In a Krishnamurti Mood: The Circus Judge I Might Have Been

Top of the heap. Number one. What a Voice! Where is SHE from? Destined to win, assumed the suddenly discovered Scottish Sunday school teacher who claimed never to have been kissed. Far from tabloid pretty. In fact, homely. Just one Susan Boyle, who moved Simon nearly to tears. Across the finish line on a British TV show called "Britain's Got Talent" she flew. Not so fast! Shockingly, a group of kids getting the win stole her spotlight away, driving her over the cliff and into a local nut house for same day repair.

Ego. Ego. Ego. We all have one. Well, I do. Do you?

Last year, I was called and pitched to be a judge for "Celebrity Circus" by a Hollywood casting agent working for NBC. "You are a circus critic," he said, having done some homework. I was impressed.

"This opportunity may never come along again," he said.

My ego lifted off. I saw shooting stars. There I was, issuing pronouncements, Simon Cowell of the Big Top. Overnight, famous face all over the cables. America's suddenly disoovered big top expert.

Hold on. Not so easy. First, I'd have to be test interviewed at my phone while somebody came by and video taped me. In-home screen test. So who was going to do the filming, I wondered.

"You must have a friend with a mini recorder," said the agent.

No I did not. Nor did I jump. One thing life has taught me is not to grovel.

After the initial euphoria, I regained consciousness. Wait a moment. Think this over. Back and forth between here and there six weeks in a row. In front of an audience. Lights in my face. Possibly too nervous to be Simon Cowell. Possibly a crack-up or wimp-out in the making.

And, anyway, if I did get called to serve, would I end up tagged for life as one of the reasons for a big television turkey?

I did not say "no." Neither did I fall onto my knees, ready to do just whatever they wanted. It dawned on me -- "this may never come around again" -- did the Hollywood agent tell that line to a lot of potential game show contestants? Even then, I e-mailed him that I'd be at Union Station passing through L.A. in a couple of weeks if he wanted to give me his K-Mark screen test. No reply. Chance of a lifetime slipping away. By then, his Rolodex was no doubt rolling out of my life, onto other names to call ...

Then I had an epiphany: Yes, I have an ego. A big ego, I suppose. But, no, my ego is only a part of who I am. There are many other parts. The ego started feeling too heavy, too much in control. So much that I feared toppling under the weight of my shrill expectations. Endangering my good health. I'm glad I never heard another word from Hollywood. When I watched a little of Celebrity Circus, however, there was this overly emotional "judge" who raved on over almost everything he saw, leading me to wonder if he was adjudicating on Viagra; how I would have loved pitting my opinions against his. We might have clicked. He Curly, me Moe at the Monte Carlo Second Chance Circus Festival.

That is, had we not been carted off for refusing to play to script. I think I can understand why the rejected Ms. Boyle boyled over.

John Ringling North II Three Years Later -- Might the Party Soon Be Over?

Showbiz David Speculates

Nobody that I know of has put out more positive prose heralding the return of the House of Ringling to the big top than myself. Three years later, I am looking at things a little differently.

Now, I must warn you in advance, this is NOT a review. These are only impressions of the current show gleaned from blogs, You Tube clips, photos, e-mails, and a close look at the actual lineup of acts supplied to me by show manager James Royal. I have learned that not until you actually watch a performance from start to finish can you really know what to think of it.

I also know how long it took Cliff Vargas to achieve near-greatness for a few fleeting seasons in the mid 1980s. It took him about 10 years. Perhaps Mr. North is in his early Vargas years, in which case, incredible patience is in order. Jim Royal e-mailed me that they did not expect to become the Ringling circus of the early 1950s overnight. So maybe they have some promising dreams up their sleeves.

But North II may not have ten years to make a mark while the unique envelope he holds is open. When the nephew of John Ringling North entered the circus world in 2006 by virtue of purchasing the Kelly -Miller title, the most valuable asset he brought with him was his name: Ringling. Still a magic word to many Americans. And he was shrewd enough, working with evidently savvy legal counsel, to take on a lawsuit by the Felds and at least end up with the right to post his name in certain places, altering “produced by” with “proprietor.” This impressed me.

