Episode 36 Camp

Thanks for Hitting Play and then listening to Hit Play. This episode: camp counselors, acting lessons, artist statements!

If you like what you hear and want to support the New York Neo-Futurists, subscribe to the show, consider making a donation at nynf.org, and join our Patreon. Patreon membership gives you access to bonus content like video plays! We’d really appreciate any support in these difficult times. Contributing to our Patreon helps us continue to pay our artists. 

Take care of yourself, leave a nice little note for your neighbor, and share it with us on Instagram, Twitter, or Facebook.

1:10, 6:14, 10:10, 13:20 - Thwarted camp counselor emcee at the end-of-camp talent show by Léah Miller featuring some laughing friends

2:29 - In which Michael pretends he’s back in acting school, with a little help from Anooj by Michael John Improta featuring Anooj Bhandari

7:53 - What mediums do you work with? by Anooj Bhandari

13:48 - How I feel after finding out I couldn’t watch the New York Yankees vs. The Philadelphia Phillies baseball game because that game got cancelled because a dozen or more people in the Miami Marlins organization tested positive for Covid-19 last Sunday, and yet they decided to play their games vs. The Phillies anyways by Michael John Improta

Our logo was designed by Shelton Lindsay

Our sound is designed by Anthony Sertel Dean

Hit Play is produced by Anthony Sertel Dean, Julia Melfi, and Léah Miller

Take Care!

Transcript 

Episode 36 Camp

Show Intro

Rhythmic electronic instrumental music plays underneath.

Julia: 36. Camp. I’m Julia Melfi—a New York Neo-Futurist. While our on-going, ever-changing, late-night show, The Infinite Wrench, is on hold for the foreseeable future, we wanted a place to keep making art for you. And thus, Hit Play was born!  

If you’re already a fan of The New York Neo-Futurists, or any of our sibling companies, hi there! We can’t wait to go with you to a house party full of a bunch of random strangers. If this is totally new to you—welcome to it!

We play by four rules: We are who we are, we’re doing what we’re doing, we are where we are, and the time is now. Simply put: we tell stories, and those stories are our own. Everything that you hear is actually happening. So if we tell you to go to bit.ly/2EtmcQZ, we really are asking for you to pull up a web browser and go to bit.ly/2EtmcQZ. 

Julia: And now, Thwarted Camp Counselor Léah will Run the Numbers!

Whistle and the music adds some horns.

Play 0: Thwarted Camp Counselor Emcee (1:10)

Léah: Hey y'all! I really miss camp and all my camp counselor energy has nowhere to go this year so I'm funnelling it into this episode! My staff friends and I usually host the talent show each year and I love filling the set-up time with silly jokes so I am bringing that to Hit Play this week!

We've got a really awesome line-up for you today, I'm stoked about it. First up we've got Michael and then Anooj is on deck, followed by another little surprise! Which means we've made it to 142 audio experiments on this podcast, isn't that wild?? While we queue up Play number 1, I've got a silly joke for ya! I enlisted some friends to fill my virtual joke audience with their giggles and groans.

What's a vampire's favorite fruit? 

Laura: I don't know

Katie: What?

Léah: Neck-tarines! 

Mix of vocal responses and giggling

That one's in honor of stone fruit season! Most summer things might be off-limits right now, but the peaches are SWEET and they sure taste like summer!

Alright, I'll be back on the mic between plays to keep the show flowing and now we're ready for Mike, give it up! 

Music plays out

Play 1: In which Michael pretends (2:29)

Michael: In which Michael pretends he’s back in acting school, with a little help from Anooj. GO!

Michael: I asked Anooj to pick a random song of their choosing for me to perform as a monologue. Once I am told of the choice, I will have 2 minutes to prepare a dramatic reading of the lyrics. I have no clue what song it is, or even if I know the song. So we’re about to find out together. So Anooj can you tell me what song you would like me to deliver?

Anooj: (Sounds like speaker phone in audio quality) Yeah, totally. Um okay. So before I say the title, I picked this song specifically because there's a lot of repetition in it and I am excited to see what you might be able to do with it. So, your song that I picked is Tubthumping by Chumbawamba. 

They both laugh

Michael: AHH, yes. I love that song. Okay. Um, is there a specific part of it? I guess, where would you like me to start and stop--should I just do like--

Anooj: Yeah, I think you should do the entire beginning and then after the chorus where it's like the songs that remind of the good times--that part? You can go through the end of that section.

Michael: Alright. Let's put 2 minutes on the clock and I am going to prepare this song. Okay. 2 min on now. 

iPhone alarm goes off. 

Anooj: Alright. 

Michael: Okay. You ready?

