This photo was the cover on our wedding invitation. As I look at Rosie standing joyfully beside me with a chicken perched on her head I realize how lucky I am to have found my perfect match. Marriage is never easy, always a challenge, but when it’s the right person it becomes the adventure of a lifetime.
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The moment we began posing for this shot I realized that Marc was going to work with light as a photographer in ways that I had never seen before. He had Rosie and I stand in front of a giant umbrella strobe, and then he pointed his camera directly into the light creating this silhouette effect.
This photo was taken at the beginning of each of our careers. As the years unfolded Marc captured our evolving career with his ever-keener artist’s eye. I hope you enjoy the upcoming series of extraordinary photos by Marc Norberg that follows Rosie and I throughout our three-decade career.
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PS: I’m not sure why yesterday’s blog post was not automatically posted to facebook, but I have posted it a second time today in order not to break the thread of the story I am attempting to tell.
The moment we began posing for this shot I realized that Marc was going to work with light as a photographer in ways that I had never seen before. He had Rosie and I stand in front of a giant umbrella strobe, and then he pointed his camera directly into the light creating this silhouette effect.
This photo was taken at the beginning of each of our careers. As the years unfolded Marc captured our evolving career with his ever-keener artist’s eye. I hope you enjoy the upcoming series of extraordinary photos by Marc Norberg that follows Rosie and I throughout our three-decade career.
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This picture always makes me laugh. I’m the guy with a bucket on his head. It was taken during the first photo session that Rosie and I had with Marc Norberg as a comedy team.
It’s 1984, and we had just developed our two-person act. This routine was adapted from a slapstick routine in my one-man show. I’m still in my twenties here, which is the era I performed bone-crushing pratfalls. When I turned thirty I began to eliminate my more brutal routines from the show, because I wanted to develop a body of work that I could perform over what I hoped would be a long career with Rosie.
My middle-aged body is now thanking my younger-self for thinking ahead to a future I’m lucky to be living in today. I’ve had the pleasure of performing with Rosie, as a husband and wife comedy team for over thirty-years, and I’m looking forward to a long career with her.
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This photo was taken by my good friend Marc Norberg the first year I met him. It was 1981 and Marc was hired that season as the official Minnesota Renaissance Festival photographer.
I remember Marc would always be taking pictures at my first show of the day on Bruegel Stage, which was just inside the front gate. My show started right after the opening cannon, so the audiences were always fresh and ready to laugh.
After that season I lost touch with Marc until Rosie and I started performing together, and we needed promo shots. The first person that popped into my mind was Marc Norberg, but the phone number on his business card was disconnected, and it wasn’t possible to Google his name in 1984.
I recall driving to ProColor in downtown Minneapolis to pick-up fresh copies of Rosie’s old head-shot, and making a wish that Marc would magically appear when I arrive. As I was waiting in line I hear the door open, and I turn to see Marc beside me.
Since that day Marc has generously photographed Rosie and I throughout our 30-year career together. I’ve watched Marc grow into an extraordinary artist. His portraiture work is brilliant, and he is a true wizard with light.
I’ve always tried to stay in close contact with Marc. Even as we each gained success in our careers, and both of our lives became hectic, I would always make sure to at least get together with Marc over the winter holidays to exchange Christmas presents.
My favorite memory is sitting across the street from Marc’s photography studio outside the Bryant Lake Bowl, and watching the light show from an approaching storm. When the rain arrived Marc and I remained outside laughing, and getting soaked to the bone.
One recent holiday season I hadn’t heard from Marc for a while, so I drove over to visit him. When I arrived his studio was vacated, and no one in the building knew how to contact him. I learned later he had been evicted, and eventually became homeless. Like many professional photographers Marc’s career was deeply impacted by the brave-new-world of the digital age.
This past year my neighbor Mary Ludington, (who is a great photographer in her own right), was able to get me back in contact with Marc. The good news is that he is getting back on his feet again. He is struggling with depression, but is on the road to healing, and recovery.
In the next several days I plan to post a series of Marc’s photographs to showcase his amazing talent. Marc Norberg’s photographs beautifully document Rosie and my career. You can also go to his new website at www.marcnorbergpictures.com to see more of Marc’s incredible body of work.
I hope you enjoy my upcoming posts.
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Photo by Cheryl Caponi:
I was the closing show of the 2015 Summer Performance Series at The Caponi Art Park today. I was also the opening act of the first season where this picture was taken of me with Tony Caponi.
It was an extraordinary experience, and I look forward to the opportunity of performing there again soon.
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Photo by Lloyd Brant / selfie:
My director Josette has gone above and beyond the call of duty this week helping me prepare for my Medicine Show performance at Caponi Art Park tomorrow morning.
Come out and see us. The show starts at 10:00am.
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Photo by David Shippee,
This is the third photo in a series from an article in the Minnesota Daily that my friend David Shippee wrote when he was a journalism student at the University of Minnesota.
David died tragically on August 3, 1987, while on assignment as a photo journalist on an ill fated expedition down the Yangtze River in China. He was only 29 years old and left behind his young widow, Margit Shippee.
David and Margit began dating after re-connecting at an after party following a St Paul Open School reunion that took place along the Mississippi River in the back of my van.
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Photo by David Shippee:
The Minnesota Renaissance Festival opens today. This is another vintage photograph is by photo journalist David Shippee from a 1980 article in the Minnesota Daily.
Today Rosie and I have packed up the van full of costumes, comedy props, and our pet chicken Twyla. I hope to see you there.
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Photo by David Shippee:
I open my 40th season at the Minnesota Renaissance Festival tomorrow. This vintage photograph is by photo journalist David Shippee from a 1980 in-depth article in the Minnesota Daily about my budding career.
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