Is he linking that magic name with a performance that compliments it? Indeed, one that lives up to it? Very doubtful. My impressions of this year's edition being mediocre, at best, are gleaned from the following:

1. The “vaulting” act as promised did not materialize. Royal tells me it was dropped "due to time restraints." Why drop so potentially exciting a number? Why not drop the hula hoops? Can anybody out there tell me that an audience would not be wildly more responsive to vaulting than to hoops???????????????????

2. The family riding act as promised sounds from all accounts like an earnest work in progress, with performers coming and going.

3. The flying trapeze skips some dates over asphalt. This I learned from reading Steve Copeland’s blog. Royal explained in an e-mail to me earlier in the season that this happens only when a contract prohibits the driving of stakes into cement.

4. The flying trapeze “triple” by Renato Fernandes is only an announcement gimmick, as I suspected when I saw it attempted on Carson & Barnes last year. Royal confirmed this by writing to me that Renato "is extremely close to catching the tripe, but has not as yet."

Also:

5. The inclusion of low-end generic acts., motor bike up inclined wire, hula hoops.

6. A troubling turnover in performance personnel. Early in the season, the Fusco brothers, jugglers highly regarded, were booked for a few weeks pending the arrival of others from Mexico. And the "Kelly Miller Festival circus" that fans see in Milwaukee in July will be a completely different show, only an hour long (I assume this means they will miss watching the great pony rides) while the regular "touring unit" makes dates on the east coast. We can only wonder what sort of a show North II will mount. I find this very strange. It raises many questions.

7. The inclusion of peanut pitches and coloring book sales by the clowns. By any measure, sub-Ringling standards.

8 The carnie aspect, pony rides during intermission, etc. Again, sub-Ringling all the way.

9. You Tube Revelations: Except for the wonderfully accomplished three-tiger hind leg walks in Casey McCoy's act, the You Tube footage in which I discovered this also included brief portions of a few of the other acts in the show that left me, sorry to report, distinctly unimpressed.

10. A misleading website. At last, they have updated it (a marked improvement in the right direction), but the baffling incompleteness does not flatter the show. Half a program is listed, and is highly misleading. What about the other half? There have been photos of acts or names (like juggler Brett Michael) that no longer appear. JRN II strikes me as very weak in the most critical area -- the advance promotion.

Sorry, but altogether these items do not add up, in my speculative opinion, to a memorable circus experience. This sort of a show might work fine for the niche public it serves down the road. Claims Royal, predictably, it is "going over well with our audiences and we are getting excellent feedback from our local sponsors." What else would a good circus man say? But North II risks losing the luster and good will of his name power if he continues offering pedestrian fare.

Of course I could be dead wrong. It is possible on the other hand, that altogether these modest elements jell into a delight. I know that Casey McCoy and the clowns Copeland and Combs, from video clips I have seen, both offer high quality acts, which is a credit to Mr. North. But the image of them, early season, peddling coloring books makes me want to cry.

Is this what a real Ringling stands for? I'm already waiting for next year. I'm waiting to see how far Mr. North might push himself into a more artistically significant direction -- if he can. And I'm not holding my breath. More and more, I'm wondering if the spectacle of a tent full of cell phonies jabbering away while the show was on, as complained about by Steve Copeland, is not a more telling portrait of an under performing circus. Methinks that a lot more of the "Ringling magic" proprietor North promised to insert into the performance when he took over might be woefully over due. If John Ringling North II is really serious, he needs to complete the triple.

[photos, from above: John Ringling North II and James Royal; juggler Raul Oliveras; Ryan Combs and Steve Copeland]

Ding! Ding! Cho! Cho! I'm Railing Off ...

