tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-218284122024-03-07T13:12:43.568-08:00A Mudshow SeasonWhat's a mudshow? In the early days of the American Circus shows traveled rutted cart tracks through the night to make the next town with their horse drawn parade wagons. Arriving, they washed off the mud and with sparkles and spangles put on a show. Today we travel interstate highways in diesel trucks but circus honors the past by recalling a bit of that clay that stuck to the wheels. We call it a mudshow.B.E.Trumblehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03453784575544052889noreply@blogger.comBlogger567125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21828412.post-208487541518682032015-03-05T16:25:00.002-08:002015-03-05T16:25:17.387-08:00A few quick comments on decision by Feld Entertainment to phase out elephants over the next few season RBBB shows. It's not the end of the world for traditional circus. Astley would certain remind us that the circus ring is the ideal circumference for an equestrian act. Barnum said that the center poles of a circus were elephants and clowns, but James Bailey knew better. Of course elephants and circus have been synonymous for nearly 150 years and they will be missed on the Feld shows (assuming overwhelming public outcry doesn't prompt Feld to reconsider) however elephants are disappearing entirely from every circus... at least not yet.
Is this a big win for Animal Rights groups? It's a win but it isn't a knockout. From the beginning of this battle twenty plus years ago circus fans and some circuses (not...I should stress...the Feld shows) have repeated erred in thinking that this was a Left/Right political issue with "Liberals" opposing animals acts while "Conservatives" endorsed them. In reality the philosophy behind both Animal Rights and extremist environmentalism has cut across the Left/Right axis. David Foreman the founder of Earth First was a Nixon Republican. The first serious Congressional legislation proposed to take elephants off the road, the Farr Bill was proposed by a California Democrat and cosponsored by an Alaska Conservative. Fighting AR activists by trying to frame the argument in political terms doesn't work. It's a philosophical debate. As the activists rightly see it, its a market debate. Deprive shows of markets and you win. The activists don't have to convince significant numbers of voters, only a handful of local elected officials for whom it's a "safe" vote. It's hard for pro-circus voices to be heard if they show up ready to fight the wrong war.
Are cats next? Almost certainly. Broad bans written to exclude all exotic animals of course cover cats as well as elephants. In places where narrower elephant restrictions are in place, cat restrictions come next. That said, the economics of cat acts are far different. At least in theory, absent Federal legislation cat acts can afford to play smaller less restricted markets and there's still a chance to fight local legislation. Where cat acts fall under "exotics" bans defining exotics becomes an issue. Broadly defining exotics creates grounds for court challenges while narrowly defining exotics leaves wiggle room for "native" species.
Dog acts, horse acts, barnyard acts, even camels aren't going away. In the US consumers spend many billions of dollars every year to pamper their "pets." Taking away ligers is one thing, taking away llamas is quite another. That doesn't mean that activists won't try -- but it isn't a battle they can win for another couple generations.
Opinions shift and cultures change. Insofar as Animals Rights debates go, demographics may ultimately overwhelm all other arguments. The AR debate is driven by mostly white, mostly middle class activists influencing similar politicians. A generation from now the face of America won't look the same. Want animals on a circus thirty years from now? Don't try to convince 20 year olds, convince children born tomorrow or next week.
If activists scored some kind of "win" today the biggest losers may be elephants. Habitats continue to disappear in Asia and activists are vocal in proclaiming the ridiculous notion that extinction is better than captive management. Just as Polar Bears are highly charismatic totems for the climate change debate, elephants should be the totem for the survival of megafauna. As more than a few zoos give up elephants, the last best place to see living, breathing pachyderms has been the circus. Take that away and fewer and fewer people care about their ultimate survival. In better world we would be offered tradeoffs. No elephants on the road...but permits granted to zoos and breeding programs to import asian elephants and better management species survival and bloodlines. Absent that tradeoff elephants lose, circus loses, children lose and ironically at the end of the road AR loses to. What will AR do when they successfully kill off entire species? The particular Hell for that sin won't be a pleasant one. Maybe we'll get lucky and Rand Paul will fix it all...
In the meantime..."Hold your horses, here come the elephants!" Don't miss them before their echoes fade away.B.E.Trumblehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03453784575544052889noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21828412.post-41993998212006984682014-03-06T11:47:00.001-08:002014-03-06T11:47:27.700-08:00Time flies when it is always winter. In upper New York State the snows came early in the autumn of last year and have stayed ever so late. It's March and at dawn today the temperature was still well below zero on the Fahrenheit scale. In the Valley, in Texas circus tents are rising in empty lots but here, far away even the crocus dare not pop from the frosty ground with its thin veneer of mud when the sun reaches its afternoon apex.
Where have I been?
Around.
Why so quiet?
That would make for a very long story.
It's enough to say that on a hot summer lot several years ago I decided that blogs, or pictures, long-winded prose wasn't always the best way to tell a circus story. And not every circus story needed to be told. It was time to wait for some new tools. Some might argue the tool of the moment, the ubiquitous Go-Pro cameras are just such a tool. Go-Pros are great inside a shark tank or tied to a weather balloon at the edge of space, but they remain an impersonal device -- God's unblinking eye -- just another box filled with images.
Enter Glass.
Two years ago Google -- either humanity's greatest champion, or worse enemy -- announce a product called glass. A bit of Star Trek technology beaming information directly into the user's eye and more importantly capturing stories exactly as the user sees them. No buttons, no tripods, no cumbersome helmets or headgear. For a year glass has been in beta testing, several thousand "explorers" playing with the technology to see what stories they can tell. Google doesn't make glass easy to come by. The price tag alone deselects casual experiments and the pickup spots in NY, LA and San Francisco -- where Base Camp training takes place -- adds another layer of complexity. Moreover glass can only be had by residents of a few countries.
All right, I'm being longwinded again.
The point is, next week I get my glass. And I'll look for a circus and stories to tell.B.E.Trumblehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03453784575544052889noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21828412.post-48640978091362006162012-05-14T19:55:00.001-07:002012-05-14T19:55:23.458-07:00Long, long year. The last pictures are this blog are dated May 2011 when Vidbel's Circus came to Ithaca to the Shops at the Mall. Three days ago Vidbel's came back again for five shows, two on Friday, and three on Saturday. It was nice to see a circus tent. Although I spent a week on Kelly Miller in July of last year, I chose not to blog about it. A few bits and pieces of news worth mentioning... Settled in Ithaca, NY area late in 2009 largely to enroll son Robin in high school after an academic year of home schooling on the road. On June the 23rd he will graduate. In August he's off to College of Environmental Science at Syracuse University on a pre-law track. If one is forced to spend several years as a "towner" it's nice when it all works out as planned.
On a sadder note, friend Dave Huntington passed away yesterday. Dave was an Indiana welder out of high school before the draft sent him off to Viet Nam. After the Army he worked carnivals, eventually enrolled in an electrical engineering program, bought a drive-in movie theater, then at one time of another managed most of the cinemas in the southern Finger Lakes. Dave was the guy to call if you needed to coax a few few more weeks out of a three-phase generator, or wanted an original diagram for a kiddie scrambler. He was the last union projectionist in Tompkins County -- when there were union projectionists -- and since he was diagnosed with a tumor a year ago I have been "covering" his job, and doing it poorly.
