While reminding myself that indeed I do love New York in June, gentle readers, I present you with your humidity ridden recap:

First things first - we have a date, so send your suit to the cleaners, schedule the dance lessons and circle the day in red on your calendar:

SparkPlug Launch Party
Monday, August 7, 2006
Bar 13

More details will be posted here as they become available, but in the meantime, feel free to spread the word…

In other news, the good folks of the State of New York have finally recognized that we exist (so nice of them to notice) by filing all that paperwork we sent them and we have applied for fiscal sponsorship through Fractured Atlas to be up and running as an official not-for-profit before you can say, “Please make the check out to…”.

Ah, rescue. How you stoke the fires of our thoughts. How you, like significant condensation resulting in the production of a wide range of water droplets and ice crystals in an atmosphere that is unstable and supports deep, rapid upward motion, …make our brains all stormy. Here for you to think on is some of what we discussed regarding the WORD:

The decision to rescue: What pushes a person over the edge (if not love) to decide that a rescue is worth the work, pain and trouble? What makes you decide to step into battle if not love? Does the worth need to have weight on both sides? And outside of love, does rescue become completely self serving - a matter of pride? Does the desire to do good purely for the sake of others exist? Is there such a thing as purity of heart and intention? Does it matter?…

The celebrity of rescue: How often do people who need to be rescued put themselves in that position purely for attention? The celebrity who ends up on The Smoking Gun, families who turn to Nanny 911 to discipline their children, the terrifying Wife Swap, Dr. Phil, Jerry Springer, etc. Does being on TV make people feel that their problems are legitimate in the same way that we lend legitimacy to those in front of the camera? Does it rescue them from the loneliness of facing things on their own, from insignificance? It is similar to the irresistible urge to tell a secret: “You can’t help me, but at least the burden doesn’t lie with me alone now that I’ve saddled you with it. (You’re welcome.)”

Rescuing from a distance: I’ll send my money to Sally Struthers but that is where my charity and interest end. A rescue to alleviate guilt. The, “just be happy with what I’m giving you” or, “I gave at the office” attitude. Don’t get uppity, etc.

Compulsive rescuers: People who are always on the look out for someone/something to save - cat collectors, women who serially date men as projects, picking out the most pathetic person at the bar to spend your evening with.

**Please note that due to crazy fireworks, cobbler eating and flag waving, we will be storming on Thursday, July 6th at Mannahatta. Details, as always, are on the sidebar.

Speaking of the sidebar, we are trying to keep up with you all, but there may be sites out there in the world wide internets that we don’t know about. Got one? Want us to plug it? (Or splug it?) Give us a shout!

With condensation dripping from our noses and love in our hearts,
SP3

Hey Kids,

Sorry for the delay - this one’s coming to you live from Long Island: poolside. Being an office monkey sometimes has its perks… but it’s just not the same without YOU. You should be here, firm-retreating with me, chillin like a villain. But since you can’t be with me, I will set aside my iced tea, put a steaming laptop in its place and negotiate an endlessly frustrating mouse situation to bring you my love in the form of your recap:

Erika has been working hard on our digital home and so we’ve updated the plugs on the sidebar to give you links to our website (woo hoo!) and our new forum (yehaw!) as well as the old forum (hot dog!). This is all part of our migration over to the new site and is still in preview form, so please be patient with us as we make the transition. In the meantime, ignore the wonky and enjoy the fancy.

In other exciting news, we have secured our launch party date and venue which we will announce shortly here. It’s going to be great fun and a classy event to be sure. We are still looking for donations for the silent auction, so please let us know via email or the forum if you have some goods or services that you can offer/force or cajole someone else into offering.

We have had a great response to the first WORD and there are several projects that are in the works for Combustion: Rescue. Thanks to all who have given us a heads-up on their brilliant plans. If you haven’t told us about your fabulous idea, please do so so that we may heap praise upon you and also get a better idea moving forward of the length of the pieces, assistance you may require, structure of the evening, etc. Help us help you.

In event news, Splugger Misha Calvert’s show is opening this week. The run is Thursday Friday Saturday June 22, 23, 24, 9 pm at The Flea Theater, 41 White Street in Tribeca (b/w Church and Broadway). Do come if you’re able!

