Photo of Ruth Ackerman (center) with her stage show, C. 1920.

A week before I started performing live as Laughing Eye Weeping Eye (in May 2010), I learned that my great Grandmother was a vaudeville performer. Suddenly, the weird headdress, costumes, singing, and persona I was performing as made sense! I could hardly believe this to be. My Great Grandmother’s name is Ruth Ackerman, and she is in the center of this photo. I saw this photo for the first time over Thanksgiving, 2011, and nearly flipped my lid. On the back of the photo, my great Grandfather Walter wrote on the back “Ruthie’s Minstrel show, she was the interlocutor.” The interlocutor means that she ran the show!

I have only started learning more about Ruth; she was a dancer, singer, piano player, and costume maker. I assume she made all of the costumes the performers are wearing. My Grandmother Joanne says that Ruth also at some point made costumes for the Rockettes, and that she was a very well respected costume-maker in Milwaukee. Ruth  even made a few costumes for performers outside of the United States.

My great Grandfather Walter Feuerpfeil fell in love with Ruth by being one of her steady concert goers. As was typical for that time, his marriage to her ended her stage show. Walter made her burn all of her costumes and give up her show. Sad, huh? My Grandma has told me, however, that she did not regret this and was happy to settle down and have a family. Life as a female performer back then was seen as a very scandalous thing! After her performing days ended, it is my understanding that she focused in her family, continued her costume-making for clients, and still played the piano as well as sang at family functions. My Grandmother says that she had a beautiful voice! I wish I could hear it somehow. 

Apparently, Ruth was one of 9 children. 8 girls and one boy. They were a very musical family. Ruth’s sister Pearl (my great great aunt) was a drummer, and often performed as part of the show. I did a search for “Pearl Ackerman,” and found a magazine published from 1929 that talks about a recent “tap” performance by Pearl! I wonder if she was one of the girls standing next to Pearl in this Photograph?

I AM TOTALLY AMAZED and SO HAPPY to know more about my crazy ancestral past! And I am obsessed with this photograph!

Another photo of the group my great Grandmother, Ruth Ackerman - center. C. 1920

A photo of the “Marita Sisters,” one of many photos my Grandmother Joanne Ruesch has in her possession of the two. The costumes are made be her Mother - my great Grandmother - Ruth Ackerman. I finally had the chance to scan all of these photos this Christmas.

I don’t know too much about the “Marita Sisters”; the attached newspaper came up when I googled their names. I wish I had more information. My Grandmother has many signed photographs with notes from the dancer Anita Louise, who subsequently, shares her name with a famous actress of the same name (stage name???). It appears Anita Louise was really good friends with and fond of the costumes made for her by Ruth Ackerman.

A photo of the “Marita Sisters,” one of many photos my Grandmother Joanne Ruesch has in her possession of the two. The costumes are made be her Mother - my great Grandmother - Ruth Ackerman.

I Love Lotte Reiniger! Holy smokes her animations are so incredible. I am writing some new songs these days, and my next animation project is going to a music-video inspired by Ms. Lotte. I think this will get underway in June 2011, after a west coast tour.  Animating takes forever, but it’s so worth it! Check out Lotte’s amazing work.

“Howling Dance,” by Laughing Eye Weeping Eye, 2011. Animation by yours truly! Wacky stuff.

I created this music video for the Laughing Eye Weeping Eye Song, “Firey Worm,” a b-side from the album Where Snakes & Seers Go. I created this stop-motion animation in layers, by shooting and green-screening out the backgrounds. The instrument I am playing is the Simsimiyya (see below posts for more info on this instrument). Enjoy!

This is the Harmonium, the main instrument I play in my band, Laughing Eye Weeping Eye. Below this post are some pictures and information on newer instruments I am learning how to play.

The Ukelin is a bowed psaltery (a stringed instrument related to the harp or zither). The instrument is played by bowing and plucking. The Ukelin kind of has scandalous past! Invented and then patented in 1926 by Paul Richter, the patent was then sold and the instrument distributed through Oscar Schmidt International, Inc and subsidiaries. This instrument was then made available wholesale to any desiring traveling salesman for $3.00. As the price listed inside the instrument priced it for $35, the door-to door salesmen had lots of room to peddle this instrument for a fine profit! This was a particularly fruitful venture during the great depression. Ultimately though, this practice led to its demise; in 1964, the president of Oscar Schmidt International, Inc Glen Peterson learned of how the instrument had been sold and halted production. (This information taken from http://www.ukelin.com/).

I obtained my scandalously beautiful Ukelin from Nick and Norine Ersing in Buffalo NY, while touring with my band this past summer. Seeing me perform on my portable Harmonium made them remember that they had an antique instrument back home collecting dust. I was completely touched when they offered to give me this instrument, the Ukelin, which Nick had found before demolishing an old house. I am learning how to play it and can’t wait to send them some recordings! Thanks Nick and Norine!