Anooj: You ready? Yup! 

Michael: I think so, I think so. Okay. 

Anooj: Alright, give it, give it your best college acting class try. 

Michael: Alright alright. 

Michael "performs" the following lyrics as a dramatic monologue. Dramatic piano underscore

Michael: We'll be singin' when we're winnin', yeah we'll be singin'. 

I, I get knocked down, but I get up again

You are never gonna keep me down

I get knocked down, but I, I get up again

You are never gonna keep me down

I get knocked down, but I get up again

You are never gonna keep me down

I get knocked down, but I get up again

Cause you are never gonna keep me down

Pissing the night away, pissing the night away!

He drinks a Whiskey drink, he drinks a Vodka drink

He drinks a Lager drink, he drinks a Cider drink

He drinks the songs that remind him of the good times

He drinks the songs that remind him of the better times

(Oh Danny Boy, Danny Boy, Danny Boy)

Music fades

Michael: I think that's it. 

They laugh

Anooj: Nice. You definitely channeled like, uh, like maybe mid-40s man reflecting back on his college days. 

Michael: Yeah! 

Anooj: I really felt the emotion in it. And I also just think it's like really goofy to listen to this song without any melody and just the lyrics. 

Michael: I really enjoyed the last bit about the singing the songs reminding them of times--and I think I was going towards that like, reminiscing on--

Anooj: Nice! Well I'm glad you could reminisce as well. That's what acting is about right? It's probably not just about reminiscing, it's about a lot of things…

Michael: I don't know anymore. (Laughs)

Anooj: Yeah. What is acting?

Michael: Thank you Anooj

Anooj: Of course!

Play 1.5: Thwarted Camp Counselor Emcee (6:14)

Léah: Wow what a fun and silly game, give it up one more time for Michael, with a little help from Anooj of course. _____ I can't hear you on my end of the space-time continuum, but I'm just gonna hope that you paused in your walk or doing the dishes or whatever you're doing to clap those hands for this great Neo talent! 

Alright, your favorite thwarted camp counselor is back with even more puns to tide you over while we queue up Anooj's play. Here we go!

Léah: What do you call an alligator in a vest?

Maia: I don't know, what?

Léah: Investigator!

Mix of responses and giggling overlapped:

Katharine: Huh...

Kirsten: That's a good one. 

Léah: What do corn cobs call their father?

Zev: I don't know! 

Rob: Uhh I don't know. 

Léah: Popcorn! 

Mix of responses and giggling overlapped:

Anthony: Nice. 

Arthur: I need to go. 

Julia: Ooooh

Katie: Great. I love that.

Léah: How does a computer get drunk?

Anthony: I don't know, how did the computer get drunk?

Rob: Ummmm, well I would say, with a really nice bourbon on the rocks. 

Lots of laughter layered

Kirsten: Ha! Ha! Funny!

Léah: No. It takes screen shots! 

Mix of responses and giggling overlapped:

Rob: Oh! That's awesome. Yes of course, and they're shots of BOURBON. 

Lots of laughter

Julia: That's very Rob. 

Léah: How do you wear any boat as a hat?

Kirsten: Ehhhh, I don't know. 

Léah: Just turn it over! And then it's cap-sized! 

Mix of responses and giggling overlapped:

Katharine: Heh, okay, I can, I, yeah.

Maia: Aahhh, dammit.

Katie: Léah!!

Julia: I like that. 

Léah: Okay everyone, give it up for Anooj!! 

Play 2: What mediums do you work with? (7:53)

Anooj: What mediums do you work with? GO!

Funky music underscore

Anooj: I’m not going to call myself a visual artist but I’m also not going to say that I’m not a visual artist. I mean… I have quite a collection of pieces that I’ve made, some collaborative, some not… it just depends on what it’s for. When we say the personal is political, I kind of just like to just let those lines blur, you know?... I like to use real data, found data, ethnographic research, the likes, I feel like it’s really just the best way to create a piece that can project society back to itself, especially at a moment where the space between real, and not, feels like it’s shrinking.  

Some of the pieces have just been ways for me to keep track of changes or categories in my own brain, and some of them have been more for transcendent purposes… predicting, analyzing, umm… inspiration for other visual works, and yes, of course, the ever-so-frequent commission. You gotta take the money where you can find it, you know? My last job took my collection with them after I resigned from feeling a bit burnt out, and like, a year out I just kinda miss those pieces I made… wish, I guess, that I had read the fine print from the start about our quote, collaboration. There’s a lot in there that I’d love to claim as my own to develop into future pieces. 