This one’s short and sweet because my ice is melting and that pool looks awfully good. Please join us for our next Stormy Monday and think on this in the meantime: the places people turn for rescue. Culturally speaking, how did we get to a point where we turn to reality television to solve our problems?

With both Splishing & Splashing,
SP3

Good day to you Spluggers all!

We had another great Stormy Monday last night. (See a pattern here?…) There may or may not have been feats of daring, women in animal costumes and scandal. There was surely brainstorming. Jealous? To fan those flames behind your green, green eyes, here is your recap:

We spent a good bit of time talking about the website/e-zine the lovely skeleton of which you can find here: SPARKPLUG. The fabulous Ms. Karl has been working on getting us up and running digitally and for that we sing her praises and direct you to her website: ERIKA. Check it.

Our digital presence is important and we are excited to have so much energy behind it already. And we have commitments for podcasts, essays, and visuals for Combustion: Rescue. Yay! Go us!

As we flesh out the skeleton we plan on adding many features including a calendar of events (both Splug events and Splug approved events*), artistic bios and contact information. We also discussed putting a store up on the site and the different wares that we can hawk. Selling swag on the site will be a means to make money as well as another venue for expression for our visual folks and those with witty t-shirt tendencies.

We also talked about migrating our forum and blog over to the site so that we will be centrally located for your surfing pleasure. Until then, please keep your browsers pointed this-a-way for updates.

More thoughts on the WORD came a tumbling out as we talked as well. Last week we discussed rescuing individuals and objects. This week we talked about rescuing relationships both big and small (fueled in part by the lush & melodramatic mix Bekkah has on her ipod: Sam Phillips, Rufus Wainwright, Jon Brion, Fruit Bats, etc.). The different dynamics involved in trying to save a romantic relationship - especially when the effort is one-sided - got people talking. The conversation grew to include relationships with friends and families: friends saving friendships, parents saving children, children saving parents from the inevitable pain of disappointment. We also talked about one-sided rescues on the scale of trying to save a nation. Examples anyone?…

Hopefully these tiny tastes will get you salivating for more conversation and creation. Please drop us a line at sparkplugproductions(at)gmail(dot)com or make your presence felt in the forum to keep the dialog coming.

Hey kids! Next week is a Very Special Stormy Monday as it brings with it the triumphant return of Lauren from the wilds of the midwest! Come by for mad storming and for her company.

We love you more than puppies,
SP3

*Speaking of Splug approved events, join us this Saturday afternoon in Central Park for an Improv Everywhere mission: The Mp3 Experiment III. It should be a blast!…

We were here - where were you? Really? That sounds nice. I hope you’re wearing sunscreen. Well, never hurts to be careful. Yeah, it was good - a lot of good ideas floating around. What? You feel like a part of you is missing? Life isn’t as full as it should be somehow? Aw… buck-up, camper.

Here to fill that empty place inside is your Stormy Monday recap:

We had a great gathering last night. A lot of the evening was spent discussing the WORD and the different feelings it brings up in people - from the triumphant rescuer, to the perhaps less-than-grateful rescuee. Is a rescue that is in some way self-serving still a good deed? Is there such a thing as a selfless rescue? Can something stolen be considered rescued? At what point is a rescue hurting a person or a situation more than helping?

There were pens and there was paper and things were written down. Sparks were flying. And a very important clarification regarding the forum was given.

To wit: the forum is not a place to post your brilliant, fully formed ideas. (Unless you’ve got them, in which case, rock out and post them.) It should be viewed as an extension of Stormy Mondays. It is your place to throw something on the digital wall and see if it sticks. Even if it’s just to say, “I saw this movie or heard this song and it made me think of the word, but I’m not sure what direction (if any) to go in with it.” We do want to see what you’re working on (ahem June 19th ahem ahem), but we also want to hear…er, read… your thoughts. So please sign in and post them.

Be first! Be brave! Start a topic and feel the love as the sparks fly!

Also, some people were having trouble signing up for the forum. If you feel their pain, drop me a line at rebekkah(at)gmail(dot)com and I’ll send you an official invite complete with links for clicking.

Did I leave anything out? Send us an email and we’ll right those wrongs.

With all the love in our fiery little hearts,
SP3