Anyway, it's May and the world is green and I miss the circus. And I will try not to0 let too many days pass before posting again.B.E.Trumblehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03453784575544052889noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21828412.post-23001660721602526012012-04-30T15:27:00.003-07:002012-04-30T15:27:48.617-07:00Tomorrow is the First of May... A date etched into the hearts of anybody who loves circus.B.E.Trumblehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03453784575544052889noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21828412.post-3689334950428289752011-05-21T14:32:00.000-07:002011-05-21T14:33:59.716-07:00<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjXlfZrLPfPX-DK0hAnndwkJ_8ZqLQKEr9EUrr6rPll2lehtNAVPkxnAWyB2IKSn8aP-mQJnufWkSx3ahj1IT4itqXGrF532HRZwXFjw5huY-djJbJvmAkPpR4W1e_-6MEwdCYD_w/s1600/tent2.jpg"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 200px; height: 150px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjXlfZrLPfPX-DK0hAnndwkJ_8ZqLQKEr9EUrr6rPll2lehtNAVPkxnAWyB2IKSn8aP-mQJnufWkSx3ahj1IT4itqXGrF532HRZwXFjw5huY-djJbJvmAkPpR4W1e_-6MEwdCYD_w/s200/tent2.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5609285815988755106" /></a><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgoBxPEJk4TgtvhOb-lxJUcA1Nl0Q0u4SjGd08Hqzgqosp9ValOX65su5lmjkgD6zgFf8nJ9Ln64-4yQg0FKGspheQFfXmFUU_vqTVohBVByfaJOAZHeFgwSGFsnXypawaZ4wjQfg/s1600/tent1.jpg"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 200px; height: 150px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgoBxPEJk4TgtvhOb-lxJUcA1Nl0Q0u4SjGd08Hqzgqosp9ValOX65su5lmjkgD6zgFf8nJ9Ln64-4yQg0FKGspheQFfXmFUU_vqTVohBVByfaJOAZHeFgwSGFsnXypawaZ4wjQfg/s200/tent1.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5609285807669896354" /></a><br />Clear skies sunny afternoon. VidbelB.E.Trumblehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03453784575544052889noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21828412.post-43999261388849696182011-05-21T06:40:00.000-07:002011-05-21T06:41:22.027-07:00<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg2QogcPrq9GGq-uasJeK_76PSXVSxXd7xp7MnbIYy8OxZrRYianpEWsqNDmNMYSBttsubRfkBoVP88dR40YqZfDYEfBfcVFXlcd-ftw8EK50M7bNIA_MAINU_jKDpyX2_1eQ-26Q/s1600/P05-21-11_09-00.jpg"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 200px; height: 150px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg2QogcPrq9GGq-uasJeK_76PSXVSxXd7xp7MnbIYy8OxZrRYianpEWsqNDmNMYSBttsubRfkBoVP88dR40YqZfDYEfBfcVFXlcd-ftw8EK50M7bNIA_MAINU_jKDpyX2_1eQ-26Q/s200/P05-21-11_09-00.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5609163907999787250" /></a><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjhiUNJSrX3P28kwCjz3XKjfolHu3QpJGCHk7mYN_mhifhSulhg6Nq7hi-QL3PMsFu3NNuTExKODqjoecHbx_GEVzVdWXBeEQFzuS2fLFkeLT9gbfeTVKv4SqoSWlkN-hvNjP7cTA/s1600/P05-21-11_08-42.jpg"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 200px; height: 150px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjhiUNJSrX3P28kwCjz3XKjfolHu3QpJGCHk7mYN_mhifhSulhg6Nq7hi-QL3PMsFu3NNuTExKODqjoecHbx_GEVzVdWXBeEQFzuS2fLFkeLT9gbfeTVKv4SqoSWlkN-hvNjP7cTA/s200/P05-21-11_08-42.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5609163904056702498" /></a>B.E.Trumblehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03453784575544052889noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21828412.post-56877061164006201492011-05-21T06:36:00.000-07:002011-05-21T06:40:03.222-07:00<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj-lJN8eGgUGHqB7KvOgq7VF_FWnIMAWg3bvvbl1PVqA-phJ8x3KQRzZMinN_oOoLV8iYSZIQtGgdS2YStJMi2qi7B1IJy6eruGuX3CaHRcnjFeRtowwelfXqrif6Fw7ei95fxH4A/s1600/P05-21-11_08-41.jpg"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 200px; height: 150px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj-lJN8eGgUGHqB7KvOgq7VF_FWnIMAWg3bvvbl1PVqA-phJ8x3KQRzZMinN_oOoLV8iYSZIQtGgdS2YStJMi2qi7B1IJy6eruGuX3CaHRcnjFeRtowwelfXqrif6Fw7ei95fxH4A/s200/P05-21-11_08-41.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5609163674380118962" /></a><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjzp1UI4260jwB2hVBE4Ksiu-s109AgCuBu4jwE8VSa2P6DIy22B-yap0DiLx82zJa39H_U4RI3pxFY97iFWsRAXwdb-m29HEwM9pxqGP3i8hDoAR6DlwL0_AR9aaqcfCVjYc7ydQ/s1600/P05-21-11_08-37.jpg"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 200px; height: 150px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjzp1UI4260jwB2hVBE4Ksiu-s109AgCuBu4jwE8VSa2P6DIy22B-yap0DiLx82zJa39H_U4RI3pxFY97iFWsRAXwdb-m29HEwM9pxqGP3i8hDoAR6DlwL0_AR9aaqcfCVjYc7ydQ/s200/P05-21-11_08-37.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5609163668493500642" /></a><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiL01O-Gss8EaFZy9fJtF_5h4smUhmjhplHQPyZmi47SxVoFmIxcOXUspMv1A__GTnYxVQG4U6MarWB9zCmg-pVtOkq-WraALrA16GfNVDoPzJcbrObULSQDr02hS5nUw6U4U1-UQ/s1600/P05-21-11_07-08.jpg"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 200px; height: 150px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiL01O-Gss8EaFZy9fJtF_5h4smUhmjhplHQPyZmi47SxVoFmIxcOXUspMv1A__GTnYxVQG4U6MarWB9zCmg-pVtOkq-WraALrA16GfNVDoPzJcbrObULSQDr02hS5nUw6U4U1-UQ/s200/P05-21-11_07-08.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5609163664097075026" /></a><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg37JncFwW2-xAPuFeUzzJ0KFPZRqqtTeaP-DGp3Lrtex09g5_aeIA7QKrCynmXX7JgwZAS_PQR71kCkdkGSNetBOXvaw3UXAWw5PdvceYFa-zCpFAuAgjxgcsK7NWOkOFtSyKdxw/s1600/P05-21-11_07-07.jpg"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 200px; height: 150px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg37JncFwW2-xAPuFeUzzJ0KFPZRqqtTeaP-DGp3Lrtex09g5_aeIA7QKrCynmXX7JgwZAS_PQR71kCkdkGSNetBOXvaw3UXAWw5PdvceYFa-zCpFAuAgjxgcsK7NWOkOFtSyKdxw/s200/P05-21-11_07-07.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5609163662275724050" /></a><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEijaUVpzsK6DblIVf61-GwFCFMeS8p5CHsVTNux92F7l7U9Byb2oiFIwoaL3MO_CF_HDdD3B-c0SmdPsFTnmrgm4bQ9UrLRANTyLaHWyl030jCj3a6bVZZo4lvroQTKN0vmeyrXKA/s1600/P05-21-11_07-03.jpg"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 200px; height: 150px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEijaUVpzsK6DblIVf61-GwFCFMeS8p5CHsVTNux92F7l7U9Byb2oiFIwoaL3MO_CF_HDdD3B-c0SmdPsFTnmrgm4bQ9UrLRANTyLaHWyl030jCj3a6bVZZo4lvroQTKN0vmeyrXKA/s200/P05-21-11_07-03.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5609163654378499026" /></a>B.E.Trumblehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03453784575544052889noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21828412.post-38500812920450528472011-01-27T10:05:00.001-08:002011-01-27T10:05:59.385-08:00January 26th, 2011. Freeville, NY.<br /><br />Last night here in the US we were treated to the annual State of the Union address delivered by the Chief Executive to the Congress. In the weeks running up the Stae of the Union we’ve all had our share of State of the State (or Commonwealth) addresses, State of the City pronouncements, and no doubt State of the Art(s) speeches at every museum large or small. The tone of these various moralistic lectures had tended to be downbeat, but hopeful. Of course what nobody has said is, “If you work in circus… Consider this…) Despite record revenues for organizations like Feld Entertainment, 2010 wasn’t a banner year for circus or carnival. Not exactly shocking news in the middle of a prolonged economic slump. 2008 served up the highest fuel prices the amusement business has ever seeen, followed by a meltdown of the credit markets and the banking system. Surprisingly 2009 had some bright spots. Real Estate was freefall, and unemployment soared, but diesel prices were reasonable and families stilled headed by those with jobs hoarded cash staying at home, and spent some of that money locally on entertainment like circus. Perhaps reality hadn’t entirely sunk in. By last year those who could were back at the theme parks and those who couldn’t were cinching the belt even tighter. In 2011 it’s tempting say that the only thing certain is uncertainty. While real unemployment inches down in some areas and consumer spending increases States like California remain crippled, Nevada with Depression era unemployment is in collapse, Illinois is racing toward a solid brick wall, and even Texas must consider new “fees” to fill the treasury. In the outdoor amusement business filling the tent or the midway is only part of the battle this season. Dealing with understaffed State Agencies, rising fuel costs, and myriad of new fees and penalties may require a whole new level of sophistication. We shouldn’t be shocked by stricter vehicle enforcement aimed not so much at safety as revenue enhancement. Likewise increased inspection fees, late filing fees for food service and other permits, fines for minor noncompliance whether from building inspectors, fire inspectors, humane officials, or village clerks. (Then of course there are fees for mandatory police/ambulance services.) In cash strapped States the price of doing business may be significantly higher in 2011. Worst gouging likely in CA, AZ, OR WA, in portions of the upper Midwest, and in the northeast where increased taxes on fuel may be ugly. By late 2011 TX and NC could jump on the bandwagon. As always WY may nickel and dime everybody at the state scales. Unfortunately the income remains too weak for much of a bump in admissions prices – and may stay that way until housing sees some recovery. We can learn from the mistakes of Hollywood. 