This is a cry for help.
For a couple of weeks now, I’ve been signing off my email with, “As Mista Moose-Puppet-Head would say, ‘Ha-cha-cha-cha!'” It speaks volumes about who I am and how long I have been, that not a single person has thought to ask, “Who is Mista Moose-Puppet-Head?”
Maybe they all assumed that it is just another obscure reference from a guy known for obscure references. Or maybe they just thought that if someone named Mista says something, there’d best be no backtalk. But I think it all comes down to the fact that unless you know Mista Moose-Puppet-Head, you really can’t care about him. And you should. You really should.
I so wish that I could provide a picture of Mista Moose-Puppet-Head, but alas, I no longer have one. So all I can do is describe him and where he lived. You see, Mista Moose-Puppet-Head was not a nice guy. He was a despot. He ruled over the Puppet Theater and generally abused all of its inhabitants. All except one: the antimatter baby—the only non-puppet in the whole place. And Mista Moose-Puppet-Head? He was this tall guy with a puppet head who acted like Frank Sinatra in Randy Newman’s Lonely at the Top: filled with himself, but a star by any measure.
Mark Neville
The Puppet Theater was a kind of post-apocalyptic universe where all the puppets were safe. Think: Beckett’s Endgame. It lived inside a little magazine called Naked Toast. But it would perhaps be more accurate to say that it existed inside the supremely twisted mind of artist and writer Mark Neville. No, not that Mark Neville. Or that. Or that. Damn these common names! (And yes, I am perfectly aware there are no links there.) I thought my Mark Neville would be easy to find. Certainly by now he would have scanned his Puppet Theater cartoons and put them on the internet! But no. Certainly there would be some mention of Mista Moose-Puppet-Head. Again: no. In fact, Google provides no results at all for the way I believe his name was actually spelled: Mista MoosePuppetHead. There is nothing on Naked Toast or its predecessor Orange Toast.
Could it be that Mark is dead, literally or artistically? What if he is? That’s bad news and there’s only one thing to say.
Ha-cha-cha-cha!
Update
I have managed to find two old chapbooks of Mark’s: The Time Dog (1991) and Died: Not Yet (1992). That second title is a bit ominous.
I didn’t ask about Señior Puppethead Moose, or whatever his name is because I was afraid you would tell me all about him. And yet, here we are–I didn’t ask and you told me anyway.(Please note: I used the damn-dash, or whatever it is, in precisely the way your pedantic, dictatorial rules demand.)
I think I met Mark once and I may even have seen a bit of his artwork. Not sure. That was way, way back in the days of poetry readings where people stood up at the microphone and said things like, "I wrote this on the bus today"… and my memories barely reach back to last week.
However, what is more bizarre than your fascination with all things puppet, is the fact that, nowhere in the Googleverse, were you able to find anything about Mark. How were we unable to find people before Google’s omniscience allowed us to be desktop detectives?
I do hope that he’s not dead, but still being creative and simply not a fan of internet self-promotion.
Actually, I knew that. In my defense, I did not send you a link to this article. I didn’t send a link to anyone. It was just something I had to write. Actually, I am hoping that someone who knows Mark might get in touch.
You did know Mark. You were rather impressed with a short story of his about his dog who was stealing from him or some such.
Unfortunately, it cannot be as you suggest. I know Mark and he would have been all over the internet. He was that kind of guy. However, at the end, he had gone over almost entirely to performance art.
It is not true that I can find no trace of him. If he went on to do poetry (likely) I think I’ve found some of his chap books. But there have been a lot of people who have read my books who have not been able to find me.
I’m sure I could find him if I wanted to hire a PI. But I’m feeling kind of poor–especially after the China fiasco.
Howdy…I knew Mark back in the Orange and naked toast days. We were both going to SRJC and I contributed quite a few cartoons to his zines. Lost track of him and always wondered where he ended if myself…thas’ it…
I remember you well — but especially your work!
You can find Mark on Facebook. He still does some art work (he sent me a t-shirt he designed recently). But mostly his thing is running marathons, which exhausts me just write!