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| How many Blue Men are there? Three. They have a super-sonic jet to race from show to show... The real answer is known only to Blue Man Productions. We estimate that there's around 37 current Blue Men, including the Founders and Performing Directors. There are usually Blue Man trainees, as well, and there are former Blue Men that step in as substitutes when needed. For a list of Blue Men and band members, check the Who's Where page, last updated in November of 2003. Do the three Blue Men have names? Are the roles different? How can you tell the characters apart? The Blue Man characters don't have "names", but the roles -- and characters -- are quite different. The "names" are either based on the Founder who created the role -- Chris, Matt and Phil -- or their position on the stage -- Center, Right and Left. The "Phil" role is Right -- for much of the action, he's stage right (to the left of the audience). The "Matt" role is Left -- he's stage left (to the right of the audience). The "Chris" role is Center. They don't always stay in these positions...wouldn't want to make it too easy on us, would they? ;) It's easier to tell them apart by what each is doing in a given situation. In the opening paint drumming scene, they're in position order: Center is drumming, Left squeezes the paint slowly, and Right gets the face full of paint. In the Spin Art scene, Left is throwing the paint balls and marshmallows, Right creates the Spin Art, and Center creates the marshmallow sculpture. For Fish, Information Overload flip charts, Crunch, Feast, and all the times they play the PVC Instrument, they're in position order. For exploring the audience, Center catches the Toblerone, and Left escorts the Feast Guest (even though all three go to find her). In Digital Art, Center is the one playing with the shadows. For Drumbone, Right does the drumming, Left moves the horizontal tube, and Center moves the vertical tube. In Las Vegas, during Rods and Cones, Right has the Backpack Tubulum (the one with the biggest tubes...he's playing the bassline), and Center's PVC Backpack has more tubes than Left's. During the Encore paint drumming, they're in position again; Left has the lights on his drum. The characters do have differences. I see them this way: Right is the "straight man"...he tends to be rather serious. Left is the smart aleck; he often gets to deliver "the punchline". Center -- well, he's a little spastic at times. Very energetic. Tends to be the leader (often because he's in the middle). In addition to that, each performer's Blue Man is going to be different, despite the fact that the role is "scripted" -- that's one of the best things about the show! So one night, you may see a truly spastic Center, dancing and playing with the audience. Another night, he might be a bit more subdued. But underlying this all is that basic Blue Man...the curious, gentle being that loves to learn, enjoys a good joke (especially at someone else's expense), and is fascinated by things that wiggle. Do the Founders ever perform? How about the Performing Directors? The Performing Directors have been known to step in when needed (I saw Brian Scott in Vegas once), and it was the Performing Directors (minus Randall Jaynes) that performed on the Area:2 tour back in the summer of 2002. Much to the fans' dismay, Chris, Matt and Phil do not regularly perform. They are the Blue Men featured in this year's music videos for "Sing Along" and "The Current" from BMG's latest album, The Complex. We beg, we plead, we whine...they ignore us. ;) Or reply with a statement about "finding" the Blue Man (see the Audio video for that interview), or simply tell us that it's about the Blue Man, not who's under the blue. Yeah, yeah, yeah...we STILL want to see you perform, CMP. :) Can you take pictures at the shows? Venue shows: not inside the auditorium. In fact, you'll take a "no photos oath" during the pre-show LED messages. After the show, in the lobby: YOU BET! The Blue Men and band do a meet and greet at the venue shows where you can have the opportunity to interact and take photos with the performers. Complex Show: you may or may not be searched on the way into the concert venue. Bring a camera at your own risk. The Words on the Left claim it's okay to take photos without flash...but do you really want to trust an LED board that rebels against the rules? Your choice... ;) I have this photo of me and a Blue Man from (insert name of venue here). Can you tell me who my Blue Man is? Me, personally? I'm not the most reliable source for ID'ing Blue Men. Besides, half the fun of being a fan is trying to figure it out for yourself. Look at the photos at the Blue Man Library...and if you can't figure it out for yourself, come back to the Message Board (or here), and send a Private Message or an e-mail to someone who seems to know a lot about Blue Man. (I'm pretty good at Vegas, Chicago and the Complex Tour, but not NY or Boston.) The key there is e-mail or Private Message, NOT on the Message Board itself. The Blue Men deserve their privacy, and identifying them in or out of Blue in a public forum is not cool. BMG treats its fans EXCEPTIONALLY well; we want to keep that friendly, open bond with them. Do that by showing respect. What is the BML? BML stands for Blue Man Library. It's an AWESOME fan site, run by Joe "rotcav" Burke. It has photos, articles, videos of all of the Leno appearances, all of the Regis appearances, the Pentium commercials...basically, it's the repository for All Things Blue Man That You Can't Find At Blueman.com. Check it out, if you haven't already! What are all these acronyms? BMG: if you can't figure this out, go enjoy the Guns 'n Roses site next door. BMP: Blue Man Productions -- the production company that oversees all Blue Man projects. CMP: Chris, Matt and Phil -- Chris Wink, Matt Goldman, and Phil Stanton -- the Founders. OOB: out of Blue. After a 2 or 3 show work day, your favorite Blue Man looks forward to this state. L@L: Live at Luxor, the permanent show in Vegas. Sometimes abbreviated LaL, but that's also a MB member. MB: Message Board. Or Matthew Banks. Or Mike Brown. Depends on the context... ;) Looking at the last line, I should mention that I have the habit of referring to the Blue Men who performed at a particular show by their initials. If you REALLY want to know who those performers are, do your research. Again, that's half the fun of being a fan. :) |
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