2010 saw strong revenues for film, but declining seat sales. Most of the increased revenue came from 3D sales. Circus and carnival lack a corresponding “gimmick” and can’t afford to see a decline in seat sales. It won’t be a good year to skimp on publicity and marketing. Sponsors will work hard for what they see as assured profits, but they won’t put much effort into a show that doesn’t match their enthusiasm.<br /><br />There is a bit of good news. Though the price of natural gas remains lwo, gas exploration and drilling is creating a boom in several parts of the country including PA and portion of West Virginia, parts of OK, WY and elsewhere. NY will see the same boom by the end of 2011, assuming the need for revenue is greater than the lioud voices of a small number of anti-drilling activists. PA could be strong for any show this season with some effort at selling the show.B.E.Trumblehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03453784575544052889noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21828412.post-46336135640436547582011-01-27T10:04:00.000-08:002011-01-27T10:05:23.960-08:00January 25th. Freeville, NY.<br /><br />On Sunday the temperatures in the Fingers Lakes of Upstate New York found it difficult to climb above zero degrees F, before plunging to almost minus 20 degrees F after nightfall. Sunday afternoon Billy Martin brought his Cole All-Star Circus to Penn Yan, NY, hometown of the show’s original owner James M. Cole. In winter Mr. Martin’s Olean based All-Star circus braves snow, and ice, and cold temps bringing circus to gyms, auditoriums, and community centers across the state. Unfortunately we missed the Penn Yan show when the Camry took one look at the temps and declined to start. Maybe next time. Meanwhile, the good news is, although it may be late January, Spring is coming. In Oklahoma the Kelly Miller Circus loads up soon for the long jump to Brownsville, Texas and a new season opening the second week in February. Shrine dates are underway here and there, Hispanic shows are open in TX and California, and in seven or eight weeks other tent shows will start the new season shaking off the sleep of winter-quarters and heading down the road. It’s 2011 and the circus is coming to town.B.E.Trumblehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03453784575544052889noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21828412.post-89647657933408023482011-01-27T10:03:00.000-08:002011-01-27T10:04:33.945-08:00January 24th, 2011. Freeville, NY<br /><br />Eighteen below zero at 7AM. Ouch! Looking out the window it was hard not to think that winter has gone on long enough. AVAILABLE for 2011. <br /><br />Small 3 in 1 sideshow attraction with mermaid, Bigfoot, and “deadly spiders” (Tarantulas, scorpions etc.)<br /><br />“Snake Hunter” 4-6 minute display suitable for smaller bigtop includes giant snakes and deadly diamondbacks handled by “snake hunter” in center of ring or at ring curb. Great lead up to reptile picture pitch. Already displaying a giant snake on your midway? No problem, can reframe your display for a rare albino rattlesnake to keep your pits how earning. <br /><br />“Deadly Escape” Illusion 5 minutes +. Mailbag escape with a twist. Live venomous snakes are loaded into the bag with escape artist. <br /><br />And of course I try to be generally useful in all areas of a show from marketing, media, tickets, animal supervision to announcing. Email mudshowmedia at yahoo dot comB.E.Trumblehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03453784575544052889noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21828412.post-77368015572644813562010-12-08T11:14:00.000-08:002010-12-08T11:22:45.623-08:00News out of New York City yesterday. Feld Entertainment's 141st Edition of the Ringling Bros. Barnum & Bailey Circus will not play Madison Square Garden in 2011. The news is not likely as dire as it sounds. The Garden will be undergoing renovations. And since the first Barnum show palyed the Garden over 130 years ago, there have been several different "Madison Square Gardens," Including the incredible Moorish inspired twoer that was "The Garden" from 1890 through the Golden Age of circus in the 1920s. The show is exiled from Manhattan only for a season, at least so far as the press is reporting. And given the successful Coney Island summer runs in recent years, the Feld/Ringling title remains a New York favorite. That said, long gone are the days when the circus could play the Garden literally for months... If I remember correctly at least once the B&B show was forced out of the Garden by rebuilding during the Bailey era -- only to come back stronger the next season. And the Bailey filled the Garden with other titles when he took the Barnum show to Europe.B.E.Trumblehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03453784575544052889noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21828412.post-15835181327472241522010-12-07T12:38:00.000-08:002010-12-07T12:44:36.602-08:00<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEitef0k1IXgZMQqgmxB5-FGQzEeFaSkhFioJ4s4CDHuYgBSEw7ELRB8FIOdE7ruFMaVQtxHBTce7yFCC15kussmvOZcmhr9tMC4t8hps-mmC09dkDes1sF_gLw5q3curG6jhffeog/s1600/Hi_Tops_Zippy.gif"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 200px; height: 150px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEitef0k1IXgZMQqgmxB5-FGQzEeFaSkhFioJ4s4CDHuYgBSEw7ELRB8FIOdE7ruFMaVQtxHBTce7yFCC15kussmvOZcmhr9tMC4t8hps-mmC09dkDes1sF_gLw5q3curG6jhffeog/s200/Hi_Tops_Zippy.gif" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5548044038745649618" /></a><br />Mike Swan has passed away in California. Swan Bros Circus has entertained generations of children of all agaes playing California fair dates.B.E.Trumblehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03453784575544052889noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21828412.post-76449015653053093892010-10-26T11:47:00.000-07:002010-10-26T11:50:10.411-07:00Almost November and I can't wait for an end to descriptions of the current election cycle as a "circus." Circus is an honorable trade, politics on the otherhand....B.E.Trumblehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03453784575544052889noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21828412.post-72136652997325838792010-10-07T11:44:00.001-07:002010-10-07T11:44:40.838-07:00Bear with me. This is actually about circus. With several shows now almost home, it seems like a pretty good time to look at 2010 and beyond. The good news, most shows weathered the season despite the continued weakness in the US economy. The bad news, the US economy is still on life support and plenty of taxpayers are frustrated and ready to pull the plug. For not-for-profit circus and circus programs, charitable giving is still well below pre-recessionary levels. The Bush/Obama economic brain trust was great at bailing out financial institutions and car companies, but only recently has government agreed to funnel money to small and smaller business, the kind of homegrown manufacturers and retailers who quietly generous. Stimulus money has certainly benefited those in infrastructure construction and related business – though job creation hasn’t lived up to expectation – but that enormous new debt did nothing to solve foreclosures and continued weakness in housing. Ten show that historically stayed in the black in areas of southern California are still looking at virtual ghost towns in the Imperial Valley and in counties where foreclosures have emptied entire subdivisions. It’s likely still tough for a traditional tent show to make a dime south of Bakerfield. <br /><br />What has continued to assist tent shows through this recession is the disconnect between economic statistics and economic reality. In “hard times” we love distraction. Movies are doing well. With tickets for 3-D films running close to #20 in some places, circus is a genuine bargain. Moreover even when unemployment is 10%, 85% of the workforce is still punching a clock (5% have just given up) and while a third may be under-employed and struggling, the clear majority of Americans continue to have disposable income. Again, that doesn’t do much to brighten the picture in Barstow, orf in Victorville or in those areas of Illinois where the downturn appears to be getting deeper and deeper, but in a few areas of Michigan things are looking up… And in the natural gas fields of Pennsylvania and the upper Appalachians there’s a modest economic boom. Consumer sentiment remains negative, but families are acutely aware of a good deal. A #20 dollar circus ticket may be the kiss of death, but a $15 dollar ticket sounds reasonable.