BASEBALL'S GREATEST NIGHT ...

Baseball is the only sport I follow, currently thrilled by the reign of a Japanese superstar being hailed the greatest of all time, yet I was too much a wimp last night to watch this one out.  But this morning, I awoke to this fabulous prose in The New York Times by By Andy McCullough. He begins:

"LOS ANGELES — On a night when Shohei Ohtani could not be subdued, on a night when one of baseball’s cathedrals offered its entrants a baptism in the sport’s capacity for agony and ecstasy, on a night when the shame that the game had to end morphed into the fear that it never would, the Los Angeles Dodgers captured control of the World Series in a 6-5 Game 3 victory in 18 innings over the Toronto Blue Jays.

At 11:50 p.m., six hours and 39 minutes after the first pitch arrived, Freddie Freeman supplied the walk-off home run off Toronto reliever Brendon Little to send the Dodger Stadium crowd into the sort of rapture possible only after two full games’ worth of teeth-grinding, stomach-turning, heart-rending baseball. At the end of the joint-longest game in World Series history, the fans were exhausted. They were exhilarated. As Randy Newman’s “I Love L.A.” blared across Chavez Ravine, they were heading to the parking lots knowing the Dodgers were two victories away from a second consecutive world championship."

Way to go, L.A.! 

OUT OF THE PAST: Blundering Big Tops: Ringling Ditches Portland-Seattle ... Big Apple Pitches Pony Rides .... Fly-Shy Circus Vargas Dishes Half a Show ... And the Elephants Apply for Assisted Living ... Who Said the Circus Was Alive and Well?

 

Something happened at the Big Apple Circus that nearly took my breath away.  No, not an act of art, but an act of commerce. Commerce of the kind you normally do not associate with “New York’s own.”

Well, now, New York’s own sells pony rides!  Yes, they are that flat out desperate, it appears, this being another of their recent Make-or-Break Seasons.   Another round of bailout money from Wall Street Greed may yet come to another rescue.

I once wrote a book called Fall of the Big Top and one fan of good intent, likely speaking for many others, was Don Covington, himself then company manager for the Big Apple Circus.  Don e-mailed me his pleasure over many memories my book brought back. But he also wanted to make clear being understandably at odds with my misleading subtitle: The Vanishing American Circus.  Wrote Don, “American circus has not vanished, it is vital and evolving.”

Don may have been right, then. Now, the word devolving seems apt. In fact, the subtitle should have read The Vanishing Great American Three Ring Circus.   That’s what I was really thinking.  And so the blame lies with me for ticking off anybody else out there who felt the blunt edge of overstatement.  And still ... Now, if you will pardon my incredible disrespect, I am wondering if in fact the American circus is in any form, old, new, in rehab or on parole, not slowly vanishing?

In peak Big Apple years.  Marty and Jake LaSalle, 2008, just plain terrific.

The stomach-turning news of the pony ride felt like the last nail in a coffin.  Pray it ain’t so.  Reaching beyond White Tops and Circus Report for a sliver of reality, I found but one review on Trip Adviser.  Be warned, the following content may not be suitable for circus fans of any age:

 “Its expensive, the acts are dated and boring, both me and our 10 year old fell asleep. Everything is overpriced and the stupid pony rides a big ripoff. Ok if you're 5 and never seen a circus before.”

Fair, balanced, and boring: I must say, from the photos I’ve seen of the new show, it looks quite promising.  Reviews?  Count on the New York papers to usually give New York's own circus a valentine pass.  

.

What next under the Big Apple tent?   Mass audience participation?   They could sell seats in the ring itself, making it easier for audience members (or shills) to already be in place when a clown comes calling.   A one hour Shrine-like intermission for peanut peddling?  (Hey, I might go for some cashews.)  The passing of a ringmaster’s hat?

The audience getting into the act is what's packing our tents these days, right?  Hey, you won't see that at Monte Carlo!

Around other beleaguered rings, more reason to rue the same.  Take Ringling, dumping Pacific Northwest dates, Seattle and Portland not deemed profitable enough to justify rail bills into the region. Locals up there none to thrilled.  Where instead will the trains now be routed:     Berkeley?  The Bermuda Triangle?

Feldishly fading: The Gold unit is history. So, of course, soon the pachyderms, destined for medicare and Assisted Living. 

