Voluptuous Tusk

I made it to this venue with time to spare and bumped into the two technicians that run the space. It's always nice to run into folks who have been working the Fringe and asking them about the different experiences they've had this year. I'm normally in such a rush from venue to venue that making that personal connection with others around the festival doesn't get to happen until we're all at Fringe Central after the fact. It makes me happy to actually have a chat or two along the way.

So, I started this in a good mood. And strangely continued on in that good mood for the whole hour. It was an hour unlike any other in the Fringe. In fact, I would like to say that this is the Fringiest show in the Fringe. I hear that declaration about all sorts of shows. Often I hear it about popular shows that are well done. That, to me, is not the definition of "Fringy". If it were, then We Gotta Bingo and the national tour of Mama Mia! are the Fringiest things to have hit town in a long ime. See, I think people forget that "Fringe" means outside the mainstream. And when I say this show was outside the mainstream, I'm not kidding. It is so far out of the mainstream that it isn't even still in orbit around Earth. Whether or not something is supremely "Fringy" has very little to do with whether it is good or bad, funny or not.

Before I go any further, let me post the show's official description from the Fringe Festival website: "Voluptuous Tusk is a humorous, serious, focused & scattered show that links eclectic musical creations with improvisations of movement and audio textures. This exciting and poignant show will leave you gorged!"

Never have I been so surprised as when I looked at that description after seeing the show. I hadn't any idea what the show was about when I saw it. I went home expecting some misleading phrases aimed to make people want to see the show. Instead, with the exception of the last line (It was neither "exciting" nor "poignant", and certainly didn't leave me "gorged"), the description is frighteningly accurate. It was a scattered assemblage of songs and patter that I can only assume was improvised because it wasn't well rehearsed by any indication given during the show.

Basically this was not a play to begin with. It was a concert of sorts. I imagine that this show was supposed to be funny, too. And it was, but for all the wrong reasons. Sometimes one laughs because otherwise what you are watching would just be painful. Such was the case here. I have a theory that this show would be really good, if you were stoned while viewing it. Perhaps stoned and drunk. I have to believe that some altered state was necessary for the creator of this show to think it was a good idea.

One of the joys and/or penances of having kids is that about the time they are 4-ish they'll want to put on shows for you. You'll sit down for this "performance" and it'll be a random mess of them flailing about saying odd things that make no sense, and then perhaps banging a pot and pan together calling it music. Once it is done, you clap and say how proud you are. It is endearing because it is your own kid. However, you wouldn't intentionally pay money to sit through other people's children doing that. But, that's what you're doing when you attend this show. Except that the man who calls himself Voluptuous Tusk is not four years old.

At one point Voluptuous Tusk ran around the perimeter of the audience and then went back to the stage claiming to have wrapped us up in invisible rope. He repeatedly had difficulties with his own songs and had to try again. He would have partial conversations with an inflatable elephant that he kept posed on a music stand. The sad thing is... he's not a bad guitarist at all. He has talent. He's just a mess.

You may not have heard of this show prior to this review. There's little buzz around it, and for good reason. Apparently the show hails from Chicago, and it has a following there. I'm betting you can get tickets at the local head shop when you're visiting there. - City Pages Minneapolis, MN

What would the Fringe be without some ill-conceived blob of performance art masquerading as improvisation? Chicagoan Lenny Zieben is either a genius in the Adam Sandler/Andy Kaufman school of uncomfortable stupidity or just bad. Either way, you'll squirm. To be fair, Zieben's show -- which relies on audience participation -- might work better when there are more than five people in the 200-seat theater. And he has some musical talent, sings a few songs and thumps the electric bass. But the prop-comic stuff? Yikes. - Minneapolis Star-Tribune

Voluptuous Tusk sports red slacks and Roberto Benigni's smile and grooves to a midi drum machine while convulsing wildly around the stage like Cosmo Kramer. - New City Chicago

Playing before Uncomfortable Jams was Chicago, IL's Voluptuous Tusk. The "band" is actually Lenny Zieben from the Foibles' solo project. The set was a great mixture of performance art, music and insanity. The performance was interesting to say the least. And no, not interesting as you'd describe the face of the creepy girl in Chemistry class, but interesting in that you really don't want to look away.
From the first moments of the set, Zieben began working on the audience. Through songs from his Mac, impromptu dances with various inflatable animals and live song with just Zieben and his guitar, everyone was invited to perform in their own way to make the whole audience part of the show. People repayed Zieben for the invitation by being covered in masking tape, holding animals, tossing tomatoes and about anything else you can think of.
Highlight moments of the set were a performance of the Foibles' America The Plentiful, a portion of the Annie soundtrack and The Vegetable Song. After the set, there was definite feel good vibe in the audience. It was an absolute blast.
- Houston Music Review