On a happier, altogether different note: Ignacio Ybarra performs with a special circus in Venice to raise money for restoration of the old Ringling arena into a museum. Herald-Tribune staff photo by Dan WagnerNever make deals with a Davenport, not if they have anything to do with a circus. Pity poor nice guy Johnny Pugh, who sold a couple of elephants to Wilbur Davenport (I assume of the notorious Ben Davenport wing) back around 2005, and "failed to assure," he now admits, that Davenport had first secured a necessary permit as mandated by the Endangered Species Act. Cole's Renee Story calling the issue a 'technicality." No, no, Johnny! Years later, he and Davenport are in federal court facing misdemeanor charges on violating the Act. I can only assume (having neither the will nor the will) that these rules protect against animals being sold to the wrong people, and I know enough about those Davenports to know that nothing good can come of it.
Why, Johnny, why? The animal abuse alleged to have occurred once the bulls ended up in Davenport’s hands may be used by Pugh’s PETA enemies against him. Judges tally? Cole has to pay $150,000 (ouch!), and will be on probation for 4 years. Pugh and Davenport each pleaded guilty to violating the Act and will serve three-year probations that mandate 100 hours a year of community service. And just where on the road might that take place, I wonder. A sad sad tale for Pugh. Oh, please, where to next? How about a little innocent pimping under another beleaguered tent? ...
UniverSoul Circus shocks mothers with morals: This year’s wrap-up sermon (they all seem to revel in drugs & sex) is a skit in which men toss bills at strippers and a woman gets “sold” to a pimp by her boyfriend, and then slapped around for refusing to honor her new job description. (PETA, here’s a more viable field for you to tackle) ... Parental patron Kristine Brown telling WSBTV in Atlanta of having been outraged! “I didn’t think that was child friendly at all,” complained she, who had rushed her kids out of the tent during the illicit interlude. A few other mamas kind of agreeing, but some defending the skit as being not “too graphic.” May I ask, whatever happened to the circus? ...
Show’s pr man, Hank Ernest, telling a reporter “Our show is about positive messages and sometimes to get to these you have to go to those lows.” Actually, the defiled woman is shown escaping her forced fate and “giving her life to Christ.”... This is one very odd show, not without a few very good acts. Maybe when producer-pastor Cedric Walker takes his veiled bordello to L.A., he’ll be Nokia nightclub ready; that’s the venue just played by Cirque Berzerk ...
Not a cheerful start to the new season, any of that stuff up there (not to mention the Big Apple Circus rock-hip hop-riot debacle). So how about my obsessing over Kelly-Miller Circus? My interest level is suddenly deflating, all except for the adventures of a certain malfunctioning clown truck that keeps me at the edge of my monitor fearing for the life of its driver, Steven Copeland (somebody should walk this guy back to the show-owned accommodations he endured when he first signed on, or start up an Emergency Copeland Truck Repair Defense Fund) ...
From what I can tell and hear, if anybody out there (only me?) is looking for fresh break-out showmanship from John Ringling North II, put your hallucinations away for another year. This not-new opus appears to be a virtual duplicate of last season’s. Not a promising sign from the House of Ringling. Unless Kelly-Miller is plying all-new markets — like a Ringling-Barnum unit on the second-leg of a 2-year tour -- returning customers are bound to sense stagnation. Declining patronage usually follows. OK, I’m out of that tent, promise ...
Johnathan Ybarra at the Venice Circus. Herald-Tribune staff photo by Dan WagnerBack on the midway, what a blast of color the Balloon Man produces. I was over there looking around and bumped into the UniverSoul Circus tale (good reporting, Dick). By far, the most visually captivating of all the circus blogs has got to be, hands down, the one that Dick puts out, from which the above photos were lifted. What atmosphere! Like walking a brilliantly decorated midway. If the ads on Dick's blog are for real; this guy knows how to pitch and sell ... Maybe I should hire him to revamp my same old same old stand, but I'm afraid I'd get swamped in concessions, and that's NOT a rant ... Yes, I'm trying to end this. OK, I just did, period, end of dots.
Originally posted March, 2011
No comments:
Post a Comment