Meet forced Floria retiree Mabel, being fitted for glasses under JumboCare.

Half a Vargas:   If you go, be prepared for a great first half (to be kind, I am overlooking a lame story line too cliche to credit): a sure hand in the gifted direction to cheer; excellent taped music; inventive staging around two jugglers working simultaneously; a clown, Alex Acero, who is very funny when he is being a clown (see my write-up about him a few posts down).  There is the commanding Patrick Marinelli, an illusionist and fabrics flyer of swaggering star power; terrific trampoline and wall bouncing exploits.   There's a lovely (rather than mandatory) aerial ballet featuring the winning Cathy Poema on a compelling lyra workout, and without wires.  So, into the break, the artfully exciting first half delivers big.  And this even without a double wheel and Marinelli on straps -- two turns advertised but not seen the day in Hayward when I went.  I felt so good, that I prayed the feeling would carry over into the last half.   A solid 3-star show, minimum, in the making.

Now, if you go and feel as elated as I did at the half way mark and wish to hold that feeling on your way out, then on your way out should be at intermission. Stop there.  Run, do not walk, but LEAVE.   What will you be missing?  Other than the classy Poema family on risely, whose once cute little boy now struggles to redefine his persona (a diet would help) nothing else is notable. Nothing.   Never have I seen so many “flyers” doing so little on the flying trapeze.  With only one hundred plus in the tent the day I went, guess they weren’t in the mood.  Never are when I’m there.  Maybe if they performed no matter the house size, more people would show up.  I counted two motorcycles in the big globe. Whoopee.   Dull.  Empty.  Done.

Vargas feels like a circus not wanting to be a circus.  Lots of Cirque du Soleil posturing this year. End point offers vacuously irrelevant ensemble dancing.   Such a let down after the stellar first half.   Good golly, Molly,  would it break payroll or cause PETA to riot if a dog act was allowed into the ring.  Just a dog act?

All these depressing developments are pushing my pen into Big Think mode.  Gotta warm up another cup of Gen Mai Chi tea.  There’s a thread I’m threading through all of this — a reason why, no matter what they do, the public may still stay away in large numbers.  And here it is:

Enter the ambivalent circus audience

Come back someday, and I might run with it.

Bye!

First posted November 10, 2015

CNN on New Ringling /S2 Promisng You Tube Teaching Circus Skills to Kids, Live DJ Spinning Pop Music: "That Hopefully Will Lead to Ticket Sales" ...

 

SHOCKING COLLISONS STALK THE GLOBE OF DEATH IN FOUR BRIT CIRCUSES ... HISTORY OF MAYHEM AND DEATH REVEALED ..

The first known Globe, patented in 1904

    INSIDE THE GLOBE OF DEATH, originally a carnival attraction, there can be no doubt that its amazingly adept riders save themselves by sheer heart-pounding  mastery. Round and round go the motor maniacs.   Year after year, show after show, and nothing ever happens.  Or does it?  

   IN THE LUSTING HEARTS of those sitting in the seats, surely the promise of a tragic collision keeps them on the edge.  I am never on the edge, for I have sat through  too many endlessly safe exhibitions. Perfection is a bloody bore. Okay, next act please.  

    ACTUALLY, I'D PREFER watching an imperfect act now and then, to remind myself of how circus thrives in the state of reality, no retakes, no editing — flyer missing connection to catcher and failing into net below; juggler dropping clubs and scrambling to rebound. Without such moments, how can our sense of peril be sustained?   

    I CAN'T RECALL EVER hearing news of a gory outcome inside the Globe of Death.  But the crowds make up for flawless executions by running visions through their anxious minds of sudden mayhem. And they keep waiting.  

    WELL SOMETHING HAS FINALLY HAPPENED, over in the birthplace of circus.   A crack in the gloss.  Sudden skid off course into unscripted chaos.  In UK circuses, were most of the shows are hauling the monster cage from lot to lot, this past  summer, four riders were injured between Circus Extreme, Zippos, Circus Fantasia, and Blackpool Tower Circus.  No fatalities.  But a potentially terrific boost to the act’s power to compel.  Why did I not see anything about  this on the TV?  Daily Mail, where you there?  This will likely inflate the fear factor, and keep this cumbersome exploitation from going away anytime soon.

