What are you hiding from?
The Masked Foole shares his Covid journey of discovery and art
Challenges – written and edited by TheFoole – SEE VIDEO BELOW
I get asked often …
Why the mask?
Why not something more ornate or colourful?
What don’t you want people to see?
What are you hiding from?
Well there’s no hiding really, I’m just a human being going through life much as everyone else, watching the world from his point of view…
At this epoch of our human evolution, what someone, or something, looks like seems to be the overwhelming criteria for their success and sometimes survival.
I’m not hiding, I am playing a character, I am the messenger placing the emphasis on the message. Music.
The practical reality of bringing this to life is another matter, I wear a very basic plastic plain white mask, which may serve it’s purpose, but leave challenges …
It’s not easy to breath, it is very warm after a few minutes, your vision is compromised, and speaking or singing is the biggest challenge.
My first gigs at 14 – 15 years old playing the drums and singing … parties, high schools, and eventually weddings… then bars …
Live has been the training ground, where i made lots of mistakes and got better, where my voice got stronger and more confident, where the callousses on my fingers solidified, where the sweat rolled onto whatever equipment I was handling.
How do I bring TheFoole onto the stage without sacrificing the audio that i want so many people to pay attention to?
Sundays are rest days for me, and while watching an old black and white movie a couple of months back an idea popped into my head that may take care of some, if not most, of the challenges.
For this, two major pieces had to fall in place.
The first is the most essential…I send away for the first piece through Amazon…Delivery 4-6 weeks…Ouch by today A.D.D standards, a lifetime away…
Days pass, and as the delivery had left China, the progress was easy to chart, and my patience won out because i really believe with a little work this can not only overcome the challenges, but would also add an another layer to this whole, think…in other words if it works it will be fucking cool…I envision a slow reveal like the first look at Darth Vader… I always think in big events in my mind.
Six weeks have come. Elapsed as it’s now two day past the last delivery and I kinda have that disappointed look a child gets when he didn’t get the thing he waited for his birthday. Further probe into the matter, it was lost, I got a refund…and now 2 months later I have to start again…I still think the idea will work, but I nedd this first piece and they are not cheap so this had better work.
Disappointed but not at all defeated, the search continues for the first piece….I still see the Darth Vader reveal on a loop in my mind’s eye…and think…hmmm what kind of lighting will i need for that shot….I’ll check back and tell you what’s going on…
So it’s Sunday, the one day a week, where I take some down time, watch old black and white films, where they say stuff like ” I’m gonna get you copper …see ” or ” with a New Jersey accent” Ge outta here”
We find 2 or 3 films, make a batch of organic home made popcorn and just chill, no phones, no email, no other media…..feet up ready to relax…
it was a similar sunday months back that i got an idea while watching a film, how the problem of communicating without the hinderance of the plastic mask, you know the one that after 4 – 5 minutes the condensation build a nice insulating vapour barrier, on the white plastic.
Here we are and a similar scene comes on , and oh ..oh…wait…this might not work, the thing is quite big, and could be seen as odd, I don’t mind looking different, maybe even abstract, but what i don’t want is a cheesy looking thing that just brings everything down….
A little panic insues…my god what do we do ?, …maybe there’s a reason the one i ordered never came, maybe it’s beacuse this may not be the answer…
I don’t have plan B….Yikes!!! there have beenquite a few radio stations internationally who want to do Zoom or Skype calls…i tried explaining i only do audio interviews cause of the restrictions of the mask I wear…my voice might not be altogether intelligible, and distorted…
Plus as i form the words the mask jiggles in an unflattering way….so I promise them to find a work around and will get back to them…
All this runs through my head as now the panic is a bit more discernible…I mean people are taking notice of The Foole, what do I do ???…well a slight bit later we stop the film, and discuss it, i think with some modification this actually might work, but it means finding someone who can handle tools to modify an existing item without distroying it and without losing the mystique…
There is an answer and when i have the cash flow I will have it custom made, and build in a microphone to enable to sing. I won’t give it away, but a wireless headset mic, could fit inside, so the sound is not really changed much…stay tuned…this is a bit of a challenge, but I feel like the direction is correct, and we just need to find 1 or 2 people , but it’s probably feasible…the anxiety slowly receded into the background i breathe a might easier…i have time, This time….. Thanks COVID!
Mask Appeal: some closure !
It’s 9:30 Monday morning, the house echoes with the sound of the front door…3 times…knock, knock knock!
I pick up my Covid Mask and head for the door, holler out ” Just a minute”… swing the metal and glass door that greets everyone to our home. No-one’s there…
As i stick out my hidden face I see just over next door the scurrying of the postman, yes just a minute Mr. Postman …he drives off….I look down…..my heart starts beating as if I had just won, Miss Congeniality at a fair beauty pageant….no ,not really, but my heart was pumping a little harder…it’s bigger than a breadbox….
No! it can’t be ????
I frantically tear away at the clearly stressed cardboard, and as the box in now in tatters, there on my kitchen island, The Mask…it has arrived…the mask that will allow me to breathe, talk and dare i say Sing!!! without hinderance…
We saw it in a tv series and thought this could really come off cheesy, is it too big , too cumbersome, too much to deal with from a simple musician…..
I put it on….it fits just right, it’s not too heavy, I breathe properly, i speak and i don’t sound like i will be robbing a bank today….and it looks Fucking Cool …
One more piece to the puzzle… I need an artist to put the final. Very important last touch…
I can see it now… it’s gonna work, and it will be side2, Face 2 , the Live Foole
The hair on my arms up in anticipation….
To paraphrase Jack Nicholson as the Joker said in the first Batman…
“Wait til they get a load of me…”
#COVID #MASK #MUSIC #THEME