Marty Allen: The stage was so crammed with audience rock volunteers at the end of the set that we actually had to turn some folks away. The place erupted with sock puppets capes and giant lobsters in a miasma of rock glory. The kids danced, faces melted, banshees wept, the very earth quaked beneath us and we went out in true Monsterface style. Our one and only encore of the tour was to get everyone to sing "Happy Birthday" to one of the girls who had joined us on stage. Poetic. Beautiful moments upon beautiful moments, it overwhelms me, and it is over, and it was so very very good.
Jesse: I am there in that crowd, watching, but the line between watching and taking part has evaporated. We’re one wave, a circuit, beginning with the band onstage, running through the crowd, back. “We build and we build/We build and we build,” Marty shouts into a megaphone, as their finale crescendos. Ordinary things are transformed by will and imagination, excitement and sweat. I am inside that puppet’s head. I am inside that crowd. I am in the belly of the beast, and Uncle Monsterface is in their hearts.
These moments happen, if you let them.
Joe: Paul just broke his string because he was rocking extra hard. To stall for a bit, I start to tell the story of how Harry Potter from Year 7 and Year 4 met up and decided to join forces and start a solo project using rock music to fight evil. No one is listening though. They’re all gawking at Paul’s backup guitar. This is completely understandable. This backup guitar looks pretty rad. It’s pretty much something Dumbledore would make if he was an electric guitar manufacturer instead of the headmaster of a magic school.
Paul: Philly is a real rock city! Everyone here has apparently been well-trained in the art of partying. There are kids and parents and hipsters and punks and all sorts at this show and it totally rules! It’s so awesome when the audience plays just as hard as we play and that’s what happens tonight at the Church. No one is too cool for school. In fact, everyone is committed to completely destroying this school with the fantastic amount of positive energy that is created by wizards and muggles all rocking together for the common good. Benjamin Franklintown, we love you.
From the sockpuppet journal of Terrycloth Orange: This was a long trip, this was the best trip, but man, the rest of these puppets are freakin’ crazy. Do you have ANY IDEA how depressed half of these guys are? Talk to Nutty Bunny for all of 10 minutes and you'll feel like you're staring into the abyss. The earclops? He was like an inch away from humping a Twinkie yesterday. And don't even get me started on Terrycloth Blue. Seriously, if he says absolutely anything to you ever, just nod politely. It's not all bad, though. I could listen to Profesor Doverbean talk or the Jazzclops sing all night. Dude, I wish they'd start a band! Doverclops . . . oh that rules!
And I love 'em all, y'know? We're this crazy lot of freaked-out, schizophrenic, angry, weird, manic-depressive, drunk, sexually disorganized, and totally beautiful sock puppets, and we all kind of look out for each other. Okay, maybe that's a stretch. I guess I sort of look out for everyone. But I like them all well enough. Okay, fine, I love them all. Shut up about it.
And man alive, there is absolutely nothing better than rocking out in front of 300 screaming kids. Nothin’.
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