Gustafer Yellowgold is yellow and animated, but the comparisons to Spongebob stop there. Gustafer is an alien visitor from the sun who now lives in a cottage in the woods of Minnesota. He has a purple pet eel named Slim (short for Slimothy); one of his friends is a pterodactyl; another is a dragon named Asparagus. He smashes cakes on his kitchen floor when hes not hanging out with a trio of emotional bees. But Gustafer isnt just a cartoon. The creation of New York musician/illustrator Morgan Taylor, Gustafer has a live show that has opened for Wilco and the Polyphonic Spree, giving him way more street cred than Barney. He actually looks more like Oblio from Harry Nilssons The Point; and Taylors 70s-sounding soft-rock songs are very Nilsson- or Beatles-esque. Performing this morning as part of the Childrens Film Festival, Taylor will combine cartoons and music. His mellowed tunes are touching, almost absurdist expressions of Gustafers wonderment at life on Earth. On Birds, he sings, Im always shaking hands with the birds/And Ive never caught any germs. Kids will dig it. And their parents neednt worry about compromising their cool. E. THOMPSON
Sat., Jan. 30, 11 a.m., 2010