A Very Elmwood Christmas?

Happy Holidays to all our fans, friends, and families!

Hope you have a safe and wonderful holiday season!

See ya in 2010!

Come Back January 1 for our first short of 2010!

Poetry Corner with Johnnie Sojive!

Bad Monster!

Bad Monster tells you to do bad things!

Poetry Corner!

Open Sesame (Street) Part 12

Jon here-
So here's the last day of our "Thanks" to Sesame Street, just in time for Thanksgiving. I hope you all have a fantastic Thanksgiving if you celebrate it, and if you don't... Well, I hope you still know this sky is blue sometimes and the stars shine bright sometimes...
For our last one, it's from me... And it's something for me to be thankful for... Amazing friends...
The question I asked the crew was:

"Share with me your favorite moment or memory from anything Sesame Street related"

And here's mine...

Sesame Street is a huge part of why I do what I do, puppetry. I was raised on it in the 1970’s and 1980's. There wasn’t cable yet so TV options were limited, and like good parents do, mine didn’t allow TV to be a babysitter, so I only got to watch TV at certain times. PBS was what I watched, along with some other specific shows, The Muppet Show, and Saturday Morning toons, etc… I learned something from that show that you don’t see too much of these days on TV; Compassion and empathy.

Over the years Sesame Street stayed a constant in my life. When I hit an age where it wasn’t cool to like it anymore, I still did and didn’t care, and then it was cool again because we had all gotten older and there was a nostalgia to it, so I guess I was cooler than I though, hahaha…

In 1993 Pete, our friend Sten, and I bought tickets to see Sesame Street Live as a goof and we ended up with almost front row seats, we were 18, 19 years old. We were jazzed up about this, looked like it was gonna be a goofy Friday nite.

But the Monday before my brother died.

I could have sat at home all bummed out, but Pete and Sten would have none of that. They made sure we went to see "Let's Be Friends" and it was a blast. I laughed all nite about how wacky we were for being there, and two chicks we knew even stalked us to the show, hahaha...

It was a revelation to me that life goes on, Sesame Street was part of that, and it was just what I needed. And going to Sesame Street Live in the fall became a short lived annual tradition that a bunch of us did.

I love my friends, my family, and life is good.
- JB

...

Jim Henson has been quoted as saying

"Life is meant to be fun, and joyous, and fulfilling. May each of yours be that-... Please watch out for each other and love and forgive everybody. It's a good life, enjoy it."

So if you're White, Black, Christian, Jewish, Muslim, Male, Female, a Hermaphrodite, Skinny, Fat, Short, Gay, Straight,

WHATEVER you may be...

Remember we're all part of the Human Race,

Love and respect each other...

We're all we've got.

For more on the history of Sesame Street check out the links below

Street Gang By Michael Davis

Sesame Street: A Celebreation - 40 Years of Live On the Street by Louise Gikow

and

Sesame Street: 40 Years of Sunny Days DVD

Thank you Children's Television Workshop (AKA Sesame Workshop)

For bring us 40 Years of Sesame Street!

Pics for Open Sesame (Street) were snarfed from Muppet Central, Tough Pigs, and MuppetWiki, thanks!

Open Sesame (Street) Part 11

The clip of Super Grover talking to the boy sitting on the wall. It’s a classic clip.
They still use it.
My all time favorite.
- Peter Lucco

Poetry Corner with Johnnie Sojive!

Open Sesame (Street) Part Ten!

I was completely in love with Sesame Street (and still am). When I was little I would watch it at least 2 times a day (even though it was the same exact episode). My mom said it was the only way she could get me to come inside!

On a related note, she also said I would cry hysterically every time the Muppet Show ended. I have Sesame Street to thank for being able to count to ten in Spanish which is virtually the only words I know in a non-English language. (Although I'm still hoping to learn Spanish from Dora & Diego, of which my kids are avid fans.)

