Dear Jim,
Or should I say Merry Crampus? And a very merry Crampus it was! Within the first 5 minutes of Krampus Gets Cramped, I felt transported to a world that combined Christmas, Halloween and an epic rock concert. My three favorite holidays! The mythological lore you masterfully stoked with your puppetry charmed me like the rock gods of yore. The movement of every shadow puppet dripping with juicy punk detail; your black lipstick and rocker boy outfit contrasted by the Santa hat on your head; the silly but spot-on way you tell the story of the Cramps as a Christmas fable- everything about this show had me charmed and in love.
This was my first shadow puppet show. At one point during the piece, I remember being in total awe over how much detail went into every single illusion. Whether you are showing us the Talking Heads, Poison Ivy (a lead founder of the Cramps for anyone reading) spanking the mischievous Krampus, or Santa Claus coming up with a way to punish naughty children, the specificity of every shadow puppet blew my mind. Santa Claus feels straight out of a picture book! The rock logos ooze out of the paper with a true punk attitude! And by golly, I still can’t get over that there was a section to put on your 3-D glasses. I thought it was all brilliant!
Your story telling is what takes the piece over the top for me. This piece is not quite fable, not quite biopic, not quite rock concert, but always a blast to bear witness to. A major highlight was feeling like I was at the birth of punk rock, getting to be a fly on the wall at CBGB. As someone who came in blind not knowing anything about the Cramps, the world you built took such good care of me. Through puppet montages, great music and narration, and magnetic silliness, I was gently introduced to a world that was impossible to not fall in love with.
Everything about this show freaking rocks. Rules. Breaks its guitar on stage and yells, “F**K YEAH!” But your passion is what bleeds and oozes out from this piece. You are the conduit that seduces me into the rock odyssey of the Cramps. Your care and love is what made me stay up two hours late after my bed time reading Cramps lore on wikipedia. You are the one that exposed me to a world I’d never seen but am now desperate to know more of. I can’t thank you enough. The show is incredible — already a huge gift in and of itself. But like the best Christmases, you gave me joy, a community to fall in love with, and the gift of a music back log I’ll be listening to for years to come.
Thank you,
John Miller Giltner
Jim Julien’s Krampus Gets Cramped runs Sept 10th-28th at the Asian Arts Initiative.
John Miller Giltner has two shows in this year’s festival: Family Vacation runs Sept 17th-24th at the Trestle Inn, and My Orc, Cicero runs Sept 11-20th at Pig Iron as a part of Dumb Hub.
Your work brings happiness