Distant Voice

How About the Distant Voice

Have any of you ever tried the Distant Voice? How would you teach someone else how to do it? Let me tell you a little story about the distant voice. My first ventriloquist convention, July 1980, I had been performing ventriloquism for about 13 years at this point. Now, I had never met another ventriloquist so I was excited to be here. I was 19 and thought I knew it all.

Well, Mark Wade got on stage at the Drawbridge Motor Inn and started to welcome everyone and then, from a distance I heard," Hey Mark!", "Nice distant voice" Mark replied. This happened quite a few times and then I realized, this voice wasn't from a distance it was right behind me! Sitting right behind me was none other than Nacho Estrada.

I went back to my hotel that night and called my parents. "I stink" was the first thing I told my Dad. I had never seen so many great ventriloquists in my whole life and had never heard anything like the distant voice before. I realized that I had a lot to learn. Thankfully, I hooked up with a vent by the name of Michael Shirley who knew how to do the distant voice and sat me down and taught me how to do it correctly.

Next, how to correctly get that distant voice sound!

Know Your Figure

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OK so that's one type of figure. But that's not the type of figure I'm talking about. I'm talking about knowing your ventriloquist figure. What do I mean by that? Here's one suggestion. Write down a list of questions you might ask a mentor or someone you are interested in. Then, ask your figure the same questions. Listen to an interview on TV by a talk show host and decide how your figure might answer these questions.

What else can you do to get to know your figure? Put them in situations and see how they might handle them. Let's say, for example, your figure says he's going to treat you to an ice cream cone. After you both order and get your cones your figure reaches into his/her pocket and notices they only have enough money to pay for one of the cones. How would your figure react? What kind of routine could you come up with? What kind of emotions is your figure going through?

You get the picture. Now, at the bottom of this blog there is a place to make comments. Why don't you take a minute and post some other ways you might be able to get to know your figure better. It would be an advantage to all who read this blogger. Have a great day!!

How I became a Family Entertainer

How I got in to Family Entertainment

I forgot to tell you how I got involved in family entertainment. This was a very interesting story. I was a congregation leader at a church (this is going somewhere I promise) and I lead the singing every Sunday. This was an important position because, if for any reason I missed, there was no one there to substitute. Anyway, for some reason my family decided to stop at my wife's parent's house on this particular Sunday morning. While I was there my Mother-in-law asked me if I ever heard of Mark Wade. I mentioned that I knew him and she said,"Well, he's performing at a church in the area this morning. It was in the paper." I asked her where that paper was and we checked and saw that it was today in the morning service.

Well, I had a dilemma, I needed to lead the congregation singing at my church but I really wanted to go see Mark. So, I went to my church and talked to the pastor, he said that there was someone there that could do my job so that freed me up to go and see Mark. I was happy that I could finally see Mark perform at something besides the conVENTion.

We got to the church and waited for Mark to go on. As I looked around, I noticed that Mark Wade was no where to be found. I told Sue (my wife) that I hadn't seen him yet. She decided to ask one of the members of the church where Mark was at and they said that Mark had gotten in a car accident and was unable to make it. What a disappointment, I thought.

Goes to show how your attitude makes a difference. Because what I saw as a disappointment, Sue saw as an opportunity. She said, " Tell them that you do ventriloquism." Well, after arguing with her for a couple minutes (I really didn't have anything prepared) I finally said OK and told them and they said they would be more than happy for me to perform in Marks absence.

I went home and got my figures, did my performance, and the rest is history. So, I guess I can say, thank you Mark Wade for getting in the car accident that day because it shaped my future in ventriloquism.

Good Ohio, Pa, Michigan jokes

I know these were written for Ohio but I think they will work well for many states including the ones mentioned above, enjoy!!

Jeff Foxworthy on Ohio
If you consider it a sport to gather your food by drilling through 18 inches of ice and sitting there all day hoping that the food will swim by, you might live in Ohio.
If your local Dairy Queen is closed from November through March, you might live in Ohio.
If you instinctively walk like a penguin for five months out of the year, you might live in Ohio.
If someone in a store offers you assistance & they don't work there, you might live in Ohio.
If your dad's suntan stops at a line curving around the middle of his forehead, you might live in Ohio.
If you have worn shorts and a parka at the same time, you might live in Ohio. If your town has an equal number of bars and churches, you might live in Ohio.
If you have had a lengthy telephone conversation with someone who dialed a wrong number, you might live in Ohio.