<br /><br />Economists are cautiously optimistic. While it wouldn’t take much to send the US economy back into Recession, slight improvements in manufacturing, retail, and job growth in 2010 seems to signal a long, slow recovery – like Japan in the 1990s rather than a significant worsening in the picture for 2011. Assuming major changes in the make-up of Congress at least some attempt will be made to pay down debt. It may be 2012 or even 2013 before the economy is ready to give us all a really good circus season with easy spending – but assuming oil prices remain below $95 a barrel 2011 should show biz a little more cash at the end of the season than did 2010.B.E.Trumblehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03453784575544052889noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21828412.post-12776279754385842412010-10-05T13:59:00.000-07:002010-10-05T14:21:36.821-07:00Work, work, work. It's real, it's fun, but it's not real fun. Have been managing concession for a couple art house movie theaters. Spend too much time rebuilding Paragon poppers. Today was the big meeting addressing the age old question... "Why are our per caps so low?" Over the past year the ten screens have averaged only $1.60 per ticket in concessions spending. Pretty awful. In the last couple months it seems pretty obvious to me... Red Zinger Iced Tea and homemade baked goods aren't going to make anybody rich. In point of fact my "list" was a bit more constructive... The Cornelius soda dispenser from Pepsi using premix is slow and expensive and drawing a diet drink takes minutes not seconds. If the theaters don't want to go with bag-in-box, 2 liters pour faster and have a better mark-up than premix. It's all well and good to sell corn for six bucks a bucket, but if you have a dozen extra "flavors" from nutritional yeast to chili powder too much time goes into serving. Half the line melts away waiting while a single customer asks for butter, and yeast, and grated cheese, and "eastern spices" ... all for an additional .50 cents. To date my "nachos" plea had fallen upon deaf ears. Just a bit too unhealthy in community where they would stick to granola bars and apples if they could get away with it. Speaking of which...if "organic" cider sells for $8 a gallon, selling a 16 oz cup for $2.50 doesn't pad teh per cap much either. Anyway...<br /><br />Driving down Route 13 from Triphammer Road into Ithaca in the rain this afternoon, looking at the first bare trees of the autumn I saw the faded Kelly Miller arrows from July still afixed to a sign post. Chris Beckett knows how to apply tape! And wistfully I realized that soon many shows will be back in winter quarters and I missed most of a circus season. My own fault, that one. Last Saturday Cornell University snapped a ten game losing streak playing grid iron football, rolling over Bucknell. I love college football but it's really, really hard to take the Ivy League seriously. Made me wish Trey Key was nearby to talk about real teams, real schools, with real programs. I suppose I could get excited about Syracuse, but then I'd tear up thinking about the glory days of Jim Brown.<br /><br />Let this be a lesson. Even a bad day on a circus is better than most good days in town. I already knew that, I just forgot for a while.<br /><br />Oh, and never, ever convince yourself that Red Zinger makes for a grand iced tea. Stick with the sodas.B.E.Trumblehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03453784575544052889noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21828412.post-43345478458752712862010-09-30T04:50:00.000-07:002010-09-30T04:56:29.564-07:00Hollywood legend Tony Curtis is dead at 85. When I was a kid in the 1960's Curtis was a bit too over the top insofar as movie stars goes -- no Steve McQueen, or Newman. But in 1956 Curtis paired with Burt Lancaster in the Carol Reed film Trapeze, still one of the greatest of circus movies -- a bit of cinema that brought Lancaster back to circus, the entertainment where he got his start long before he was a leading man. So tonight I'll watch Trapeze and bid Curtis a fond fare thee well.B.E.Trumblehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03453784575544052889noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21828412.post-64334383499380364582010-09-06T11:34:00.000-07:002010-09-06T11:37:03.783-07:00<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj2I0EIHSC0aU96OG-OqYXw2GuIwA-90IvxDG3LDhWcIvM7TiKqqcN2XLu3jDqTTIxGghyphenhyphenJEG4mdATyiMOlrsbve7jlr-IZUBfInCyq32hyML7h_a3FwfppSggwomAUghEP4cnu5Q/s1600/BarnumBanner.jpg"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 200px; height: 134px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj2I0EIHSC0aU96OG-OqYXw2GuIwA-90IvxDG3LDhWcIvM7TiKqqcN2XLu3jDqTTIxGghyphenhyphenJEG4mdATyiMOlrsbve7jlr-IZUBfInCyq32hyML7h_a3FwfppSggwomAUghEP4cnu5Q/s200/BarnumBanner.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5513871041786757394" /></a><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgr2V6UMZk8-N9oSnQL-1Jll9lKIHvTwVFnvWZInRBTXlsL1ZfmCPu1DlKcheMjz3-UjecXOYBGVR0oPP3e5dMSuhR4NBFtVopLcHGH5lPf14zbkhRJ1soXogFns_NNRil7kriCdQ/s1600/BigfootBanner.jpg"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 149px; height: 200px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgr2V6UMZk8-N9oSnQL-1Jll9lKIHvTwVFnvWZInRBTXlsL1ZfmCPu1DlKcheMjz3-UjecXOYBGVR0oPP3e5dMSuhR4NBFtVopLcHGH5lPf14zbkhRJ1soXogFns_NNRil7kriCdQ/s200/BigfootBanner.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5513871048574398578" /></a>B.E.Trumblehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03453784575544052889noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21828412.post-23424632626063770242010-09-05T06:07:00.000-07:002010-09-05T06:34:46.614-07:00A 43 year old man invaded the offices of Discovery Channel this week, holding hostages until killed by police snipers. Environmental groups have been quick to distance themselves from the hostage taker, James Lee -- painting the misanthropic bomb maker as "disturbed." In point of fact Mr. Lee's notions, embracing a philosophical ideology that suggests that eco-justice can only be achieved through war on humanity is the standard rhetoric terrorist groups like the Earth Liberation Front and the allied Animal Liberation Front. Mr. Lee through the years suggested that mass human death wouldn't necessarily be a bad thing. Mr Lee's sentiments aren't really all that far removed from those of PETA founder Ingrid Newkirk who once stated that the use of even one lab animal in the successful development of a cure for AIDS or cancers wouldn't be worth it. Extremism is extremism. <br /><br />There's some small irony to all of this. Discovery Channel itself cheers on the "heroics" of animal liberation extremists taking on Japanese whalers. But evidently Mr. Lee wanted dead whalers. A far cry from the notions of Edward Abbey, often cited as the father of environmental extremism. Cactus Ed was a libertarian who just wanted progress to leave him alone. Dave Foreman who founded Earth First! was a meat eating Nixon Republican, not a vegan bomb maker. Likewise early animal welfare advocates, or even Animal Liberation philosopher Peter Singer are far removed from the notions of the Animal Liberation Front, or their enablers in PETA.<br /><br />Turn back the clock fifty years and "progressive" environmentalists and conservations touted the work of zoos and circuses is serving as "arks" preserving species endangered in the wild. Today the wild is all that much more threatened, and defending the "ark" against haters who see extinction as better than domesticity has become a long, weary battle.<br /><br />But allowing extremism to define and frame the debate is defeatism, and owe the planet something better than the mania of James Lee.B.E.Trumblehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03453784575544052889noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21828412.post-79040854085098841152010-08-30T11:35:00.000-07:002010-08-30T11:54:12.877-07:00Practicing the Rattlesnake Escape. This is a trick I came up with in Florida in the 1980's doing snake shows -- and only sometimes performed because various employers thought it was a bit too dangerous. Gave it up entirely when I was responsible for kids. Basically it's Houdini's Mailbag, however I share the mailbag with a live in-tact rattlesnake. (Snake has it's fangs, hasn't been ":milked" etc.) Many of you know how the mailbag escape works, and I'll done it periodically with nonvenomous snakes to promote picture pitches. As with any animal "trick" there are behavioral components. On the human side, I sit in a chair while removing handcuffs and "escaping" from the locked bag. Snake is at my feet. Don't move the feet! Originally the behavior leveraged the idea that snakes like dark confined spaces and once placed in the bag have no reason to strike out defensively. Obviously the less defensive the snake to begin with, the better. Recently realized that I could leverage ambient temperature to further reduce risk. If the ambient temperature is around 95 degrees F in the bottom of the bag when the snake is placed at my feet before I'm handcuffed, my legs are no longer much of a hotspot. Fairly confident with the right rattlesnakes the "trick" is a whole lot safer than anyone would realize, and using a media projector to enlarge the live action on a 10' diagonal screen should be clearly visible in a blackout tent even from 60' away.B.E.Trumblehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03453784575544052889noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21828412.post-43562260070986648842010-08-29T04:34:00.000-07:002010-08-29T04:46:29.850-07:00Cool this morning. As much as it would be nice to think otherwise, summer is winding down. At the New York State Fair in Syracuse I'm sure it still felt like summer, but at the little Trumansburg Fair, even yesterday, with temps in the '80's a glance at the trees with their leaves turning and it was clear that autumn is on its way. Watching the RIX BEARS at Trumansburg has been fun.<br /><br />Sad week in circus. BJ Hebert on Culpepper sent the obituary for Ron Pace, who died in Phoenix earlier this week. Ron and his wife Chris were the wonderful aerial performers, Sugar and Spice, and before that Ron was an elephant guy -- and he maintained a nice online elephant site. Ron was only 58.