I also have a memory of being really annoyed and somehow a little frightened of this clip they would do of a ball bouncing around the box making a really annoying sound until it would finally get out of the box somehow!

- Elizabeth Bohmier,

co-star of "Josh And Todd: The Story of A Man and His Puppet"

Open Sesame (Street) Part Nine

My first memory in adulthood would be that my girls got Elmo, Cookie Monster, and Grover puppets for their 1st birthday and someone (OK... it was me) scared the crap out of Hannah with one of the puppets because she had no idea what it was. But they love those puppets now,
and when they see those characters on TV they run to find their puppet and hold it up to the TV.
- Michelle Lucco,

mother of three, and caretaker of Tricky

Bad Monster!

Bad Monster tells you to do bad things!

Come Back Tomorrow For More Open Sesame (Street)!

Friday the 13th!!!

Be Safe Out There And Watch Out for

DEMONS!

Open Sesame (Street) Part Eight

"It was the only TV show I was allowed to watch as a kid, (besides David the Gnome) and I have no memory of it."
- Amanda Regan,

co-star of "Josh And Todd: The Story of a Man And His Puppet

But soon after Amanda made that statement she also disclosed:

"I used to have a crush on Ernie"

Open Sesame (Street) Part Seven

The music of Sesame Street has always amazed me. I would play my Sesame Street records all day, and play with my dolls and puppets of the characters, putting on my own Muppet shows for an audience of none, and I loved it.

Ernie singing “I Don’t Want To Live On the Moon” is a piece of art in itself, and of course “Bein’ Green”, probably the first song about equality and self respect I ever heard, but at three years old, to me, it was just Kermit saying it’s OK to be yourself…

And he’s right. It is.

- Jon Bristol

Both songs are available on the CD below, get it now!

Open Sesame (Street) Part Six

I didn't watch a whole lot of Sesame Street when I was a kid... Until I was 6 and saw "Follow that Bird", was without doubt the most amazing movie of my life.

The noble struggle of the Biggest of Birds to find what his real place in the world was. The pathos, the agony, the ecstacy, you get the idea. After that, I found out there was a TV show and I was hooked.

I guess, in some ways, you could say I'm still following that bird.

- Mark Elsinger

Open Sesame (Street) Part Five

Jon here -

So with a little nudge from Chris who suggested we celebrate the 40th Sesaon of Sesame Street starting this month I shot out an email to the Elmwood crew and a few friends asking:

"Share with me your favorite moment or memory from anything Sesame Street related"

And Jorge Gonzalez (star of "Betty And Me")replied:

"Waiting patiently for Oscar and the Count."

Poetry Corner!

A Very Special Poetry Corner on a Very Special Day

Open Sesame (Street) Part Four

"Share with me your favorite moment or memory from anything Sesame Street related"

Sesame Street had an impact on my life, but even more so on my brother and mother. For much of our childhoods my mother was a stay-at-home mom. During the day she was very attentive and we didn't watch a lot of TV, but every day when Sesame Street came on, we would watch that while my mom got a little peace, took a shower, poured herself a cup of coffee, whatever, content that we were safely enthralled watching the greatest neighborhood in the world.

While I loved Super Grover and the Count, my brother was more fond of Big Bird and Ernie. One day, when my brother, Cameron, was a toddler, I was off at school and my mother dropped Cam in front of Big Bird and went off to take a shower. As she shut the water off, from in the living room she heard my brother screaming as though being torn apart by a pack of wild Honkers and Dingers. Grabbing a towel, she vaunted out of the shower, slamming her big toe on the edge of the tub, breaking it. In agony, she stumbled out into the living room, where my brother stood, pointing at the TV crying "Big Bird all done. Sesame Street is over!"

Truly a testament to the power those Muppets have over our lives.
- Josh Tanner

More to Come... But tomorrow we go back to our normal madness with a

Very Special Poetry Corner

Open Sesame (Street) Part Three

"Share with me your favorite moment or memory from anything Sesame Street related"

I don't remember this myself but my mom tells this story any time she can.

