Life Changes Show, April 10, 2017
Life Changes Show with Filippo Voltaggio and cohost Mark Laisure
“Creating Character,” with Guest, Puppet Artist, Gary Jones, of “Gary Jones and the Yuppets” (Young Urban Professional Puppets), and Musical Guest, Singer / Songwriter, Mike Moody, on The LIFE CHANGES Show
GUEST: GARY JONES and MUSICAL GUEST: MIKE MOODY
Guest, Mike Moody
MIKE MOODY
A caffeinated 22 year old with endless authenticity. Mike’s mojo as a musician is to emulate the Soulful sounds of the 70’s with his hometown Michigan style. When you follow signs for I-94 East from LA to the MOTOR CITY, you’ll eventually end up where it all began for the songwriter. Mike moved to California at the beginning of 2016 and has been building his music career and followership over the last year. He has performed over 120 shows in California thus far and is motivated to continue expanding his resume.
Mike has also been featured in Music Connection Magazine’s 2016 List of Hot 100 Unsigned Artists. Mike recently graduated from Musicians Institute where he met his partner, Andy Vimar, in the Guitar Program which was the foundation for their band, Mike Moody and the Motion. The band is releasing their first single in the summer of 2017.
Guest, Gary Jones
GARY JONES
In 1967, Gary Jones began his professional life as a puppet artist in Chicago as the scenic designer of the world famous Kungsholm Miniature Grand Opera. Jones’ unusual talents were immediately praised through his imaginative productions of The King & I, Porgy & Bess, Gypsy, My Fair Lady, Oliver, and Bizet’s Carmen.
In l975, he founded his own company, The Blackstreet USA Puppet Theatre which presents “Gary Jones & The YUPPETS” (Young Urban Professional Puppets).
Since then he has handcrafted hundreds of puppets, trained several aspirants in his unique performance technique and witnessed his work applauded by both national and international audiences. Box office attendance records were broken for his residencies at The Smithsonian Institution, Division of Performing Arts in the ’80s.
Over the years, Jones has created an original and eclectic repertoire suited for both adults and young people with a cutting edge focus on dance.
He has been the recipient of numerous grants and awards including “The Crystal Castle” from the Walt Disney Corporation for his outstanding work with children. His work has been written about in countless reviews and newspaper articles. In l998 People magazine profiled his unique efforts integrating art and the educational experience illuminating such controversial topics as AIDS, conflict resolution, drugs, and self esteem.
Jones harbors a very deep concern for senior citizens and has volunteered countless performances in convalescent homes in Los Angeles.
The opulent elite world of the Kungsholm Miniature Grand Opera of Chicago which Jones experienced as a teenager conditioned him in ways which are still visible in his vocation as a puppet and doll artist. Once he began working there his daily exposure to high European culture inevitably led him to other such forms. One such heretofore closed world was the international ballet stage. Today he admits his balletomania with a smile. With pride he relates the charmed reactions of Ruth Page, Cynthia Gregory, Paul Russell, Charmaine Hunter, Alvin Ailey, Garth Fagan, and Dwight Rhoden to the Blackstreet USA Puppet Theatre. Their influence on his performance technique is witnessed in an undeniable favoritism lavished on the dance puppets in his theatre.
His devotion to a vegetarian diet and daily yoga echoes the lifestyle of the dancer life he discovered too late to join. He has been criticized for this absolute immersion in art. There was no television in his home for 30 years! And living in Los Angeles has not changed the fact that he attends a film once a year, if that. He is overly familiar and critical of neighborhood libraries and considers a visit to the central building a treat.
He attributes his addiction to books to the influence of his late brother who earned a Ph.D. at 25.
“Maybe I’m still competing with him on some level.” Jones is a walker and explorer of his adopted Los Angeles and its sometimes bizarre architecture. Unfortunately on occasion he has aroused police suspicion when observed inspecting the details of structures that fascinate and inspire him. Yet as an amateur photographer he rarely snaps the buildings. The camera lens is always directed at his puppets or dolls. With the snap of the shutter he maintains that he sees deeper into each character. Often this insight leads to the creation of a new figure or time at the keyboard writing a new script.
Gary has said that, “art speaks directly to our souls…it is from this place that we can begin again in joy.”
Life Changes Show
Come and join the conversation about what's going on and what we can do together about it, with it, and for it. We have the choice, we have the power. We can do magic if we just believe!
A show about the changes going on in us, to us, around us, and because of us. Therefore, it's technically a show about "Everything," only with a how to make it better, see it better, be better.
In the show, there is talk about, and with, people who have either been through major changes, are helping others with major changes, or people who are changing the world for the better in a major way.
The show is a one-hour talk show format with a monologue by the host, a 30 minute interview with a guest of note, capped by a "Producer's Wrap" segment, in which Filippo and Co-Host Mark Laisure, and sometimes surprise guests, bring it all home for the listeners in a sometimes humorous and sometimes touching, but always entertaining conversation.