<br /><br />On Kelly Miller the young of the cats in Casey Cainan's tiger act, a little male called Raja was euthanized after a series of seizures or strokes. Casey rescues his cats from picture operations, and whatever the immediate cause of Raja's neurological symptoms, bad genetics probably played a role. That said he, he was a nice little cat much loved by KM audiences this season.B.E.Trumblehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03453784575544052889noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21828412.post-5838479962102099292010-08-08T10:34:00.001-07:002010-08-08T10:42:18.142-07:00early morning drive down to last day of the Chemung Co. Fair, in Horseheads, NY. Too early to chat with anyone -- but it's a pleasure to see a big county fair before it wakes up. Horseheads was the original home for the Strates Shows, so it's appropriate to see Strates on the lots, along with Ianni Concessions, etc. The Chemung County Fair is still a place where you can get a bad tattoo that you'll regret years later (That's a GOOD thing) and where you can still pay fifty cents for single-o attractions, or a buck for a bigger sideshow. Adam Burck's Tiger Show Experience was set up on the south end of the fairgrounds, and I could hear the tiger cubs as I walked through the gate. The set-up looked great, nice lighting for arena performances after dark. The big Hawthorne rolling cages were shaded with a plethora of fans for plenty of air circulation. Chemung Co is one of the oldest fairs in the state of New York, and clearly it's still going strong.B.E.Trumblehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03453784575544052889noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21828412.post-46910551848535239422010-08-05T11:19:00.000-07:002010-08-05T11:22:45.738-07:00<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiJp0sKyK1GcvkrSTSnwXkvOZNrRft9sidXURz90G5qR1eb5KSqamBiMX2wdy3cWXRR3fFQM7CI54VMxO4pRNvUso8FI8LgN8ulCzxhMuEV_66RsdrJwTg3vZDN1GM6x0oBbwvKHQ/s1600/DA_thingbillboard.jpg"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 200px; height: 150px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiJp0sKyK1GcvkrSTSnwXkvOZNrRft9sidXURz90G5qR1eb5KSqamBiMX2wdy3cWXRR3fFQM7CI54VMxO4pRNvUso8FI8LgN8ulCzxhMuEV_66RsdrJwTg3vZDN1GM6x0oBbwvKHQ/s200/DA_thingbillboard.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5501992631427536082" /></a><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhso-iuEYrfhc5Co_1EqlXjj4i5PQTx6uQJSUhqvfWGN2NGkFz9nduhuTU669nN9JCwtb5qp14Blu0hhL40-qS0ZrR-WsdsAbYHFjtVugD4XkVfJK0lswBIDc6xdeR2KVbuUc7Ohg/s1600/HomerTate.GIF"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 146px; height: 200px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhso-iuEYrfhc5Co_1EqlXjj4i5PQTx6uQJSUhqvfWGN2NGkFz9nduhuTU669nN9JCwtb5qp14Blu0hhL40-qS0ZrR-WsdsAbYHFjtVugD4XkVfJK0lswBIDc6xdeR2KVbuUc7Ohg/s200/HomerTate.GIF" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5501992630705381522" /></a><br /><br /><br />Some day you've just got to ask, What would Homer Tate do?B.E.Trumblehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03453784575544052889noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21828412.post-32350466485253300102010-08-02T11:43:00.001-07:002010-08-02T11:43:35.448-07:00In the 1960’s prime time television gave the Baby Boom generation The Flintstones, a long running animated series while along with it’s Saturday morning counterpart The Jetsons made the Hanna-Barbera Animation studios very rich indeed. Both the Flintstones and the Jetsons took a comic look at suburban America with one series set in the mythical prehistoric world of Bedrock, while the other imagined the Space Age as it might exist in Leavittown, on Long Island, or in a planned community of the future like Columbia, Maryland. Despite giving lip service to the past or the future, both shows were purely early 1960’s. I mention the Flintstones, because Fred Flintstone and his best friend Barney were joiners. Both men took pleasure in their membership in the Loyal Order of Water Buffalo. Think Moose, or Elks, or Optimists, or Lions, or even the Masons. Did the Water Buffalo ever sponsor a circus? Probably they did. Did they sell a lot of tickets for the circus? It’s likely… it was the 1960’s.<br /><br />The enduring model for traditional circus marketing for at least sixty years has been to partner a circus with a local sponsor. Local sponsors represent a broad spectrum of organizations, from the ubiquitous Chamber of Commerce, to the PTA, to the Volunteer Fire Department, but one constant has been the fraternal or civic organization. There was a logic to such partnerships. The generation that came home from the Second World War, like Fred and Barney, were also joiners. The popularity of civic clubs, social clubs, and fraternal orders in the 1950’s, the 1960’s, and the 1970’s was enormous. In fact most towns and villages had so many clubs, a circus booker could pick choose between potential hosts. The Mills Bros. Circus, of Ohio one of the best traditional shows to ever load onto trucks drafted contracts with sponsors with stipulations so exacting – if a sponsor failed to meet the requirements… not only was there no circus, likely the whole affair would wind up in court. Other shows like the Miller family’s 1950’s era Kelly Miller Circus were so profitable for sponsors, some booked or rebooked dates years in advance. By the 1960’s phone rooms working both circuses and sponsors could virtually promise profitable days for some shows before they ever arrived on the lot.<br /><br />In economic and demographic terms, the joiners of the greatest generation represented a bubble, and bubbles are periods of rapid short-term growth. The me generation of baby boomers that followed the greatest generation did not, generally join the Moose, the Lions, the Jaycees, the Elks, or the Masons. By the middle of the 1980’s fraternal, social, and civic clubs were in decline. I’m not suggesting that many communities no longer have vibrant Lions Clubs, or Optimists Clubs, etc.—but rather the reality is that many of those clubs have an aging membership. In some communities groups like the Oddfellows and Rebekahs have disappeared entirely, along with like groups like Redmen Lodges, At least through the mid-1990’s the declining membership in fraternal and civic organizations had little impact on show business. In the era of strong phone rooms, a sponsor and a circus alike could count on phone sales to make many circus days profitable. The first blow reducing the effectiveness of of phone operations came with the widespread adoption of telephone answering machines in the 1980’s, allowing residential; phone subscribers to screen calls. Still, most household continued to answer the phone when at home. Federal Do Not Call lists proved far more devastating to strong phone rooms. Even organization exempt from Do Not Call restrictions found that households registered with DNC were as unwilling to listen to fundraisers and market researchers as they were to for-profit telemarketing pitches. The goose that laid the golden egg was on life support, and as cell phones replaced landlines entirely the goose was cooked. Today’s phone sales, directed at selling blocks of tickets for kids, and seniors to businesses represents a small fraction of what phones once generated.<br /><br />With the demise of strong phone operations, the onus for advance ticket sales fell squarely upon local hosts. Some local sponsors do a magnificent job at selling tickets, others don’t. In the case of certain fraternal organizations, hosts capable of selling significant numbers of tickets even five years ago frequently see those numbers falling, along with their own memberships rolls. Some sponsors have never done much of a job at selling tickets in the post-phones era. Personally I find it vexing to sit across the table from the chief of a volunteer fire department when his group has sold fewer that twenty circus tickets. The excuses or justifications always sound about the same. The economy is bad, teher was another show thirty miles away a month, ago, the group had a conflicting fundraiser. The economy may indeed be bad, and there in fact have been another show in the area – but not infrequently in the next town, where all the same conditions apply, another sponsor may have done very well. Trey Key noted in 2009 that in recession some sponsors seemed to be working harder and selling more tickets, because fundraiser was a greater priority in a down economy. I think he was right. The Kiwanis Club with five well advertised ticket outlets and table set up two weekends in a row at the supermarket shows up for settlement having done well, and apologizing for not having done even better. The Chamber of Commerce with a few unadvertised outlets, no push to sell tickets, and an Executive Director interested onlky in the annual Awards Gala never apologizes for her lack of ticket sales. The Chamber doesn’t see the show as fundraiser. It’s enough to say they brought the circus to town. Unfortunately for the circus itself, that doesn’t fill seats. Some Chambers are great sponsors year after years – Soledad, California comes to mind. Some Kiwanis Clubs aren’t.. How do you even the odds?