University of Kansas - Jayhawker Yearbook (Lawrence, KS)

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A n entire bedroom in sr Spencer Lott,s house is hlled with trash bags and plastic containers full of puppets. On a shelf, a replica of actor Don Knotts sits next to a green troll that hides under a bridge from the children's story Wfhree Billy Goats Grufff, The room is Lott's stu! dio and it's where he cre- ates puppets of all shapes, sizes and colors. UIt,s fun and chal- lenging for me because it,s almost an improv, W said Lott, who described himself as a huge fan ofchildrenas literature. 4'It,s a lot of audi- ence participation and if I'm feeling that I'm doing a character and iris working, then I keep it up? For Lott, creating something out of the ordinary starts with the ordinary. I-Ie uses soft- sculpture materials, such as foam, fleece and Styrofoam to create the puppets in his studio. Lott said he always wanted to be a puppeteer, but he first became inter- ested in it from watching too much Sesame Street. He started making his own puppets in fifth and sixth grade by converting stuffed animals into puppets. o9 oV',',i-e 'f CK swmvx 1 ' C Y O ig if i I i ll YQ I V w fa FN 15 S if Ll. I li r . . s r it U ra la ' li I itat l haf J- d 41: t Since then, he has made literally hundreds ofpuppets. Depending on the complexity, it can take Lott anywhere from a few hours to hundreds ofhours to make one puppet. 'LThey're never really donef he said. NI just get tired of working on them to a certain point and then I move on. 'I Wheii Lott and his roommates were looking for a place to live, Lott said having a room for his puppets was a must. Lott pays twice the rent -he pays for one room for himself and one room for his puppets. L'It's kind of absurdj' he said. uBut this is my passion and this is how I pay for rent, building puppets and doing shows. It7s totally worth it. Matt Cain, Leawood junior and Lott's roommate, said Lott was 'gspontaneousn and kept the house entertaining with his puppeteering and acting antics. I-Ie goes around doing different voices soinetiuit N. Cain said. When he graduates next May, Lott said he wanted to do a national tour like uSesame Street Live or Walking with Dinosaurs before possibly attending the Univemti' of Connecticut, which has a master's program in puppetry. For now, Lott plans to keep creating puppets and sharing his work with others. Lott said puppeteers are not like magicians, who might spend 20 years working on a trick and keep the secret of the trick from their audiences. uljuppeteers are like LIt's taken me 20 years to learn this trick and I'm going to give it to you the hrst time I meet you so that you can take it and make it betterf' he sa id. PUPPETEERING W 32

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O8 - O9 l JAYHAWKER BOLDLY BEARDED AND AM ELESSLY MUSTACHEDZ A GROWI look around at my fellow revelers at the Replay Lounge. I see two bearded men sitting at the bar, laughing. In the corner, a man with a mus- tache smokes a cigarette. Two more mustached gen tlemen sit along the wall and discuss favorite musi- cians. In fact, it appears that more than half of those able to grow facial hair in this establishment have done so. These sightings are not mere isolated instances Bewhiskered fellows can be seen all over Lawrence. They sell you tacos. They style your hair. They even serve on the Lawrence City Commission. Our town is run by the fuzzfaces. It seems that after 30 years of hibernation, the hair is back. It is so back. just how back is it? As the American Mustache Institute, a pro-mustache NG TREND advocacy group, points out on their Web site, the 2008 Academy Awards brought us the Hrst mustached Best Ac- tor winner since Paul Newman won in 1987, with Daniel Day Lewis in There Will Be Blood. Heck, facial hair has appeared in some form on People magazine's Sexiest Man Alive list-including Hugh Jackman to Matthew McCo- naughey-for the past four years. It doesn't get any more official than that, does it? In the world of motion pictures, the incubation of hair on the faces of famous people has also been sweeping the biz. Such immensely popular faces, such as those of George Clooney and Brad Pitt, have been covered. The anti-shaving movement has also been sweeping the world of music, with many notable indie acts sporting some distinctive styles, including Iron and Wine, The Flaming Lips and The New Pornographers, Even more mainstream acts have been jumping the ol' wagon. Rivers Cuomo of Weezer, Brandon Flowers ofThe Killers and Ben Gibbard of Death Cab For Cutie have all been recently sporting some all-natural chin covers. The 1970s were a golden era for facial hair. Ameri- cans Hlled movie houses to sit in quiet appreciation ofsuch legendary mustaches as Burt Reynoldsi They tuned in each night as the news came forth from underneath Walter Cronkite's mustache, as if it were acting as a sieve, distill- ing the truth to its most reliable form. Where rock fn' roll had its Ted Nugent, disco had ABBA and its bearded king, Barry Gibb. The country had flown into face fur frenzy. And for those with the look, things were good. Then, in 1981, Walter Cronkite left the CBS Evening