A Mudshow Season

Cle Elum, WA. 100 miles.  Dirt and scrub lot.  Sunny, hot.

Saturday Ording, WA.  25 miles.  Grass.  Warm, sunny.

Friday.  Eatonville, WA.  25 miles.  Mowed field.  Sunny, warm.

Several days without much internet exploring the Washington coast.  Have some great pictures but connection too slow to post. CM played three towns over the Memorial Day Weekend.

 

Kalama, WA.  20 miles. Mowed field.  Clear, cool.

 

Quiet town just off the I-5.

 

Cathlamet, WA. 40 miles.  Grass.  Foggy, then clear.  Cool.

 

Better day than Kalama, but holidays are always a roll of the dice with people traveling.

 

Long Beach, WA.  55 miles.  Gravel.  Clear, cool.  We had a great day in Long Beach catching the tourists and locals alike.  Show was right on the beach.  Big houses.  First circus to visit in 30 years.  My kid Robin went surfing.

 

Westport, WA.  80 miles.  Asphalt.  Rain. 

 

Westport is an active fishing town and folks aren’t afraid of a bit of rain.  Good shows.  Our “new” generator went back to the shop for more repairs and we’re towing around a rental again.

 

 

Raymond, WA. 35 miles.  Grass.  Sunny, mild. Last of the coastal towns.  The guys who are building wooden props (tent poles etc.) for the upcoming movie shoot Water For Elephants came by for a visit and a bit of research.  Same gentlemen built props for Disney’s three Pirates of the Caribbean  films.

Yelm, WA. 85 miles.  Grass.  Sunny.  Warm.  

Friday.  LaCenter, WA. 65 miles.  Grass, sunny.

Gervais, OR.  15 miles.  Grass.  Sunny.  Perfect circus weather.

Silverton, OR.  45 miles.  Sunny, cool. Grass.

Tuesday May 19th. Mill City, OR. 40 miles. Cold, rain. Grass lot.

Why write a blog if the information is the lot, location, and weatherm somebody asked? It’s a legitimate question. There have been a lot of those posts this season, though I’ve assumed that come summer I would get long-winded again. Mostly I’d say it’s better to write something than nothing at all – and ultimately through the years what I’ve tried to create is a route book through the seasons. The where’s and whens. The two most common comments or emails I get about the blog ask a couple simple questions – what’s the best act on the show? Or when wil;l CM buy a new tent? This season the first question is easy. Jessi Wonderfool’s clown routine “How To Get A Man” may be the most consistently funny clown routine I’ve seen in years. And I’m not a big fan of clowns. Jessi makes it work every day in every show and her physical comedy is outstanding. The second question is harder to answer. Circus fans in particular have been asking show owner Trey Key about a new tent for at least a half a dozen years. I suspect Trey’s sentiment is that so long as the tent serves its purpose, there are other needs. When does an asset become a liability? When does a liability become an asset again? Recently it occurred to me that the A-1 tent we call our bigtop, now in its 15th season has seen more than six thousand circus performances. If it was circus building, no matter how much it needed paint fans would declare it historic. Millions of people have watched a circus beneath this tent. AQs much as all of us may think that its ugly or worn, or a tough place to work in when it rains – it has earned its scars and patches honestly and entertained a generation of families since it was first pulled from the bag smelling of fresh vinyl in the mid 1990’s.

Three more days in Oregon, then Washington, then we turn east.

Tuesday May 19^th.  Mill City, OR.  40 miles.  Cold, rain.  Grass lot.