<br /><br />I’ve been blathering a bit lately about issues involving the advance, or what perhaps it ought be on a traditional. I’ve focused on media –which – I know best. But when it comes to hosted dates it seems to me that “the advance” goes all the way back to initially booking a route or a run. Historically in the great age of circus booking was a function associated with the General Agent, the last couple of generations it’s been handled by front office and associated bookers. For a show playing primarily lot and license dates booking a route largely over the phone is quite practical. Likewise bookers working from home or the office can frequently sign past sponsors for whom the circus has been a success. On the other hand booking fresh towns, working with new sponsors, or assuaging the collective egos of past sponsors for whom circus has been a disappointment seems to work best when a personal contact is involved. A booker working on ground actually visiting communities and potential sponsors. The success of very good bookers like Bob Lessard, or Doug Stalker is based in part on knowing how differentiate between a good potential sponsor and sponsoring group that simple isn’t up to the task. Nobody can get it right all of the time, particularly a booker responsible for putting together an entire season. The show has to park someplace every day, and sometimes that means signing a weak sponsor to fill a date. Sometimes a strong sponsor from years past is no longer a strong sponsor owing to things like a change in officers in a particular club. That said, for sponsored dates a hands on booker, somebody who can put on a tie and talk to the Rotary Club will, I think, generally deliver better dates than a phone booker in this day and age. <br /><br />Assuming the booker delivers a contract from a potentially successful host, it’s up to the home office and the rest of the advance to turn that sponsor into a winner. It’s sometimes suggested that the success of the David Rawls era Kelly Miller show owed much to Mr. Rawls and his ability to cultivate relationships with his sponsors. If the home can’t convince a sponsor that the show is intensely interested to making their particular date a success, is it any wonder that they lack the motivation to hustle tickets? Some sponsors jsu need encouragement, others the carrot and stick. While it may seem like a chore to talk with every sponsor every day in the two or three weeks leading up to their date, isn’t the proof in the payoff? In recent years some remarks here and there have suggested that the routing, booking, and advance on one Oklahoma based show has had problems resulting in disappointing seasons. While that may or may not be true, elements of the advance on that show did/do work very well. Couples traveling weeks ahead of the show and meeting with sponsors puts a human face on the enterprise and reassure sponsors. Likewise an active billposting crew ten days or two weeks out, and an advance clown traveling a week ahead of the show help to focus sponsors on the fact that the circus is coming. Moreover each element of the advance gives the show a heads up when potential problems may be looming.<br /><br />The hard edged contracts that once defined a show’s relationship with a sponsor are mostly a thing of the past. Holding any sponsor to a specific presale is tough. Even five years ago it seemed quite reasonable to require that hosts of the Carson & Barnes Circus sell at least 250 Adult tickets on top of their original signing fee – or come up with a like amount out of pocket. Certainly the nut for the show was much greater than that presale would begin to cover – but the requirement held the sponsor accountable and at least in theory motivated most sponsors. Today for smaller shows requiring a host to sell even one hundred tickets just makes it harder to book the circus. The “stick” has to be purely psychological. If you don’t sell tickets you don’t make money. If you don’t sell tickets the seats are empty. Empty seats and a deficit spells failure. Filled seats and a profit and your organization is a winner. Money and acclaim within the community are the carrot. <br /><br />Finding the right mix between sponsored dates and lot and license dates isn’t necessarily easy. While shows like Lewis & Clark appear to do a pretty good job, and hedge their bets even on sponsored dates with free kid tix laydowns, most shows are rather more comfortable doing one of the other well. On Kelly Miller several years ago we played a lot and license at a fairgrounds in rural western MA and absolutely died. Not a big surprise. There was no town there, no place for a plethora of paper or ticket laydowns. With a strong sponsor that fairgrounds might have worked. A license and license date that works well for a mid-sized show in or around a city won’t necessarily fly in the middle of nowhere. Likewise a hosted date in a town that’s too small is going to be problematic. “Fit” isn’t unimportant. A show without the office staff or advance to prop up sponsors will run into problems every time with sponsors who aren’t on top of their game. The show without the motivated bill crewing to put up p[aper and lay down tix for a lot and license will have similar problems. Anyway, that’s how it appears to me.B.E.Trumblehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03453784575544052889noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21828412.post-712337908772010652010-08-02T11:41:00.001-07:002010-08-02T11:43:18.358-07:00Being woefully underemployed I've visited a lot of music festivals letely. Mostly I like to look at the tents. Rental companies are great when it comes to frame tents, but putting up pole tents I have to wonder how they stay in the air in any kind of breeze? Appears they've forgotten how it's done.B.E.Trumblehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03453784575544052889noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21828412.post-28641603589645321042010-07-26T08:50:00.000-07:002010-07-26T10:52:04.814-07:00<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhXFSPTwUJUPfBQ6D5ZC7f2RTng-xyPRf0O3X39saS5K1t8nKZ1tobcyqwbSJlc9gTrMy7fjImvfGj3oFh0ZJe_j5ztRQNo37WVBUyIcvTnYKjDOhJwkCVCgBQLVk9OpQH2uW0rcw/s1600/Desktop+Photo"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 200px; height: 150px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhXFSPTwUJUPfBQ6D5ZC7f2RTng-xyPRf0O3X39saS5K1t8nKZ1tobcyqwbSJlc9gTrMy7fjImvfGj3oFh0ZJe_j5ztRQNo37WVBUyIcvTnYKjDOhJwkCVCgBQLVk9OpQH2uW0rcw/s200/Desktop+Photo" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5498274002824456498" /></a><br />WROTE A LITTLE Last week about the necessity of using media to create buzz around an act of performer because it benefits the bottom line for a show. Wanted to look at bit more at the theoretical role of a Press Agent in 2010.<br /><br />ON 21st CENTURY PRESS AGENTS<br /><br />Any media, publicity, press agent strategy employed by any Circus must focus on both long term and short terms efforts; at local, regional, and national markets; leveraging a variety of media outlets both old and new including print, glossy print (magazines,) broadcast (television and radio,) and internet. To date Internet “new media” has failed to fill a circus tent or arena, but Internet resources can’t be overlooked. Fortunately in 2010 virtually everything a press agent or spokesperson or publicist needs to create copy, handle mailings, phone and fax can fit into a suitcase, so a press department consumes little in the way of space resources.<br /><br />It’s a simple fact that “The Circus Comes To Town,” ceased to be much a news story fifty years ago. The traditional circus press agent, whether working ahead of the show glad-handing reporters, giving out passes, and planting stories – or working on the show itself to insure that “the press” paints the circus in colors that morph into box office green ended in the 1950’s with the advent of broadcast television as the primary source for “news.” Successful media operations in recent decades seek to create and place stories with specific angles tailored to niche audiences. Does the circus have a local connection? If the circus lacks a local connection, how can one be framed? What circus acts appeal to specific target groups? Can the circus sell “gymnastics,” in a town with a circus arts school or a college gymnastics program? Can the circus sell “horses” in a community with a large equestrian center? What’s the story the circus is pitching to animal lovers? Is there a positive political story in the circus, where foreign workers are employed legally through a temporary visa system embraced by both the left and right? What “human interest” stories can the circus pitch? What stories allow the circus to sell tickets to people of faith? What are the demographics of a particular community or region and what stories are of interest to those demographics? <br /><br />Or, “Let me tell you a stray dog story…”<br /><br />The point is, there are a hundred stories that every circus has to tell – but circus can’t count on journalists to find those stories without help. And the more stories they find or are spoon fed in the days and weeks before the circus comes to town, the more successful the publicity effort. Any circus that can’t serve up at least two dozen such stories as easily rewritten press releases in a media kit hasn’t given much thought to the job of a press agent. Any publicist who isn’t writing new material or revising and updating old material daily is failing. As old time editors told us when we were journalism students, “Don’t bury the lead.” First comes the media kit, then faxes, and finally working the phones. In large markets with multiple day stands, or a series of stands in a geographically self-contained area – creating “media events” should a routine aspect of the job of the press agent.<br /><br />How do circus stories break down? <br /><br /><br />THE CIRCUS IS HISTORY.<br /><br />The circus is 200 years of American history. (Or British history, or French history, or Australian history for that matter.)