You’ve no doubt heard of 48-year-young Susan Boyle, Scottish teacher who claims never to have been kissed, but boy can this amateur (if that’s what she really is), sing. She took her voice to the television show Britain's Got Talent. Then the world kissed her. Even Simon You Know Who got all teary-eyed. Judges sure she’d ride all the way to triumph, but, at the finish line, some young upstarts stole away her glory, causing Boyle to Boyle over, all the way into what once was called the nuthouse ... Now she’s out, and maybe regrouping ... Fame that lasts only fifteen minutes can leave burns that linger a lifetime ...

Meanwhile, destined to blast off big time is one Guy Laliberte, he of Cirque du Soleil, said to be Canada’s first space passenger and only the 7th private citizen with a ticket to ride. At only 49, and for a cool $35 million, the 2.5 billionaire will buckle down and rocket up, from Russia to the International Space Station with a proper Cirque theme, in his words "the first social/humanitarian mission in space." How's that? Up there in latitude Laliberte, the daring young impresario wishes to raise public awareness of world wide water issues: "We need to provide access to clean water where it is needed." ... Or might he really be keen on an out-of-body circus? On maybe inking just another contract? ... Acrobats seeking Cirque work, bone up on your gravity-free tricks so you’ll be ready for Montreal moon auditions! ... Oh that was fun ...

What’s going on over in the Big Apple Circus suites? A vet inside source expressing a touch of gleeful apprehension over a “blood bath” red lighting “4 office types” escorted out by security. A pair of butchers debuthered, too. E-mail implications — I’m going easy here — that exec. director Gary Dunning might be just a little overly power pushy. Am I minding my syntax? Already, wonders Mr. Inside Source, is it time to rebinder the book before it breaks apart and the pages loose continuity? Premature melodrama that I, a practicing melodramatist, should know. Okay, so I’m going tabloid on you again. I was reminded of this in the current issue of Bandwagon, by editor Fred Pfening, Jr, who in laying out last season, noted my ominous forecast of possible doom and gloom come 2008, reminding us tactfully that all the shows made it back to the barn “in contrast to the possible dire situation” of, well, yours unruly ... Oh, heck, blame it on 1001 Arabian Nights tea. I feel like a traitor here at L'Amyx drinking something grown in Germany ...

Back into ersatz reality, where were we? Oh, yes, Mr. Laliberte, ever active (how I’d love to pin him to a question or two), announced he intends to carry a poem he co-wrote with a friend and “read it in space.” Are you getting a better handle on the brains behind all the cirque mist down there on earth? ... Those Russians, who will power the cirque king up and away (and we, trust, back this way too) “really put you through some tough tests,” says astronaut Laliberte. “My main concern is to make sure that I am ready and I will not have to be babysat by my crew.” Go, Guy, go! One small bromo for space. One giant promo for CDS.

End ringing it on a graver note, those lovely fabrics (dubbed by retired clown Ken Dodd "the bed sheets") to which today’s aerialists gravitate can be deceptively safe. Yet another performer falling to the ground, and thankfully, she's okay, having suffered "no serious injuries." She, an unnamed 22-year-old performing up in Richmond, BC, for Circus Gatti. Seems I’ve heard of two or three other fabric flyers taking similar descents. Could it be a dangerous immersion in the choreography into which they seem to lose themselves?

Circus Historical Society gearing up for its annual bash in Milwaukee, when Kelly-Miller Circus rolls out the royal mud for a John Ringling North II spread. (There's the talented Casey McCoy. Gotta tell you, though, I get the feeling this is not North II's best opus so far...) CHS calling it a "trifecta," this meaning that you get the parade, the K-M show [*] and, perhaps best of all, a chance to see Mr. North himself address you at one of the CHS events. I hope that notes are taken and published, please, Mr. Fred and Mr. Fred. I'd prefer that over somebody's rhapsody about a long circus train ride. I’ll have to rejoin the Copeland and Combs blogging odyssey in July, just to sneak under and look ... How I'd love to be there. But, I'll be in prep for my own space flight into Sin City. It's high or low time I check out all those Cirque shows, while the owner negotiates first performing rights to the space station ... Besides, the Witness Protection Program rejected me, so I'm staying out of the spangled shadows ...