 

Why write a blog if the information is the lot, location, and weatherm somebody asked?  It’s a legitimate question.  There have been a lot of those posts this season, though I’ve assumed that come summer I would get long-winded again.  Mostly I’d say it’s better to write something than nothing at all – and ultimately through the years what I’ve tried to create is a route book through the seasons.  The where’s and whens.  The two most common comments or emails I get about the blog ask a couple simple questions – what’s the best act on the show?  Or when wil;l CM buy a new tent?  This season the first question is easy.  Jessi Wonderfool’s clown routine “How To Get A Man” may be the most consistently funny clown routine I’ve seen in years.  And I’m not a big fan of clowns.  Jessi makes it work every day in every show and her physical comedy is outstanding.  The second question is harder to answer.  Circus fans in particular have been asking show owner Trey Key about a new tent for at least a half a dozen years.  I suspect Trey’s sentiment is that so long as the tent serves its purpose, there are other needs.  When does an asset become a liability?  When does a liability become an asset again?  Recently it occurred to me that the A-1 tent we call our bigtop, now in its 15^th season has seen  more than six thousand circus performances.  If it was circus building, no matter how much it needed paint fans would declare it historic.  Millions of people have watched a circus beneath this tent.  AQs much as all of us may think that its ugly or worn, or a tough place to work in when it rains – it has earned its scars and patches honestly and entertained a generation of families since it was first pulled from the bag smelling of fresh vinyl in the mid 1990’s.

 

Three more days in Oregon, then Washington, then we turn east. 

Tuesday May 19^th.  Mill City, OR.  40 miles.  Cold, rain.  Grass lot.

 

Why write a blog if the information is the lot, location, and weatherm somebody asked?  It’s a legitimate question.  There have been a lot of those posts this season, though I’ve assumed that come summer I would get long-winded again.  Mostly I’d say it’s better to write something than nothing at all – and ultimately through the years what I’ve tried to create is a route book through the seasons.  The where’s and whens.  The two most common comments or emails I get about the blog ask a couple simple questions – what’s the best act on the show?  Or when wil;l CM buy a new tent?  This season the first question is easy.  Jessi Wonderfool’s clown routine “How To Get A Man” may be the most consistently funny clown routine I’ve seen in years.  And I’m not a big fan of clowns.  Jessi makes it work every day in every show and her physical comedy is outstanding.  The second question is harder to answer.  Circus fans in particular have been asking show owner Trey Key about a new tent for at least a half a dozen years.  I suspect Trey’s sentiment is that so long as the tent serves its purpose, there are other needs.  When does an asset become a liability?  When does a liability become an asset again?  Recently it occurred to me that the A-1 tent we call our bigtop, now in its 15^th season has seen  more than six thousand circus performances.  If it was circus building, no matter how much it needed paint fans would declare it historic.  Millions of people have watched a circus beneath this tent.  AQs much as all of us may think that its ugly or worn, or a tough place to work in when it rains – it has earned its scars and patches honestly and entertained a generation of families since it was first pulled from the bag smelling of fresh vinyl in the mid 1990’s.

 

Three more days in Oregon, then Washington, then we turn east. 

Jefferson, OR. 35 miles.  Middle school.  Grass. Warm and sunny.

Sweet Home, OR. 65 miles.  Warm, sunny.  Grass.  Rodeo grounds.

Cresswell, OR.  45 miles.  Mowed field.  Clear, warm.  

Friday.  Oakridge, OR.  70 miles.  Cool, clear.  Gravel, rock lot.

Drain, Oregon. 60 miles.  Grass.  Rain, then clearing.

Canyonville, OR. 85 miles. Overcast. Rain. Grass field.


In the mid-1980's I married Sharee Carton an Australian woman who was absolutely fearless when it came to working with highly venomous snakes. It's no surprise to me that in recent years Sharee has become an authority, perhaps the authority on the taxonomy of sea snakes found inthe Straits of Torres and Australia's northern waters. Just learned that Sharee's mom Sheila passed away yesterday in Canada. A life well lived from the plains of Alberta to the outback of OZ and in retirement Vancouver Island, British Columbia. Sadness and celebration.

Eagle Point, OR.  70 miles. Overcast and cool.  Gravel lot at high school.

Monday. Cave Junction, OR. 55 miles. Sunny. Gravel. First date in Pacific Northwest


Sunday. Cresent City, CA 113 miles. Asphalt. Foggy.

Great final day in CA. Best 3 week run in CM recent history.

