origins
rear: Michael Schacker - Butch Minor
front: Ken Miele - Doug Cohen
Original members Ken Miele and Doug Cohen moved from New York to California in 1971, traveling cross country in two vans full of musical and puppet theater equipment. They appeared in colleges and nightclubs performing psychedelic puppet shows followed by a musical dance concert.
doug cohen & kenny miele
Early successes in California included a guest invitation to perform at the National Puppetry Convention. The invitation came from Mike Oznewitz, father of Muppet Master Frank Oz. A one hour Christmas special written and performed by the duo was aired on the CBS affiliate KPIX in San Francisco which resulted in The highlight of this airing...an invitation to perform at Jerry Garcia's birthday party in Marin County.
In 1973 Ken and Doug moved to Nevada County and officially named the band Cousin Cricket. The puppeteers split up with two members retuning to New York City and who continue to pursue music and puppetry to this day.
ridin’ the rails to reno
Ken Miele rejoined former partner Craig Marin in New York and over the last 15 years has appeared with the Flexitoon Puppets on TV series spanning several networks, including Fox Kids, Nickelodeon, Showtime, Plum TV and the Emmy Award Winning 'Shining Time Station' on PBS. The show centered around the adventures of Thomas the Tank Engine and starred Ringo Starr and George Carlin.
The Flexitoons have received numerous awards including the prestigious "Puppeteers of the Year" at Lincoln Center in New York City. Their work has been the subject of many gallery and museum retrospectives. Last year they were chosen to represent the U.S. at the International Puppetry Festival in Taiwan. This year they will be serving in the same capacity in Romania.
A fortuitous convergence of puppetry and music has led to the creation of the original DVD "Ridin' the Rails to Reno". The song, written by Ken Miele and Paul Kraushaar has been interpreted by the Flexitoon Troup. Painstaking care was put into the video along with 'green screen' technology that enables the puppet world to intermix with human actors.