Nov 4, 2012

Joel Hodgson at the Pepitos Parkway Theater

Saw Joel Hodgson last night at the Pepitos Parkway Theater after seeing an article in the City Pages. The theater was packed.

Pepitos Parkway Theater

Joel Hodgson

The night started off with a view of "Project Popcorn": a Russian knockoff of MST3K. The lighting, orientation, everything are ripped off from MST3K's opening sequence

проект попкорн

It was humorous and inspirational. He talked about his creative history, starting from his magic act, ventriloquism catalogs, making puppets, his comedy act, and eventually how he met and created MST3K. He showed slides and closeups of very odd and scary bits from record albums, ventriloquism catalogs, magic catalogs.

Albert the Alley Cat

Inspiration from a John Elton cover

I got to see him several times last night. I mentioned I was from Wisconsin and was fan #12 from the MST3K club. Somehow that inspired him to ask if I was a Packers fan. One of his friends from WI was there and brought cheese curds for him. Later my wife and I went up afterwards to get an autograph and he remembered me and I got to ask my question, "How do you stop riffing when you're watching a movie with your spouse?" He responded, he doesn't riff when he's not working.

Joel Hodgson's Senior Portrait

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