YOU KNOW YOU ARE A TRUE OHIOAN WHEN:
1. Vacation means going east or west on I 80 for the weekend.
2. You measure distance in hours.
3. You know several people who have hit a deer more than once.
4. You often switch from heat to AC in the same day and back again.
5. You can drive 65 mph through 2 feet of snow during a raging blizzard, without flinching.
6. You see people wearing camouflage at social events (including weddings).
7. You install security lights on your house and garage and leave both unlocked.
8. You carry jumper cables in your car and your girlfriend knows how to use them.
9. You design your kids Halloween costume to fit over a snowsuit.
10. Driving is better in the winter because the potholes are filled with snow.
11. You know all 5 seasons: almost winter, winter, still winter, road construction, & It's Hot.
12. Your idea of creative landscaping is a statue of a deer next to your blue spruce.
13. Down south means Wheeling to you.
14. A brat is something you eat.
15. Your neighbor throws a party to celebrate his new pole shed.
16. You go out to a tailgate party every Friday.
17. You have more miles on your snow blower than your car.
18. You find 0 degrees, a little chilly.

Find your Niche

Here's the problem I had starting with ventriloquism, finding my niche. Now I know at the age of 12, when I first started performing, I wasn't much of a writer. Here's what I did, took some material from Jimmy Nelson's Instant Ventriloquism and a couple routines from a Flip Wilson album. Combined them, and performed at adult gatherings.

When I became a teen, I ordered a figure from Alan Semok and began performing, again at adult gatherings, using bits and pieces from Alex Housten's album (with his permission). Now here's the thing, first of all, I wasn't even concentrating on writing my own material and second, I was performing Alex's material at CHURCH FUNCTION! Wow did I have a long way to go to find my niche.

As I got older I tried the Comedy Clubs and actually took 1st place in a competition. Didn't really care for the environment and didn't go back. Not until I was in my 30's did I start performing family shows at churches, my niche. Now I didn't even think about doing this and fell upon it as an accident. More on that story tomorrow. Here's the point to all this rambling and history, not everyone is cut out to be a comedy club entertainer, a church entertainer or a kids show entertainer. Find your niche, try everything and see what works for you.

Take Advice

There is one thing about people. Some you really like and others you don't care for all that much. It's just human nature to not like some people. The way they look, act or remind you of someone else that was not very nice to you. One thing I've found out about the people that I don't like and that is this, I don't want to hear anything about what they have to say.

Now it's easy in yahoo groups and emails to get an attitude about one of the people who post on these groups. Once you get this opinion of them, you automatically delete any email from them before reading it. Let's face it, you don't want to hear their advice on anything. How do I know this? I have a camera in you house and have watched you do it. No, really, I've done it myself. Then I realized, even if I don't like them maybe I can learn something from them. Everyone is knowledgeable about something. Why should I deny myself that knowledge just because I don't like the person?

And so I've been more cautious, both online and in person, to make sure I listen to what everyone has to say. If you do the same I think you will notice you may even start liking that person a little more than you already do. Take it from me, Mr. Close Minded, it's a growing process and one worth practicing!

Practice, Practice, Practice

Practice

Well if there is one thing that makes true professionals, I mean the best of the best, you know the vents I'm talking about. In the 60's and 70's it was Paul Winchell, Shari Lewis and Jimmy Nelson. Today it's Jeff Dunham, Ronn Lucas and Jay Johnson. Anyway, what makes them better than any of us average vents? One word, PRACTICE.

Ask any of the vents that you consider to be flawless and they will tell you that they practice. I don't mean once on a Thursday or a half an hour right before the show. They practice everyday, and I bet if you ask them, they practice the hard stuff.

I remember when I used to play trumpet my band director once told me, "The problem is you don't practice the hard things. You enjoy playing the things you can so much that when you get to the hard parts you skip over them and go to the next thing that is easy to play." And that was so true. What about you, are you great at manipulation and so that's all you work on? Maybe you the king of distant voice so you thrill everyone with that.

Practice the hard things, the things you hate to do. The things you think you can get by without, and this will make you another Paul Winchell or Shari Lewis. Be committed to the art, and not just the things that are easy. Make your figure come alive with new manipulation, get those B's and M's down to perfection. And most of all, enjoy your time with your figure. Lifes to short, practice what you enjoy.

Ventriloquist Conventions

Is it True??

Can it be true, Mark Wade is lecturing at Vegas and Valentine Vox is lecturing at VentHaven? Yes it is and thank God that these 2 greats in the ventriloquist world can do what many have thought was impossible, join together 2 of the biggest vent conventions and let everyone realize that there is no competition, just great fun and learning.

It's not an East vs. West, Vegas vs. Kentucky it's just 2 conventions with lots of great fellowship, sharing and fun. For those of you who have had the chance to attend both I'm sure you have a lot of great stories to tell from each. I have not had the opportunity to attend both conventions but I hope, some day, I will.

Let's all put our hands together for Mark and Valentine for the great effort they put forth to make sure that this happens.

God Bless you both!!

Vegas Convention
VentHaven Convention