When I was 9 months old, I was in my room with my mom getting my diaper changed. She put me down on the floor and was cleaning up and Sesame Street came on in the background. I heard it, started calling out "Big Bir, Big Bir" and couldn't crawl fast enough out of the room to get to the TV.

I got up and just started to walk instead.

- Kelly Osborne

Open Sesame (Street) Part Two

"Share with me your favorite moment or memory from anything Sesame Street related"

Jim Willams said:

Two Words: Super Grover!

Open Sesame (Street) Part One

Jon here-

So I get an email this morning from Chris and it says something to the effect of; "We should do something in honor of Sesame Street"...

And he's right!

In case you didn't know this week the 40th Season of Sesame Street begins. That's quite an amazing thing... And Sesame Street is something we all grew up with and is something that definitely influenced many of us here in Elmwood to do what we do...

So in honor of Sesame Street, from todat through Thanksgiving, we'll be posting some of our favorite memories of that wonderful place in the ghetto. I sent n email out to the Elmwood Crew and a few of our close friends asking them this:

"Share with me your favorite moment or memory from anything Sesame Street related"

And since Chris got this ball rolling we'll start with his...

I believe it would be the truck scene from "Follow that Bird"…
"Jump Big Bird!"
"I can't jump from a moving vehicle. That's not safe. I shouldn't even be standing.""Ok, this one time, I give you special permission…"
I also enjoy Mandy Patinkin as Huxley in The Adventures of Elmo in Grouchland:
My Wubbie!
Blanket
Wubbie!Blanket!Wubbie!

- Christopher A. Lemanski

More to come!

Happy Halloween! Get Ready to Lock and Load!

Art By Gabe Finkinstein

Poetry Corner!

Puppet A Day

Jon Here...

Puppet A Day hits the One Year mark today!

I pulled it off, hahaha...

Ends just as it started... With Plink!



Hope you enjoyed and keep checking back on it, more puppets will keep going up!

JB

Happy Halloween From The Bad Monster!

Turn your volume up before playing, Bad Monster has a sore throat...

Don't Forget!

Tomorrow Friday October 9th 2009 the Annual
Southington Apple Harvest
is having a Restaurant Crawl!
Each restaurant will have amazing entrees, live music, and an artist on site creating an original work of art that will be auctioned off at the end of the crawl for charity! Tickets for the crawl are running low (if not sold out by now) so get them ASAP!

Gabe will be at Asado cartooning, and I will be at Machiavelli's making a one of a kind puppet!


Here's a PDF of the menu for each restaurant involved in the crawl! Hope you come down and get some great food and have a great time!

JB

Poetry Corner

Win a Puppet and Eat Some Great Food!

On Friday October 9th 2009 the Annual

Southington Apple Harvest

is having a Restaurant Crawl!

Each restaurant will have amazing entrees, live music, and an artist on site creating an original work of art that will be auctioned off at the end of the crawl for charity!

Elmwood's Gabe Finkinstein will be at Asado cartooning,

and myself, Jon Bristol will be at Machiavelli's making a one of a kind puppet!

Here's a PDF of the menu for each restaurant involved in the crawl! Hope you come down and get some great food and have a great time!

JB

You liked the Trading Cards...

...now see what's in store.



Fall 2009 it gets a little Funky in here.

Check out all the Funk at Funk Fu's Blog

Facebook...

Yup, we finally set one up...

So click here to be a Fan and stop asking us too!!!

Hahahaha...

Poetry Corner with Johnnie Sojive!

Bad Monster!

Bad Monster tells you to do bad things!

Poetry Corner

Happy Labor Day!

Jon here...

It's Labor Day weekend again, so we at Elmwood Productions want to remind you to support the MDA!
Jerry Lewis and his gang will be on tonite and tomorrow so check your local listings and watch some of the telethon and call in and make a donation! It's up to you and I to help find cures!
Thanks!