Oh, yes, the Tonys! -- this very Sunday, here on earth, if anybody cares. Sorry, Jack, I hate all awards shows that go on beyond one hour. Even the Second Coming would have to be 60 minutes max, including commercials ...

And that’s a moon struck wrap ...

[*Update: At Milwaukee, you will not see the touring K-M show, but a special one hour "Kelly Miller Festival Circus."]

Showbiz Roller Coaster: Boyle to the Nuthouse, Laliberte to Outer Space ... Big Apple in Premature Melt Down? Here We Go! ...

You’ve no doubt heard of 48-year-young Susan Boyle, Scottish teacher who claims never to have been kissed, but boy can this amateur (if that’s what she really is), sing. She took her voice to the television show Britain's Got Talent. Then the world kissed her. Even Simon You Know Who got all teary-eyed. Judges sure she’d ride all the way to triumph, but, at the finish line, some young upstarts stole away her glory, causing Boyle to Boyle over, all the way into what once was called the nuthouse ... Now she’s out, and maybe regrouping ... Fame that lasts only fifteen minutes can leave burns that linger a lifetime ...

Meanwhile, destined to blast off big time is one Guy Laliberte, he of Cirque du Soleil, said to be Canada’s first space passenger and only the 7th private citizen with a ticket to ride. At only 49, and for a cool $35 million, the 2.5 billionaire will buckle down and rocket up, from Russia to the International Space Station with a proper Cirque theme, in his words "the first social/humanitarian mission in space." How's that? Up there in latitude Laliberte, the daring young impresario wishes to raise public awareness of world wide water issues: "We need to provide access to clean water where it is needed." ... Or might he really be keen on an out-of-body circus? On maybe inking just another contract? ... Acrobats seeking Cirque work, bone up on your gravity-free tricks so you’ll be ready for Montreal moon auditions! ... Oh that was fun ...

What’s going on over in the Big Apple Circus suites? A vet inside source expressing a touch of gleeful apprehension over a “blood bath” red lighting “4 office types” escorted out by security. A pair of butchers debuthered, too. E-mail implications — I’m going easy here — that exec. director Gary Dunning might be just a little overly power pushy. Am I minding my syntax? Already, wonders Mr. Inside Source, is it time to rebinder the book before it breaks apart and the pages loose continuity? Premature melodrama that I, a practicing melodramatist, should know. Okay, so I’m going tabloid on you again. I was reminded of this in the current issue of Bandwagon, by editor Fred Pfening, Jr, who in laying out last season, noted my ominous forecast of possible doom and gloom come 2008, reminding us tactfully that all the shows made it back to the barn “in contrast to the possible dire situation” of, well, yours unruly ... Oh, heck, blame it on 1001 Arabian Nights tea. I feel like a traitor here at L'Amyx drinking something grown in Germany ...

Back into ersatz reality, where were we? Oh, yes, Mr. Laliberte, ever active (how I’d love to pin him to a question or two), announced he intends to carry a poem he co-wrote with a friend and “read it in space.” Are you getting a better handle on the brains behind all the cirque mist down there on earth? ... Those Russians, who will power the cirque king up and away (and we, trust, back this way too) “really put you through some tough tests,” says astronaut Laliberte. “My main concern is to make sure that I am ready and I will not have to be babysat by my crew.” Go, Guy, go! One small bromo for space. One giant promo for CDS.

End ringing it on a graver note, those lovely fabrics (dubbed by retired clown Ken Dodd "the bed sheets") to which today’s aerialists gravitate can be deceptively safe. Yet another performer falling to the ground, and thankfully, she's okay, having suffered "no serious injuries." She, an unnamed 22-year-old performing up in Richmond, BC, for Circus Gatti. Seems I’ve heard of two or three other fabric flyers taking similar descents. Could it be a dangerous immersion in the choreography into which they seem to lose themselves?