Saturday May 9th, 2009. Rio Dell, CA. 45 miles. Hay field. Sunny. Cool.

Great day in Garberville yesterday. Today looks good as well. We have come down through the redwoods to the Pacific. We can travel no further west. From here it's north into Oregon and Washington, then east chasing summer across the high plains into the upper midwest.

Great day for novelties yesterday. Even "larrys," busted novelties (deeply discounted) were selling.

Lakeport, CA. 105 miles. Grass. Sunny.

Crossed the Coastal range to Clear Lake. Lot is in Lakeport right on the water. Discovered at the last minute that the sponsor failed to get the proper permits, however the city helped us to file for licenses a couple hours before the first show.

Winters, CA. 55 miles. Grass. Clear, warm.

Tomorrow it's over the Coastal Range to the Pacific.

Tuesday May 5th, 2009. Courtland, CA. 90 miles. Grass. Overcast.
Courtland is a small town in the delta where the GPS wants us to know that we are 14 feet below sea level. When business is down, you never want to complain too much, and when it’s up you hesitate to brag. The circus gods are fickle gods and you dare not risk offending. That said, Trey Key deserves credit for bringing Culpepper to California this season, despite the depressed economy. For the last two weeks here in the Central Valley the show has been on a tear as good as any that a circus can hope for. Even the rainy days have paid off. Kelly Miller had a similar run in New England last summer, the kind of luck that reminds you why the circus business can work magic when everything falls into place. Five more days in California.

Monday May 4^th, 2009.  Hilmar, CA.  40 miles.  Grass.  Overcast.

 

Thirty-nine years ago today 4 college students were shot by National Guardsmen on the campus of Kent State University in Ohio.  Jim “BJ” Hebert one time clown and our concessions boss on CM attended Kent a decade later and recalls that the wounds were still fresh.  Kent State was only incident during the turbulent Viet Name era when live fire was turned against anti-war activists.

 

Sunday May 3^rd, 2009.  Escalon, CA. 40 miles.  Grass.  Overcast.

 

Beautiful lot.  Strong sponsor.  Good day.  We’re in California for another week.  Somehow it seems impossible to write about circus, and the Golden State and not about Vargas.  Not Circus Vargas as it exists today, or even the strong show of the 1990s – Vargas as it was in the 1970s and the 1980s when Clifford Vargas, the real circus genius built a show so wonderful, so strong, so synonymous with circus that even the Feld owned Ringling shows were merely the competition.  And he did it on the west coast, and he did it under a tent.   Sitting on a green lot in the Central Valley it’s tempting to say that the world has changed, and shows have changed, and California has changed and today, twenty years after his passing that even Vargas would no what to make of this crazy business.  Tempting but probably not true.  So we’ll hoist one and drink to Cliff tonight, a man who for a few years recreated the Golden Age in the Golden State.

May 2nd, 2009. Valley Spring, CA. 20 miles. Mowed field, asphalt. Rain.
Sierra foothills in Calavaras County. The forecast is for rain for several days. We move back south through Modesto over the next couple days, then make the long jumps north that will take us out of California and into Oregon. California remains a fickle state for circus. Regulation is odious and business is hard to predict from one year to the next. California it seems tends to reward homegrown shows while embracing outside shows one year then rejecting the same show a few years later . In this recession year business was predictably poor in the desert town where real estate foreclosures have taken there, but it’s been much better thus far in the Central Valley farming communities, despite high unemployment. Strong hosts have done their part, and that always helps.

Friday, May 1st, 2009. Linden, CA 65 miles. Grass. Rain.
First of May, historically the opening date of the outdoor circus season dating back to the days of the wagon shows. The big rail shows usually opened indoors in late March or early April, then hit the road when May rolled around – and the later truck shows opened in the south in March, moving north. By May, according to tradition the weather is mild enough everywhere to play under canvas. Seems somehow appropriate that our first really rainy day of the season coincides with the date when a mudshow would once have started its touring. Good presale makes up for the weather.