MOST SURPRISING/EXCITING PERFORMANCES OF 2012

NOVEMBER 15TH - TREASURE MAMMAL GETTING COMPLETELY NAKED @FUNNY WORLD FOR SPACE ALIEN DONALDS BIRTHDAY
Space Alien Donald is the worlds oldest gay Canadian rapper, for his birthday he had a very special lineup of his favorite performers. Treasure Mammal was the headliner for the evening, they brought out all the stops for Donald on his special day. A Barack O Bama blow up doll, a cover of the Smiths “this charming man”, shake weight and full on butt nakedness. The best part was, it didn’t seem weird at all and a grip of other people (boys and girls) started getting naked too in this amazing, fun loving naked dance party in the Funny World living room.

OCTOBER 24TH – ANDREW JEMSEK DOING ARMPIT FARTS ALONG TO “THE BLUE DANUBE” @FUNNY WORLD FOR THE PHOENIX HAS GOT TALENT COMPETITION
Tears were brought to my eyes when amongst all of these terrible “talents” that a bunch of phoenix 20somethings has to offer, Andrew Jemsek turns off all the lights, brings out a record player and puts on 2001: A Space Odessy. Then takes off his suit jacket and slides his hand into his armpit and plays along to this 9 minute masterpiece.

Photo by Dave Driscoll

OCTOBER 14TH – SERENE DOMINIC REFUSING TO START HIS SET UNTIL HE SOLD $50 WORTH OF MERCHANDISE @THE TRUNK SPACE
It was a gutsy move and a smart move and it worked!

SEPTEMBER 22ND – HI MY NAME IS RYAN RE-ENACTING THE FAMOUS BILLIE JOE TANTRUM AND FILLING THE VENUE WITH FIREWORKS SMOKE AND THEREFOR RUINING THE REST OF THE SHOW @SPACE 55 FOR THE DOWN LO-SOLO SHOW
After witnessing the greatest tantrum ever performed by a rock star I decided to throw out my previous ideas for this particular nights act and try a new spin on this event.

APRIL 28TH – DOGBRETH ORCHESTRA @THE TRUNK SPACE FOR THE REAL COACHELLA
It seems like the for the past couple years Tristan Jemsek has been trying to take himself and his art more seriously. That is why his performance with the Dogbreth Orchestra at the 2012 Real Coachella was so much fun and came as such a wonderful surprise. The performance consisted of Mr. T. Jemsek doing a bizarre candle/robe ritual and then kicking into the song “santa baby” on a wide variety of instruments starting with an electric guitar and ending with a trumpet. The whole thing lasted maybe 8 minutes, but it was pure gold.

Photo by Sara Avery

APRIL 28TH - KEVIN FLANAGAN AND ASHLEY NAFTULE PERFORMING AS “HI OUR NAME IS RYAN” @THE TRUNK SPACE FOR THE REAL COACHELLA
Kevin Flanagan and Ashley Naftule are a great comedic duo known Their performance at the Real Coachella was one giant tongue and cheek mockery of most of my career as a solo artist. Everything from telling personal stories, to singing out of tune, to making noise, to forcing crowd participation, to making a mess…. It was like a bizarre performance art roast.

FEBRUARY 11TH – CRAIG GLEASON’S POETRY AND ALIEN STORY @SPACE 55 FOR 7 MINUTES IN LOVE
I think this is the only performance the Gleason brothers did all year. This performance was nothing new to me, (this whole routine is the type of thing Craig and I would joke about at work all the time) but it was exciting to see it performed in front of a big audience who doesn’t know Craig at all.

JANUARY 26TH - YAIRMS SHREDDING ON AN ELECTRIC GUITAR @FUNNY WORLD
Yairms is a hidden treasure of beautiful and inspiring folk music, he had been performing around phoenix for a couple years leading up to this and always with an acoustic guitar with maybe a little percussion from friends backing him up. This particular show was his tape release show and farewell show (cause he was moving to Chicago). The first half of his set was him performing like everyone had seen him before, acoustic guitar, humble demeanor, howling vocals…etc then he stops and says “now I am going to play this electric guitar and have andy [hiller] join me on drums” and what they played was so incredibly good! It was high energy, poppy, and Jeremy (yairms) shred. Sadly, there was no document of that performance and all that is left is memories