<br /><br />The circus can always mine a rich vein of history, peddling nostalgia. The circus was America’s first hugely popular mass entertainment. Our original pop culture icons are associated with the circus – whether Barnum, or Dan Rice, or Isaac Amberg. Our very lexicon is filled with circus terms. The circus has given us films as enduring as Dumbo, and The Greatest Show on Earth. Seventy-five years after the end of the Golden Age of circus when stars like Clyde Beatty who were household names, the bestsellers list still offers up novels like Water For Elephants recreating that age. <br /><br />Let’s look at Kelly Miller. From Day One doubtlessly John Ringling North II has recognized that the Ringling North history and its association with the story of traditional circus in America plays a role in marketing/publicity efforts of the Kelly Miller Circus. “History” is the key to using Ringling North without muddying the waters of Feld Entertainment’s “Ringling” brand. Cherry picking that history can allow for the creation of media materials telling a story that begins in McGregor, Iowa, includes Yankee Robinson – briefly the greatest circus man of the post Civil War period -- utilizes photographs of a family of rather well known “brothers” and fleshes out the story of Ida North, their somewhat less well known sister and her amazingly successful sons John and Henry. KM can use that timeline and storyline because it’s John Ringling North’s story and he’s allowed to tell it – in interviews and elsewhere. Is there a risk that Feld Entertainment will object? So long as Kelly Miller is mindful of parsing history carefully, most objections would be little more than bluster even from a litigious organization. <br /><br /><br />And controversy and litigation aren’t always a bad thing anyway. Again, let’s look at Mr. North. There’s a bit of precedent when it comes to the use of a personal name in branding or brand infringement. In the 1960’s the Taylor Wine Company of Hammondsport, NY was a strong regional and national brand, producers of a variety of popular vintages blended from New York State grapes and California “tank” wines. Taylor competed well against E&J Gallo and other national brands in many markets. Coca-Cola acquired Taylor from the founding family in the late 1960’s, planted extensive vineyards on the west coast and added Taylor California Cellars to its existing product line. Meanwhile back in Hammondsport, former Taylor VP Walter S. Taylor, an outspoken critic of his family’s winemaking methods, opened the Bully Hill Winery, the first truly successful east coast “estate winery.” There was no mention of “Taylor” on Bully Hill labels, except for Walter’s signature. Coca-Cola filed a trademark infringement suit against Walter Taylor and a judge in Rochester, NY found for Coke. Thus began a brilliant media and marketing campaign waged by Walter Taylor, who claimed in countless press releases that Coke had stolen his name and tried to steal his history. His name couldn’t be stripped from news stories or Bully Hill trucks and properties, and the name continued to appear on Bully Hill bottles, with “Taylor” intentionally blacked out. Soon every bottle of Bully Hill featured the phrase “They got my name, but not my goat.” Bully Hill thrived, producing pretty good wines. The first NASA space shuttle flight carried a bottle of Bully Hill. Eventually the courts found for Walter S. Taylor, and by then Coca-Cola was tired of playing the “heavy” in a story with “legs.” Coke’s wine business failed, and today Taylor is a minor brand of boxed wines. Walter died in a car accident, but Bully Hill continues, and their labels with his original artwork and signature sell a lot of wine. <br /><br />The point is that Walter Taylor never sought to compete directly with Coke’s “Taylor” brand, but he rightly viewed his own lineage and history as an asset that couldn’t be wholly acquired by Coke. For JRN II and the Kelly Miller Circus, treading softly around the historical “Ringlings” or “Norths” is different than never uttering the name.<br /><br />THE CIRCUS IS AS CONTEMPORARY AND EXCITING AS TODAY.<br /><br />Any publicity/ press agent effort selling circus season after season as a fresh edition of a stand-alone product has to focus on allure of specific acts, the appeal of circus to families, and the “wow” factor. Not every season comes with “wow” automatically attached. But looking for “wow,” building “wow,” and nurturing “wow” -- with the ballyhoo has always been among the single most important aspects of the role of the press agent – is how circus reminds each new audience that what happens under the bigtop is always contemporary. Seventy years ago the Greatest Show on Earth ™ transformed tented circus with color and stagecraft and the best acts in the world. Circus was and is the most accessible of the performing arts… a notion not lost on shows like Big Apple. Circus is subversive in that respect. The same family that would not buy tickets for the theater, for opera, for ballet will joyfully attend a circus performance that includes theatric structures from of each. The classics are new again with each performance. Aristotle writing 2500 years ago On Poetics defined the elements of drama…plot, theme, character, language, music, and spectacle… the stuff of circus. Any circus “critic” who fails to see a peanut pitch, as pure theater never studied Plato. What’s the story we tell years after year? The circus is old, but beneath the bigtop it’s fresh, and it’s all new again for each generation of children, young or merely young at heart. In telling that story, in selling that notion, staying on “message” is everything. Coining and repeating phrases, whether “America’s Favorite Small Town Show,” or “Family Fun For Less Than The Price Of A Movie,” or “The American Circus Is Back!” is the stuff of buzz. Say it enough times and it becomes fact. Buzz can sell tickets, but isn’t often a “story,” just a piece of a story. Any given season it’s the job of a press agent to find and develop and pitch stories. Unfortunately in recent decades mudshow circuses have rarely employed the kinds of writers who can create exciting advance materials, the production values in the packaging of press materials to make a show look good, or a true understanding of how media outlets constitute a market separate from the broader circus-going audience.<br /><br /><br /><br />TARGET MEDIA<br /><br /><br />In 2010 and beyond press agents must always narrowcast the circus message to target specific media. How does the circus place a series of stories with daily newspapers in an era when daily papers are barely afloat? How does the circus leverage a weekly paper in a mid-sized city if a weekly requires significant lead-in time? (While news stories appearing a day or a week AFTER a show leaves town may be fine for the scrapbook, they don’t fill seats.) How can a regional magazine be used to promote circus? What if any value is to be had in radio? Can the circus exploit local broadcast television? What national media can be utilized in branding? Newspapers, magazines, and broadcast television are all cash poor, does that make them ripe for stories that require less work and fewer human resources?<br /><br />Daily papers grow thinner every week. In some cities last year’s newsroom with two-dozen reporters is this year’s newsroom with fewer than twelve. On the bright side, for circus, that makes dailies a natural target for stories containing local color or a local connection that can be easily rewritten from press materials. Any town with a daily paper should be receiving several press kits addressed to local editor and to local columnists. In addition to news releases (pre-packaged stories,) photos, and contact information, every kit should include a CD-ROM or DVD-ROM with an electronic copy of itself. Additionally there should be a ubiquitous daily fax to daily papers beginning ten days before the show arrives. That said, everybody uses the fax, and fax alone is simply enough.<br /><br />(Worth mentioning… Finding a local angle for circus stories is pretty easy if a press agent mines the past. A show playing in or near Canton, Pennsylvania might play on Canton’s connection to the almost forgotten Charles Lee Circus that once was headquartered there. Another town might have been the scene of a circus train derailment, or an elephant stampede. Circus employees have roots in towns or regions, and historic circus figures, again, many nearly forgotten, hailed from across small-town America. Larger communities are all rich both in history and contemporary connections to circus. Give a paper a story with a local angle and they will virtually always run that story.)<br /><br />Weekly papers. In very small towns the weekly paper is the paper. Weeklies in small towns are still pretty good about running a general interest circus story-- or several -- in the weeks before the show. The best way to get a front page picture in a small town weekly ahead of the show is still by employing an Advance Clown traveling 10-14 days ahead of the show and visiting libraries, schools, and day camps in the company of the local sponsor. If the weekly paper knows about the visit, they will cover it. A clown surrounded by kids gets the front page. Absent an advance clown giving a small weekly a selection of good photographs along with a strong localized press release, and a chance to “interview” a press agent or spokesperson over the phone is beneficial. In small towns sponsors should be encouraged to provide the names of the most widely read local papers – especially the village weekly.