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Few salesman or promoters can get away with using pitches filled with
expletives, but Scott Haire is one of those few as a promoter of Spike
and Mike's Twisted Festival of Animation.
Haire enjoys the freedom that his job provides as the human face of a
show run on politically incorrect, violent and often raunchy cartoons.
"Being able to cuss and yell at your customers during the show,"
is one benefit Haire enjoys while traveling with the festival, which he
has done for the past 12 years.
The festival involves a collection of short films from different animation
genres; the cohesive trait in all the films is essentially that they must
be sick and twisted.
On Oct. 18 at the Harkins Valley Art Theatre on Mill Avenue, Haire started
the show off with a live setup that drew laughter from the crowd, with
many audience members cheering at the mention of favorite characters from
past festivals.
Many of the past characters appear in this year's collection.
Audience participation is encouraged through out the showing of Spike
and Mikes, giving an interactive environment that is typical of a theater
experience.
Craig "Spike" Decker and Mike Gribble, the founders of the festival,
began the show in 1990 in Riverside, Calif. (Gribble passed away in '94).
"If you have ever been to Riverside you know why they started the
festival, because its gross and there is nothing to do, its nasty,"
said Haire, explaining his hypothesis on why the show got started, he
went on to describe Gibbel as, "Just a weird guy who happened upon
doing this and just got bigger and bigger."
The festival gets numerous animated entries every year and attempts to
provide a wide variety of short films to its audience member.
Many TV shows got their start at the Sick and Twisted Festival, including
popular programs, South Park, Beavis and Butthead, and Celebrity Death-Match.
"Coco the Junkie Pimp 3," is a marionette with a much more highly
charged libido then most stringed creations and is part of the diverse
art of Spike and Mike's this year, along with other pieces featuring vegetables
debating religion, bloodied tree creatures and furniture involved in very
un-furniture-like acts.
One cartoon stars singer/actor Jack Black along with Tenacious D in an
animation about how to treat a lady.
"Spike and Mike's" draws a diverse crowd from different cities;
some are very loud and interactive, said Haire, who also explained that
others are the artsy types and are less participatory in the theater.
Thongs, t-shirts, DVDs featuring past and present cartoons and other items
are up for grabs, barf bags complimentary including some false plastic
teeth.
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