- JB

NEWS FLASH: A DORK MEETS A GIRL!

Josh and Todd star Eric Stegmaier is getting married today! Congrats man and good luck!

We love you man and hope your future with Heather is wonderful, beautiful, fun, and funky!

-The Elmwood Crew

Poetry Corner with Johnnie Sojive!

Art in Connecticut!

New Britian Museum Of American Art is having its

Second Annual Summer Art Auction

on Aug. 21, 2009, and two Elmwood pals will be featured!

Art by Gabe Finkinstein and Brie McDonald will be up for auction!

So come on out to the party (last years was awesome) and place a bid on some amazing art!

Click the links above for more info and we hope to see you there!

And Gabe has also just released his first book!

Gabrielle and the Extraordinary

was written by Katherine Mikol and illustrated by Gabe and is now available at xlibris.

Bad Monster!

Bad Monster tells you to do bad things!

Simon Sinister Live! Free!

Simon Sinister will be playing live at The Pourhouse in Hartford CT Tuesday August 11th.

Its free!

There's gonna be some other bands too, but who cares about them? Simon Sinister free!!!

Bring your whole crew and tell your mom!

Show starts around 9:30.

Free free free!!!!!

This might be the last one for a while so don't miss it!

Hope to see you out there!

Poetry Corner with Johnnie Sojive!

Thanks ConnectiCon!

Jon here-

I just want to say thanks to everyone who came out this past weekend to ConnectiCon and met Steve the Vampire and his Mom!
Those of you who came to the screenings laughed and that means we're doing our jobs right! Thanks for coming!

If you missed out on getting one of the DVDs we had available or if you missed the screening and still want to see the madness in the comfort of your home shoot me an email and I'll get the details on how to get one to you!

Again, thanks for having fun with us, we met a ton of great people, and see you next time!

Jon Bristol
jon(at)elmwoodproductions(dot)com

Happy Birthday Mark!

While Mark Celebrates his 30th Birthday at the bar with his friend Todd it's time for you to check out the latest teaser trailer for Josh and Todd: The Story of A Man and His Puppet!

Steve The Vampire! Tomorrow At ConnectiCon!

Make sure to hit ConnectiCon this Saturday for a screening of

Steve The Vampire!

And stick around after the screening to meet Steve and his mom!

The screenings are Saturday and Sunday AM for you true vampires out there!

ConnectiCon 2009 This Weekend!

Make sure to hit

ConnectiCon, The biggest and best SCi-Fi/Gaming/Madness convention in New England ,

this Saturday for a screening of
Steve The Vampire!

And stick around after the screening to meet Steve himself!

The screenings are:

Saturday, August 1st at 2:30PM in Marriott Capital Room 3

and for you true vampires out there

Sunday August 2nd at 5AM in Marriott Capital Room 1!

Check out all the details in Connecticon's program.

Simon Sinister Live!

The semi-official band of Elmwood Productions; SIMON SINISTER is playing live this Sunday...
Here's the details:

Simon Sinister show at Bleachers in Bristol CT This Sunday, the 19th. 10bands, 10 bucks.

Drink and wing specials all day.

Hope to see ya there!!!

4 men and about 7 years ago...

Here's a few years of laughs summed up in about a minute.

Enjoy.

Bad Monster!

Bad Monster tells you to do bad things!

Poetry Corner

Happy 4th!

Don't Blow Off Your Fingers!

Bad Monster!

Bad Monster tells you to do bad things!

Too Much

Too Much

Back To Elmwood Productions

Blog Main Page

Too Much is the red-headed step brother of Secrets and Other Things

Poetry Corner!!!

Stash!

We have a winner!

Pictured above with Bad Monster is his buddy with a name...

STASH!!!

Meaghan from Middletown in the winner!

Congrats and keep a lookout for Stash to be moving into your place soon!

He asked us to tell you:

"I hope you're single (or at least have single friends) and ready for the sexy of a grey haired puppet to invade your personal space!"