<br /><br />Weekly papers in mid-sized markets. <br /><br />In many mid-sized and larger markets weekly papers are the bastions of in-depth reportage for a generation of journalists weaned on the Village Voice. Generally circuses have not used these papers well. Weeklies of this type require significant lead-in time, and frankly some shows are fearful of “investigative” journalism. In ignoring such weeklies circus may be missing out on significant promotional opportunity. Inviting a writer to visit and travel with the circus for a couple days a month or more before the shows play in a particular market could mean a feature story and a cover. By keeping a reporter on the show for several days it’s easier to “manage” the story they ultimately write and to present positives far outweighing any negatives arising over animal rights. Of course it requires an empty bunk – since any invitation includes housing and feeding a writer. Lead-time is everything. In early June the circus would be pitching a story to weeklies in areas the show will play in mid-July or later, and by July pitching to papers in places the show will play in late August or September. One positive feature and a sidebar story in a good weekly are akin to thousands of dollars in ad buys.<br /><br />Regional Magazines. Regional glossy publications offer a circus a chance to pitch to a friendly audience in an area where the show plays years after year. Print magazines require very long lead-in times, but regional magazines are also read and reread. For example, a writer in 2010 from Adirondack Life Magazine might visit the circus in late June for a story that finally appears in February. But the following June, magazine readers will still recall the story, or may continue to find it while sitting in the Dentist’s office. By constantly pitching to regional magazines over several seasons a press agent should be able to place stories across the length and breadth of a show’s nominal “route” with enough frequency to build significant “brand” recognition.<br /><br />National Magazines. A quality mid-sized circus should be able to place 1-3 stories a year with national magazines. Again, lead-in times are significant. A 2010 story may not see print or pay-off until 2011, but the impact is very real. Too often obvious magazines are overlooked. A tiger trainer may not grace the pages of NEWSWEEK, but a good story about that trainer with both his/her tigers and house cats in Cat Fancy sells circus tickets. Likewise a circus owner or manager might be a natural fit for AARP Magazine, which likes to run features on interesting, energetic subjects over the age of 55. And circus lends itself well to national magazines with niche business readers. Over several seasons articles in lesser national magazines leads to articles in other better known national publications. Coverage builds on prior coverage publicity feeds on publicity. NEWSWEEK Magazine eventually gets around to the tiger trainer, but only after other publications build the buzz.<br /><br />Broadcast<br /><br />Most Americans still get their news from television. But television is a fickle mistress for traditional circus. A segment on the evening news the day of a show is too little too late to fill seats. Controversial stories on animal rights issues sometimes run on local television before a circus comes to town, but clearly they aren’t the stories a circus wants to tell. Two opportunities generally exist for circus to utilize local broadcast television, morning shows and media events. Morning shows, where they exist frequently require the circus to deliver performers to a station’s studio early in the morning on the day of the show. This sometimes means leaving yesterday’s town before the rest of the circus is ready to jump. A charismatic performer with a command of English and a skill that can be demonstrated in 30 seconds works best for the local morning show cut-away format. (Or Spanish language skills for a Spanish language station.) Occasionally the small market morning show will elect to do a live feed from the circus itself. Logistically such remotes can be managed when the circus is making very early, very short jumps, or is settled in for a two-day stand. In larger markets where the circus may be playing several dates in nearby suburban communities morning shows with longer local programming segments offers the circus a chance to pitch a wider variety of acts and interviews, a chance to watch the tent go up, etc. Large markets are also well suited to “media events” staged for several broadcasters. Media events are frequently built around animal acts. Lunch with the elephants, or an elephant watermelon feed, etc. (Doesn’t have to be elephants, any charismatic animal will work.) In an area like Boston or Chicago where a circus may spend weeks in various suburbs a media event can be particularly effective. In pitching to broadcast television a specialized press kit with broadcast quality video on DVD is an absolute must.<br /><br />National broadcast media. Pitching a circus story to the national broadcast media almost always requires retaining the services of an outside agency. Outside agencies are staffed with former bookers and producers with ties to syndicated and in-house network shows. Otherwise, most circuses not playing long engagements in major cities must wait for national broadcasters to come to them. Employing an outside agency can be expensive, but it does increase the public profile of a performer or a show. To date, to the best of my knowledge legitimate traditional circuses have spurned offers from “reality television” production companies. <br /><br />Worth noting again. Controversy isn’t always bad. Animal rights advocates sometimes boast that they are shameless media whores. They know that enough a flawed, dishonest message gets attention. No show should ever shy away from debating activists on radio or on television. So long as the debater on the circus side is well spoken and not given to merely stating that they never saw anything amiss when sitting in the backyard with Gunther, a debate will benefit show receipts. It’s message, it’s branding, it’s profiting off anti-activist backlash. <br /><br /><br />Radio. Interviews on local drive time radio programs remain a popular way to promote circus. More often than not, stations or station groups where a show or sponsor has made an ad buy are best for radio promotions and publicity because an interview whether the day of the show or a few days ahead of the show are reinforcing ad spots. Booking on-air radio is usually handled by a home office, or a p/t individual who makes calls and call backs to radio stations several weeks in advance of the circus. Radio interviews can usually be handled over the phone and the show spokesperson (press agent) or ringmaster generally takes or makes the actual call at the time of the interview. Because radio is normally tied to ad buys, its best utilized in small and mid-sized markets where radio is very affordable. <br /><br /><br />New Media. New Media in the form of a vast array of Internet offerings is both a blessing and a challenge for circus. Circus blogs are popular, but most are read by circus fans or circus insiders and do little to drive box office traffic. Video on You Tube, Facebook pages, fan groups, and Twitter are popular, but few web efforts have successfully raised the public profile or a circus. No new circus “stars” have been created via viral marketing. Most circuses have web pages, but the vast majority of those web pages are poorly designed or amateurish by today’s standards. Too often circuses have seen the web, a web site, and a few online resources as a way to cut costs associated with mounting advance efforts or publicity. A web site is not a press kit. And a post card pointing to online press kits lacks the impact of a well-packaged mailing. That’s not to say that a circus shouldn’t have a good web site – it’s a must – or an electronic press kit – or advance materials for sponsors online, but at present these efforts should augment and not replace other efforts. Thee online world is a great place to sell branded souvenirs…hats, tee shirts, mugs, videos, and a website is not a bad place to sell advance tickets. (A well-designed web site more than pays for itself hawking merchandise.) But it’s only a place to court media attention to the extent that a press agent can point journalists to a web resource. Circus can’t expect media to find those resources strictly on their own, or to get the whole story from an online resource.<br /><br /><br />Finally, press agent/publicity efforts and campaigns cost money; wages, printing and mailing expenses, phone and fax bills, annual video and audio production costs. Too often in recent decades smaller shows have seen these efforts as intangibles and an easy way to reduce the “nut.” Ironically larger organizations have learned to use “media relations” more and more effectively as lesser shows have forgotten why they once employed press departments. Metrics must exist in any press effort to make the intangible tangible again. How does a media effort contribute to existing revenue streams? In a given market where a show receives little or no publicity and significant publicity another season, were ticket sales up? Other factors must be examined before a verdict on media efforts can be made…who was the sponsor each year? …How was the local economy from one season to the next? …Where was the lot? But when all things are equal an increase in ticket sales can likely be attributed to the press agent and media/branding efforts. Without clearly defined metrics management can never know the value of publicity efforts.B.E.Trumblehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03453784575544052889noreply@blogger.com0