     ON THE SCENE IN LONDON, Douglas McPherson has crafted  a  cracking good history of the globe, which informs this posting, and which has just been published in The Stage. I've learned that it goes back much farther than I knew, to at least to 1904.  A 100-year-old 3 ton globe is still used by the Jordan show.    

Some excerpts:   

    Pedal Bikes Preceded Motor:  So I got a taste of that at Zoppe Family Circus two years ago.  

    From America With Guts:  Stunt rider Arthur Rosenthal holds the fist patent, dated 1904. His drawing submitted is  "identical to the ones used today."

    Riders Do Die:  There have been at least tree. Perhaps the most horrifying one took place at Bertram Mills Circus in 1951. Inside a bottomless globe 70 feet above the ring, Arno Wickbold's clown costume got caught in his wheel and sent him to his death before 6.000 stunned spectators.

    Black-Outs For Some: From Julia Kirilova, founder of the all-women Big Kid Circus globe team:  "Lots of Globe of Death riders tend to black out for a second or two, but come back and carry on."

   The Ecstasy of Danger:   Said MalinYovov:  "People pay money to see the best shows in the UK with the most extreme stunts ...When I hear the audience go wild, I just can't wait for the next show to do it all again."

Oh, I just love that quote.  
 
    THE MOST RIDERS EVER to circle each other at the same time?  World records site the Infernal Varanne Riders, a stunt troupe,  for having six riders in motion, and a person standing in the middle of them.  Hold on! I counted eight riders at the ERA Intersection of Time in Shanghai, in 2010.    

To read McPherson's fascinating in depth on the subject, here's a link to the story

https://www.thestage.co.uk/features/inside-the-globe-of-death-the-history-of-the-perilous-circus-act

Yes, there's a firewall, but you can read two or three articles for free by signing up.

Happy globing!

Beware the Hazzards of YouTube Big Topping ... When and How Digital Slights the Ageless Delight ...

     In the Kingdom of Kong, at Big Kid Circus

I am coming to terms with a situation I have long alluded to whenever looking at a circus performance on YouTube:  Among many set backs, your view is limited to where you are placed, to the camera's focus, and to the sometimes muddled split-focus imagery resulting from costumes and sets getting in the way.  This post was spurred by Douglas McPherson's  review of the  Big Kid Circus. So here we go ...

ACTION VERSUS PRODUCTION: In the YouTube of a particularly lavish set, such as  what Big Kid Circus offers patrons across the Big Pond, I found myself  straining at times to stay focused on the act. For example, I was hooked  by a single trap artist, who seemed to slither in and out of the proceedings.  

In fact, the production has so much atmosphere -- flashing lights, lavish costuming and scenic effects, it can feel like getting lost in a gigantic birthday cake 

EDITING: You may be watching a partially edited video, which will give you a distorted view of the entire performance.  During a comedy number, the clowns were moving back and forth across the ring to an end point blocked by a scenic element.  

ACTS COMPETING WITH PRODUCTION: Perhaps nothing in my big top You Tubing has come so close to making me feel at times swamped in the colors, lights, props and special effects. They are quite impressive here, but I still prefer clear sight lines to what the performers are doing. 

MULTIPLE VERSIONS:  Sometimes, someone will send me a link to another video of the same show --- "this has more of the story-line" -- "this shows the cris-cross flyers" -- which only begs the question, what else may be missing?

What I think I liked at Kingdom of Kong:  Hard to believe  that a roller skating act so impressed me. Also impressive juggling. The single trapeze guy.  Human pyramids. Clowns bouncing balls against a wall that I could not fully see behind a blocked view.  Five acrobats.  Quick costume changes - terrific. Contortion dancing.  Emphatic Afro  dancing.  The prevailing mood comes with heavy music that can overwhelm.  This is not a wishy washy show.  I can see it maybe being a lot of fun, especially when going with a friend.

Two big acts not so fun: The double wheel opens the show rather weakly  The closing Globe of Death features three motor divas from Iran. With the unfortunate accidents to several globe of death riders recently, this will surely inflate the fear factor in these acts and only lessen the chances of their going away  any time soon. 

In his review Douglas calls it "the best looking big top show in Britain." Well worth reading,  you will find it at circusmania.blogspot.com. Scroll down past a  fascinating report he has just posted, with photos and comments. of  his "whistle stop tour of some of its biggest traveling shows." Very interesting and educational. I can't remember reading anything about circus in India.

Blame it on YouTube.