So good luck with this guy! And look out for Stash in an upcoming short here at Elmwood Productions!

Runner -Ups!

We had so many names sent in we can't post them all today! But we did pick a random winner and five runner ups!
The Runner Ups will be getting a DVD featuring a bunch of our shorts
Here they Are:

Mandy in Arizona named him

Marvin C. Peabody

Jenn in Connecticut named him

Superfly Whiteguy

Ben in West Virginia named him

Thaddeus

Kristian in Illinois named him

Mr. Wilford Habershakle

(this was Jon's fave)

Teri in St. Paul named him

Max Python

And the winner will be announced tomorrow!

Don't forget to enter our Name That Puppet contest!

The contest closes on Sunday night!

Click on the picture for all the details!

Smoker Of Fury

Smoker of Fury

and

Johnnie Sojive's Poetry Corner!

Back To Elmwood Productions

Blog Main Page

Do You Take This Man? Are You Sure?

Elmwood Alumni Josh Leder got married recently, Congrats!

Bad Monster!

Bad Monster tells you to do bad things!

Don't Forget to Enter The Name An Elmwood Puppet Contest!

ATTENTION JITTERBUGS!

Just a little update as to what we've been doing since the first of the year...

Editing it going on for our first feature length film Josh and Todd: The Story of a Man and His Puppet. We're also nearly done shooting the thing! Only one more scene to go!

Watch out for return of Steve the Vampire!

No, we haven't forgotten about Steve!

And don't forget to enter the Name This Puppet Contest!

We're alive and well and busy!

Stay crazy and stay tuned!

WIN A ELMWOOD PUPPET!

WIN THIS PUPPET!!! On March 8, 2009 on the A Puppet A Day blog Jon posted a puppet with no name. Here is your chance to own that one of a kind puppet made by Jon Bristol of The Elmwood Puppets!

All you have to do to enter the contest is to name the puppet!

Here is your chance to own a one of a kind puppet used in an Elmwood Production!

Here's how to enter:

Email Jon with the name you want the guy to have and your email address and shipping address (no Post Office Boxes, sorry)

All the names will be posted on the A Puppet A Day blog on June 1, 2009

and the winner will be announced the next day!

So send those names to

jon(at)elmwoodproductions(dot)com

and in the subject line type:My puppet's name is...

Good Luck!!!

Official Rules: Contest open only to the United States and Canada, enter as many times as you'd like, winner will be picked at random, puppet will ship in June 2009 to the winner. This is a one of a kind puppet, and not necessarily a child's toy, and is not subject to safety standards. Clothing on puppet will differ from the picture above.

Don't Tell Me You Fell For That!?

Computer animation?

Nope, not here in Elmwood...

Here's your monthly visit from the Bad Monster!

Bad Monster tells you to do bad things!

Ch-Ch-Ch-CHANGES

Effective today we, Elmwood Productions, have decided to no longer work with puppets.

We've decided to join this hot new trend of computer animation. You may have heard of it. it's great. You can do animation with computers and it looks cold and unreal even when you try real hard to make it look real.

This is the wave of the future and we plan to be on board!

So look for all your fave Elmwood characters to return soon, but in awesome computer animated glory!

More From "Twilight" at Hot Topic In Buckland Mall!

Here are some more pictures from the Twilight midnite release party at the Hot Topic in Manchester from Friday March 20th!

And if you were there and got any pics please send them to

jon(at)elmwoodproductions(dot)com

and he'll add them here too! Thanks for coming out!

And thanks Shane and his crew at Hot Topic!

Twilight Release Nite! HotTopic In Manchester!

Here are some pictures from the Twilight midnite release party at the Hot Topic in Manchester from Friday March 20th! Just is just the first batch, there are more to come! So check back next Monday!!!

And if you were there and got any pics please send them to jon(at)elmwoodproductions(dot)com and he'll add them here too!

Thanks for coming out!

And thanks Shane and his crew at Hot Topic!