Circus Historical Society gearing up for its annual bash in Milwaukee, when Kelly-Miller Circus rolls out the royal mud for a John Ringling North II spread. (There's the talented Casey McCoy. Gotta tell you, though, I get the feeling this is not North II's best opus so far...) CHS calling it a "trifecta," this meaning that you get the parade, the K-M show [*] and, perhaps best of all, a chance to see Mr. North himself address you at one of the CHS events. I hope that notes are taken and published, please, Mr. Fred and Mr. Fred. I'd prefer that over somebody's rhapsody about a long circus train ride. I’ll have to rejoin the Copeland and Combs blogging odyssey in July, just to sneak under and look ... How I'd love to be there. But, I'll be in prep for my own space flight into Sin City. It's high or low time I check out all those Cirque shows, while the owner negotiates first performing rights to the space station ... Besides, the Witness Protection Program rejected me, so I'm staying out of the spangled shadows ...

Oh, yes, the Tonys! -- this very Sunday, here on earth, if anybody cares. Sorry, Jack, I hate all awards shows that go on beyond one hour. Even the Second Coming would have to be 60 minutes max, including commercials ...

And that’s a moon struck wrap ...

[*Update: At Milwaukee, you will not see the touring K-M show, but a special one hour "Kelly Miller Festival Circus."]

Circus Bella Beguiles with Wry Shennanigans, Relevant Music

Circus Review: Circus Bella
San Francisco, May 31, 2009, 12 p.m.
Admission free, at Yerba Buena Gardens

Going to a new circus founded by ambitions young performers is always an adventure loaded with a mixture of apprehension and hope. New could mean theatre circus. Could mean ballet circus. Could mean kinky “performance art.” Or the Aussie self-annihilation angle. Could also mean a bright new future. Remember, it was out of such a situation that Cirque du Soleil was born. Indeed, tomorrow belongs to the young.

The good news out of one-year-old Circus Bella, based in Oakland, is that some of the best musical scoring you will come across on any lot is on this lot. Moreover, there’s a cool tilt to the company's camaraderie, a playful approach to taking on standard circus skills. For example, Bronkar Lee begins as a drummer, then drums himself into a stirring ball juggling workout.

Show's biggest single asset are are five hard-working musicians. What a refreshing departure from the abysmally electronic norm. Throw away your CDs. Ditch your dreary disco dreams. With a few more acts, some honing and tightening, this perky outfit might find a string of civic sponsorships out there, something like what the Pickle Family Circus did in its day.

The funky band starts out, pre show, jamming it up, Dixieland style, like a group of black musicians in front of an old midway side show. And you might wonder if that's all you're gonna get. Well, no. Once the circus begins, these windjammers surprise, do they ever, riding charts composed and arranged by accordionist Rob Reich, by answering each entree with just the right tempo and tone. What Reich gives us is an ersatz Cirque sound, yet with a generous deference to each act.

The one hour romp sags in spots. Jan Damm’s suspenders routine takes too long to get snapping. A comedic presence not always well served by the scripting is Jeni Johnson (seen in the two photos above), eccentrically uniformed musical conductor sometimes with baton in hand. She is just plain funny to look at. Her officious air kept me smiling. How does she shtick it to us? Well, for one, she stops the show capriciously to walk over to the ring curb, upon which is parked her big soda cup, there to favor herself with a sip. While we wait. A facetious time out at our expense. It works. Other times she flops out trying to get into the act and has to be carried off. All fun to watch.

But a running band-leading gag (casting Johnson as a conductor getting no cooperation from her musicians) runs on too long like a predictable cliche and doesn’t quite produce. She is an amusing presence I would welcome back.

Invention adds nuance to the generally mid-level routines on display here, giving each a certain wry counterpoint. Nimble contortionist Ember Bria and rola-bola performer Jan Damm deliver the essentials. On the slack rope, David Hunt takes a summer afternoon holiday, making it all look perhaps a little too easy. On a higher level, polished Abigail Munn turns in a skilled single trap routine full of sharp drops and defined positions. Her pro turn only lacks a big swing arc pay off.

