Watch the video of “The Treasurer’s Report,” below, and think of all the “comedy of awkward” in 2010, especially the comedy of the awkward nerd. And, of course, think back to Andy Kaufman, who made a career out of making you wonder what was real and what was an act.

I love performance art like this, that calls attention to the absurdity of a social ritual, and that’s playful and smart without being mean (see also: Improv Everywhere’s “Frozen Grand Central”).

Is “The Treasurer’s Report” truly “comedy”? I don’t know. I wasn’t laughing while I watched Benchley — but I was smiling.

P.S. In an interesting moment of synchronicity – right after my father in law told me about Benchley, I was reading E.B. White’s classic essay, “Here is New York” (which I highly recommend – very poetic and timeless impressions of NYC) and he talks about the thrill of living in the same city as… Robert Benchley.

I’m still on their mailing list, and I got a postcard yesterday for an event I’d definitely attend if I were in town:

What: Art and the Zen of Bicycle Maintenance

When: Saturday, May 15, 2010, from 3-5pm

“The artists at Art Enables work at making the best outsider art inside the Beltway. The young people in training at Phoenix Bikes learn entrepreneurship from running a bike shop. They also make bike art. Karma.”

Two great community orgs coming together to produce a creative event… I love it. It reminds me of a theme from my work life over the past few years: collaboration. Right now I’m wrapping up a project that brings together 12 public media organizations to cover the economic crisis, based on the premise that what they can create together is greater than the sum of its parts. Not exactly the same as a bike shop and arts org putting on a show together… but actually, not so different. In both cases, partners will reach more people together than they did alone; and in both cases, the output is something neither org could have created in isolation.

For more of my thoughts on collaboration, check out this blog post I wrote for MediaShift.

How about you? What experience do you have working on projects involving more than one organization? Or, what co-productions or partnerships have you admired from afar?

I believe the image above is by Art Enables artist Jamila Rahimi

And so, I present the trailer for Bad Writing:

Bad Writing – Official Trailer from Morris Hill Pictures on Vimeo.

“Guy,” by the way, is Vernon Lott. The film is 100% self-financed, and he’s looking for a distributor.

Learn more about the project on Facebook.

I live across the street from Tompkins Square Park in New York City’s East Village. My daily soundtrack includes the rumble of buses on Avenue B, a hound dog bellowing from the famous Tompkins Square dog run, and, if it’s the weekend, a nonstop flow of drumming – a rolling sound punctuated with hollow pops. (I can hear the drumming right now, as I type this.)

Sometimes I see the drummers when I’m walking my dog. Today was one of those days, and I decided to capture the moment on video:

I started wondering about the origins of drum circles. Some quick research brought me to Wikipedia, where I learned there are different kinds of drum circles – some facilitated, some not, and some associated with spiritual traditions. I came across this quote:

“Typically, people gather to drum in drum ‘circles’ with others from the surrounding community. The drum circle offers equality because there is no head or tail. It includes people of all ages. The main objective is to share rhythm and get in tune with each other and themselves. To form a group consciousness.”

- Grateful Dead drummer Mickey Hart

Talk of “group consciousness” reminds me, of course, of improv; when you’re in a troupe, your goal is to get to the point where you achieve “group mind,” a kind of spidey sense for what the other performers are about to do or say. I love the idea of random members of a geographic community coming together and connecting through art, whether it’s drumming or improv comedy or anything else.

Since the East Village still has a reputation as being a bit of a hippie outpost (albeit a gentrified one, old-timers would surely argue), it’s hardly a surprise to find a drum circle here. But when I started searching the USA Drum Circle Finder, I discovered that there are well-established drum circles in nearly all of the 50 states – from Wichita, Kansas to Houston, Texas; Tampa, Florida to Lincoln, Nebraska. Vicki Morgan, who leads the San Diego Women’s Drum Circle, says:

“When I started this 12 years ago, my friends thought I was kooky…What was I doing? Now I have 80 women who come regularly. There are doctors, psychologists, rabbis. It’s a form of meditation and prayer. It’s about weaving communities together.”
- “Drum circle offers camaraderie, sense of well being,” SignOn SanDiego, 2010

A 2006 NPR story supports the idea that drum circles have become more mainstream:

“The term ‘drum circle’ might evoke images of long-haired men beating drums in a primal sort of way, but drum circles have become more expansive in the past decade.”
- “Why Urban Joes and CEOs Bang the Drum,” NPR, 2006

The same story features Mike DeMenno, manager of the Remo Recreational Music Center in North Hollywood, California, which offers what amounts to drum therapy. DeMenno says drumming helps people with everything from cancer to arthritis, autism and Down syndrome. In fact, it seems that in many cultures, drum circles have a long history of being used for healing, and a quick Google search brings up research (such as this NIH abstract) documenting drum circles’ value in easing depression, especially.  Not surprisingly, some have figured out how to use drum therapy as a corporate training exercise.

To find a drum circle near you, use this drum circle finder.

Image above is by lalunablanca on Flickr

I’ve been wafting about with Tastee Pudding, feeling like I’m not quite hitting the voice or approach I’m after. Sometimes, I let a week go by without posting — death in blog land. I think the Blogathon will help me focus, and after writing 31 posts in 31 days, chances are I’ll have a much better sense of what this blog really is.

Away we go…