So, I started this in a good mood.  And strangely continued on in that good mood for the whole hour.  It was an hour unlike any other in the Fringe.  In fact, I would like to say that this is the Fringiest show in the Fringe.  I hear that declaration about all sorts of shows.  Often I hear it about popular shows that are well done.  That, to me, is not the definition of "Fringy".  If it were, then We Gotta Bingo and the national tour of Mama Mia! are the Fringiest things to have hit town in a long ime.  See, I think people forget that "Fringe" means outside the mainstream.  And when I say this show was outside the mainstream, I'm not kidding.  It is so far out of the mainstream that it isn't even still in orbit around Earth.  Whether or not something is supremely "Fringy" has very little to do with whether it is good or bad, funny or not.

Before I go any further, let me post the show's official description from the Fringe Festival website:  "Voluptuous Tusk is a humorous, serious, focused & scattered show that links eclectic musical creations with improvisations of movement and audio textures. This exciting and poignant show will leave you gorged!"

Never have I been so surprised as when I looked at that description after seeing the show.  I hadn't any idea what the show was about when I saw it.  I went home expecting some misleading phrases aimed to make people want to see the show.  Instead, with the exception of the last line (It was neither "exciting" nor "poignant", and certainly didn't leave me "gorged"), the description is frighteningly accurate.  It was a scattered assemblage of songs and patter that I can only assume was improvised because it wasn't well rehearsed by any indication given during the show.

Basically this was not a play to begin with.  It was a concert of sorts. I imagine that this show was supposed to be funny, too.  And it was, but for all the wrong reasons.  Sometimes one laughs because otherwise what you are watching would just be painful.  Such was the case here.  I have a theory that this show would be really good, if you were stoned while viewing it.  Perhaps stoned and drunk.  I have to believe that some altered state was necessary for the creator of this show to think it was a good idea.

One of the joys and/or penances of having kids is that about the time they are 4-ish they'll want to put on shows for you.  You'll sit down for this "performance" and it'll be a random mess of them flailing about saying odd things that make no sense, and then perhaps banging a pot and pan together calling it music.  Once it is done, you clap and say how proud you are.  It is endearing because it is your own kid.  However, you wouldn't intentionally pay money to sit through other people's children doing that.  But, that's what you're doing when you attend this show.  Except that the man who calls himself Voluptuous Tusk is not four years old.

At one point Voluptuous Tusk ran around the perimeter of the audience and then went back to the stage claiming to have wrapped us up in invisible rope.  He repeatedly had difficulties with his own songs and had to try again.  He would have partial conversations with an inflatable elephant that he kept posed on a music stand.  The sad thing is... he's not a bad guitarist at all.  He has talent.  He's just a mess.

You may not have heard of this show prior to this review.  There's little buzz around it, and for good reason.  Apparently the show hails from Chicago, and it has a following there.  I'm betting you can get tickets at the local head shop when you're visiting there.

Rating:  d4 = Not Worth The Time

Ten Word Summary:  "Here's a song...wait...let me start over!"  No thanks.