It's important to note at the outset that, despite that picture to the right (about which more later), this show was not about the musician Sting, but about things that sting - specially bees, since it's part of the theme of the KBOO Spring Membership Drive. While we did talk some about Sting, we mainly played songs & talked about the stings that hurt, specifically from bees or other stinging insects, but also metaphorically, as in "death where is they sting?" Thinking about it, it would have been amazing if Sting had written a song about being stung, but as far as we know, he has not. We actually didn't do much research, having lost interest in him as a musician after that Turtles album which lots of people seemed to like but we just didn't.
So we play songs about stinging & stingers & stings (& there's even a couple of songs featuring the word "stingy" since it comes from "sting") & we talked to a poet who uses the imagery of being stung a lot, to an educator who gets stung by things so you don't have to, to a trendspotter who has discovered something called "bee surgery" (not to be confused with "knee surgery"), yes, there's an homage to Sting - a dramatic reenactment of a 1980 interview he gave - & even two songs about Sting! Just so much happens in three hours of show.
& we really wanted to find an image someone else created of Sting being stung by bees but could not, so instead we made one ourselves. It's Sting surrounded by bees. We hope he'll get stung. The original image of the bees is here. The image of Sting from which we took the face is here.
& don't worry! The show won't your skin turn red or swell up or anything. Not any more than usual, anyway.
- KBOO