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You can’t say that! |
If your business card advertises you as both a stand-up comedian and juggler, you might wonder if tacking on a third occupation—“lobbyist,” for example—is trying to keep one pin too many in the air. Now think of the last fundraiser you attended: How many juggling, joking advocates of free speech took the stage? Keep your hand raised if the answer is “One or more.” Just as we thought.
Yet Chris Bliss seems the perfect fit for the stage at Live Arts, where he’ll headline an April 13 fundraiser for the Thomas Jefferson Center along with local musician and “Charlottesville Inside-Out” host Terri Allard. Although Bliss is quick to talk of his high-profile past gigs—leg-pulling on Leno’s “Tonight Show,” juggling clubs on a 1984 Michael Jackson tour—it was a 2006 YouTube video of Bliss juggling to a trio of Beatles tunes that both resuscitated the performer’s juggling act (more than 40 million people have downloaded the video) and put him in a unique place to comment on personal liberties and the free exchange of ideas.
| A video of Chris Bliss juggling to The Beatles. |
Bliss also works as the president of MyBillOfRights.org, a nonprofit agency committed to erecting monuments to the Bill of Rights in each state capital. He’s scheduled to perform at the opening ceremony of the Newseum in Washington, D.C., two days before his gig at Live Arts, and is also creating a music video with Patrick Leonard (a producer for Madonna and Roger Waters) that pairs music with video clips on warrantless wire-tapping, Habeas Corpus and torture.
“America is suffering from an inactive citizenry. As an entertainer, you see a lot of [bad] acts thinking about how they can get by,” says Bliss during a phone interview. “Am I going to blame the performer if America cares more about Paris Hilton’s corpus than Habeas Corpus?” The fellow’s not kidding this time, folks—show your support.
Tickets for the event and a pre-show reception with Bliss and Allard run from $25-50.
