minnesota... oh never mind.

I really should do a little more in presenting a profile of the Maori, but I think a good joke is a good tribute, too.  I also stand by the pictures showing the Maori in their native dress and legendary facial tattoos and the Aussies drinking beer.  Being a Milwaukeean, the image brings out a feeling of kinship - the tattoos and the beer.

Get ready to laugh.

Kia Ora you fullahs (and gidday dingos):

Three Australians and three Maori's are travelling by train to a rugby match at the World Cup in England. At the station, the three Aussies each buy a ticket and watch as the three Maori's buy just one ticket between them.

"How are the three of you going to travel on only one ticket?" asks one of the Aussies. "Watch and learn bro," answers one of the Maoris. They all board the train. The Aussies take their respective seats, all three Maori's cram into a toilet and close the door behind them.

Shortly after the train has departed, the conductor comes around collecting tickets. He knocks on the toilet door and says, "Ticket please."

The door opens just a crack and a single arm emerges with a ticket in hand. The conductor takes it and moves on.

The Aussies see this and agree it was quite a clever idea. So after the game, they decide to copy the Maori's on the return trip and save some money (being clever with money, and all that).

When they get to the station, they buy a single ticket for the return trip. To their astonishment, the Maori's don't buy a ticket at all!!

"How are you going to travel without a ticket?" says one perplexed Aussie.

"Watch and learn bro ," answers a Maori ...

When they board the train the three Aussies cram into a toilet and soon after the three Maori's cram into another nearby. The train departs.

Shortly afterwards, one of the Maori's leaves the toilet and walks over to the toilet where the Aussies are hiding. He knocks on the door and says, "Ticket please."

***

Thanks to Jenny for the joke.  When I explain my blog and this feature in particular, people make remarks about my mental health or that I may have addiction issues.  Not my friend Jenny!

***

* 11 is a prime number.   We are getting really close to THE WEEK!!, as they say in the web buzz circles, and in the single digits, the numbers 1,2,3,5, and 7 are all prime numbers. So there's lots of opportunities for sharing interesting stuff about that world Down Under.

***

I hope yesterday's Mystic Moment wasn't so scary that it kept anyone up, or that it caused anyone to run and hide their head under a little red blanket, or anything like that.  I probably should have put a PG-13 rating on it for creepiness. 

Hey, back at ya

There's only 23* days to go until:

Yet another thing that we Yanks know about the Land Down Under is boomerangs.

You all know what a boomerang is:  It’s a curved stick that, when thrown through the air, returns to the person throwing it unless it’s me.

It’s the ancient relative of the Frisbee, which is a disk that floats through the air into the hands of your smiling friend, or onto the neighbors roof it was thrown by me.

Being the ever responsible journalist, I wanted to make sure I was factually accurate about boomerangs, so I did what any good researcher does these days. I looked it up on Wikipedia. There was a length article that said the most amazing thing:

Historical evidence also points to the use of non-returning boomerangs by the ancient Egyptians, Native Americans of California and Arizona, and inhabitants of southern India for killing birds and rabbits. Indeed, some boomerangs were not thrown at all, but were used in hand to hand combat by Indigenous Australians.

So let me get this straight:

• Boomerangs are not always designed to come back, and
• sometimes they were made for  "not throwing"?

Yea, right. I believe I have just found proof that people just make stuff up on Wikipedia.


I suppose if I look up Paula Abdul in Wikipedia, it's going to say that her Straight Up wasn't all that great. I suppose it will say that Stefano DeMira**, the evil villain of the soap opera Days of Our Lives, is totally dead this time and is not coming back - like the 12th time he was killed was the charm that finally did him in for good, that evil dastard. But I digress...

Maybe this is where my friends Merriam and Webster come to my aid:

• Merriam says boomerang is a noun that is "a bent or angular throwing club typically flat on one side and rounded on the other so that it soars or curves in flight; especially : one designed to return near the thrower."
• Webster, who I frequently feel I owe a beer to, says that boomerang is intransitive verb that is "an act or utterance that backfires on its originator."

Neither Merriam or Webster are fluent in Dharuk (Australian aboriginal language of the Port Jackson area), though they do know the word was bumarinʸ. (Webster does seem to be speaking in Dharuk after a few Fosters, though he doesn't think so.)

Does this settle the whole throwing and returning thing?

Good.

What we 50-year-old Yanks really needed was the Youtube, where you can watch any one of a dozen or so really good videos on how to throw a boomerang.  Please, watch this video many times before you actually try to throw a boomerang, especially if you're going to do it indoors.  It still looks like a pretty iffy thing.

As far as how the non-returning, non-thrown boomerangs work, I don't think a video is needed.

***

* 23 is a prime number. As we count down, there's a lot more prime number opportunities coming. I wouldn't be surprised if I got commendations from some prime number societies for how I'm breathing new life into prime numbers.  It really was about time, but I have to say the honor has been all mine.