Oh, my aesthetic? Well, I consider myself a text based artist but perhaps with a bit of a contemporary flair. Imagine like small boxes, neat lines, simplistic with color, but allows the text to emerge as the work itself while remaining... dynamic? When I first started working in this medium… elementary school was maybe the first time, though it was with a bit of a beta version... I felt so free, so happy, just to be making different colored boxes, filling in the lines with the imaginary, but I guess as time has gone on it just kind of feels like… if I’m going to be making art, I might as well be making it for the populus, you know? I’m down to make you a piece if you’d like, it’s super easy to share and it’s digital anyhow so I won’t have any postage costs… on my resume I say that I’m proficient but that’s usually just to get the gig… I think the real learning is in the doing.  But yeah, like, some of my mediums of choice? Um, Google Sheets and data entry. Yeah.

Music plays out with a woosh. 

Play 2.5: Thwarted Camp Counselor Emcee (10:10)

Léah: Wow, what a great line-up this episode! I hope you enjoyed sharing some silly moments with me in between these amazing plays! I love the big smiley groans I get when I share a terrible/wonderful joke, and I hope that these mini moments of fun groaning help to relieve some of the pressure from the terrible groaning that 2020 has inspired. I know it's helped me. 

Camp is usually the best part of my year and I could really use that energy this summer. I can't do some of my favorite things this year, like: 

• collecting leaves and sticks and pebbles to make Andy Goldsworthy inspired nature art by the creek,

• or thinking about joining in on GagaBall but never quite doing so, 

• or painting colorful background swatches on the communal camp paint wall, 

• or sneaking up behind a friend in the lunch line and hug-attacking them from the back, 

• or cropping my camp tshirt and turning the scraps into accessories for camper welcome day,

• or laying on the couches after camp and looking at pictures and snuggle-napping 

So instead of all that, I wrote this silly play and I had a great time emcee-ing this episode of the camp talent show, I mean Hit Play, and I hope to see you next summer with all the mosquito bites, camp crushes, and sharpie tattoos! 

Here's one more joke for the road: 

Léah: Why do ant-eaters never get sick?

Julia: Why?

Léah: Because they're full of antibodies! 

Anthony: groaaaan

Zev: Oh. My. God. 

Maia: groan! 

Kirsten: Okay. 

Léah: Oooh, #toosoon? 

Katie: Yeah. Laughs

Julia: Oh…

Léah: Sorry 'bout it. 

Léah: And one last thing before we go -- Michael had another play to share this week and in the honor of camp talent shows where everyone and anything is welcome, we wanted to get him back up here and in your ears! So now I'm gonna pass the mic to Julia for some announcements and thank yous and then we'll hear from Michael one last time to take us out. 

Stay cool out there, campers! Thwarted camp counselor Léah loves you and misses you! And remember to HYDRATE because HI, YOU'RE GREAT! Love y'all

Show Outro

Chill rhythmic electronic instrumental music plays underneath.

Julia: Thanks for Hitting Play and then listening to Hit Play. If you liked what you heard, subscribe to the show and tell a friend! If you want to support the New York Neo-Futurists in other ways, consider making a donation at nynf.org, or joining our Patreon–Patreon.com/NYNF. Patreon membership gives you access to bonus content like video plays and livestreams. And if this episode gets over 1,000 downloads, we're gonna order one of our Patreon supporters a pizza on us. Who doesn't like free pizza! We’d really appreciate any support in these difficult times. Contributing to our Patreon helps us continue to pay our artists. 

Take care of yourself, leave a nice little note or something for your neighbor, and share it with us on Instagram, Twitter, or Facebook.

This episode featured work by: Léah Miller, Michael John Improta, and Anooj Bhandari.

Our logo was designed by Shelton Lindsay. And our sound is designed by Anthony Sertel Dean. Hit Play is produced by Anthony Sertel Dean, Léah Miller, and me, Julia Melfi. Take Care!

Music fades out!

Play 0.5: Thwarted Camp Counselor Emcee (13:20)

Whistle! 

Léah: Thanks for running us through that Julia!! And now give it up one last time -- and I hope I can hear you across time and space and sound waves -- for Michael, taking us out of this fantastic episode! I really hope I get to hug you all soon, but until then, one last camp counselor reminder to HYDRATE and don't forget the sunscreen, because it's hot out there y'all. Alright, enough of me talking, here is Mike! 

Play 3: How I feel after finding out (13:48)

Michael: How I feel after finding out I couldn’t watch the New York Yankees vs. The Philadelphia Phillies baseball game because that game got cancelled because a dozen or more people in the Miami Marlins organization tested positive for Covid-19 last Sunday, and yet they decided to play their games vs. The Phillies anyways. GO!

Michael: Seriously? Fuck Florida!