***

**I actually saw the first time Stefano died in 1985. It showed good could prevail over evil. I'm not sure coming back to live 10 or 11 times is as positive a message.  He did have a cool accent, and when he would say "Rrrrroman Brady" and rolled the R really hard, it sounded really cool.

Not that I miss watching daytime soaps; I'm just more partial to minty soaps these days.

***

For those of you who have an a boomerang and have never thrown it, it's probably safer to sleep with it under your pillow and make friends with it, just in case it really does come back to you when you do throw it. A boomerang looks like it could leave a lump on your noggin if it was wanting to.

I'm not saying it should be your BFF; that should be someone special - but you should have at least a positive relationship.

Roos, roos, roos for the home team

It's only 37* days to:

As this budding ventriloquist continues the march to Ventriloquists Down Under Week, and as I strive to give my readers every morsel of knowledge I (A real Yank) have about Australia, I just need to ask you how I know that I should:

• Watch me wallabies feed, mate,  
• Keep me cockatoo cool, Curl,
• Take me koala back, Jack,
• Mind me platypus duck, Bill,
• Play your didgeridoo, Blue; and  
• Tan me hide when I'm dead, Fred.

And most importantly, why I need to:

• Tie me kangaroo down, sport.

Altogether now!  The answer is...

Rolf Harris!

Aussie friends: You knew I was going to say that, and I feel you all smiling from the other side of the globe.

Yankee friends - Did I just hear a 3,000 mile, coast-to-coast unison reply of, "Who?"

Now, fellow Yanks, I must admit that knowing who Rolf Harris is might seem to you as dangerously esoteric. Rolf, OBE**, is an Australian entertainer most famously known for the worldwide mega-hit Tie Me Kangaroo Down, Sport. Like so many non-American stars, he is so much more than a one-hit wonder in his homeland. And as a representation of the best that Aussie entertainment has to offer, he was for quite a while - the Man.

He was beatboxing before beatboxing was the rage. He was eefing (kind of rhythmically hiccuping, and not to be confused with effing, which to many is an adjective) when the art of eefing needed a savior.  He was playing the didgeridoo when didgeridoo-ers were getting no AM or FM airtime at all.

(FYI- my justification for using a picture of a pretty woman playing a didgeridoo is that it shows how mainstream and non-"traditional aboriginal native only" the instrument has become.  Yes, my motives are, as always, wholesome and educational. Why else would I pick that picture? To try and draw more male readers? Nope, not I. But I digress....)

So along with teaching the world a long list of native Australian animals (kangaroos, wallabies, cockatoos, koalas, and platypi) and names (Sport, Curl, Jack, Bill, Blue, Fred... well, okay I knew those already, except for Curl), Rolf Harris brought a glimpse of Aussie culture to a world starved for it. Absolutely starved for it!

Here is Rolf performing his classic at Royal Albert Hall***:

If you don't think Rolf is cool yet, this clip is such a wow you're going to bookmark this post just to watch it over and over.  In fact, do it now. You heard me. Get the Led out.

This actually made the charts in some developed countries of the world, so don't scoff. And finding things like this gives me a reason to wake up in the morning.

***

* 37 is a prime number.  Using "prime numbers to go" may very well be how I do every countdown. I've never looked forward to prime numbers as much before.  I look forward to them like a good muscle massage after a long bike ride. (I don't actually ride a bike -that's just an allusion to pleasure. But who wouldn't enjoy a massage?)

** Officer of the British Empire. It's a pretty good honor, but not as high an honor as a GBE, KBE, or CBE. It apparently doesn't make you an actual knight, but does honor you royally for writing songs about hopping animals. 

Kind of makes you want to take a crack at writing one, doesn't it?

***  Those of us who remember and always puzzled over the reference to "how many holes it takes to fill the Albert Hall" from the Beatles song A Day in A Life, look no further.

Seriously, look no further.  Let it go. The consensus of the English-speaking web was that it was playful gibberish from the playful mind of John Lennon.

***

Rolf Harris, an Australian,  playing at Albert Hall, a Great Britain landmark,  is like...

I apologize for the pause there. I've been trying to figure out a way of saying something disparaging about Minnesotans (or Texans) using the Australia/England dynamic. I reserve the right to plug it into BV when it comes to me.

If it bothers you that I'm being statist, complain to the commissioner's office.

(A Statist is someone who is biased on the basis of someone's state of birth or loyalty. Do I believe Wisconsinites are born with superior genes? Ya, I do.)

***

And on a totally irrelevant to ventriloquism or Australia but nonetheless important public service note:

Campbell's just announced that there is a recall for Spaghetti-Os. The announcement made it clear that it was just Spaghetti-Os, and that Spaghetti-As, Es, Is, and Us were safe and not subject to recall. Yes, they are considering recalling some Spaghetti-Ys.

***

For links to the whole list of promo posts for Ventriloquists Down Under Week, click on this link. You know you can't get enough of this series, don't you?