To its credit, the program spares us the bed sheets (aka: “fabric”), spares us the hula hoop and the dime-a-dozen motor bike up the inclined wire. Circus Bella, co-directed by Munn and Hunt, avoids the obvious.

Company joins together into a zesty group juggling bash to finish off the party. It makes for a fizzy finale, giving the end frame a celebratory lift.

One last qualm: When did circuses forget how to simply, START? I'd vote for a first burst into the ring free of Scotty the Bunny talking to us. (Scotty's nebulous role throughout the show strikes me as a tad gratuitous.) There is a silent movie feel about this circus that needs to remain silent. Before a responsive crowd on the admission-free grass of Yerba Buena Gardens in San Francisco under cloudy skies, they made a promising mark. Go, little Bella!



6/1/09

Two Views of Carson and Barnes Circus

A Note: Last year I stated on this blog that were I to review any circuses in ‘09 that I had seen in ‘08 and given less than three stars to, unless my ‘09 rating would be higher by at least ½ star, I would not review. Sorry to say, I have seen Carson & Barnes and I can’t give it a higher mark than I gave it in '08. So, since I have received interesting feedback on the show from two different sources, I am posting them. The first came in an e-mail, the second, a comment in reaction to my '08 review of the show.

From Dave Wolowic, Oxnard, California:

The last Monday, my wife and I drove out to Oxnard to see the last show of Carson & Barnes. There was a lot to like about the circus. And some not to like. We loved the aerial acts. The two woman who do the first act are amazing and use no safety lines. It was very thrilling. The trapeze act was great. Much better than what we saw at Circus Vargas. Of course the sound system was a bit lacking and I could not understand the names of the performer. The lead flyer did an amazing dismount by swinging so high he grabbed onto the roof of the tent, and then dropped to the net. So much fun. I know your disdain for hula hoop acts, but I thought this one was really well done. The costumes throughout the show were clean and new. The clowns were OK. Alex, the world-renowned king of Comedy had a very funny trampoline act, but it could have used a little more time of him on the tramp and less shtick around it. Although we had seen the elephants before the show and at intermission, it was really impressive when the came running into the tent for their act. My biggest disappointment was the dog act. As an act, it was mediocre. But what made it worse was the dogs looked so dirty and mangy and in need of a good meal. It really took away from the act. I wrote Carson & Barnes and told them if I were a PETA person I would come after them for the dogs and not the elephants. The other odd thing which happened was during the trapeze act, they started undoing the tent from the center poles! Suddenly I see some guys head sticking out through the roof! Bad show. I realize it was the last show of the run, but they could have at least waited until the trapeze act was over, when everyone wasn't looking at the roof of the tent. We also thought that the performers weren't very enthusiastic when they had to partake in the circus parades.
We had a fun time but I think I Circus Vargas had a better "look". It seemed that everyone on the midway and ushers all had some kind of uniform. Carson & Barnes was a little more ragged around the edges. Still the show had between 500 to 600 people, and I think most of them left having had a good time.

[Dave has since e-mailed me that he e-mailed his displeasure over the dog act and the tent dismantling activities to C&B, and was impressed to hear back from them within 24 hours, pledging to address his concerns)

From Marcus Bethea in the San Diego area:

I was very disappointed in this show. This was the first time since I was little to see this show. My kids loved it. My wife and I hated it. I just came on to this site to see what other people reviewed on this circus act. I watched it in san diego, and it was as you described it [in my ‘08 review]. Many people left at intermission. Every thing is very expensive, and not worth the money paid. I spent over $200 dollars for cold pop corn, a little bag of peanuts one ride on a camel in one little circle. same on a elephant and supposed VIP seating in plastic patio chairs. I was very disappointed. But it was for my kids. But I will never do that again. I was thinking Ringling Bros or Barnum Bailey would be better but now I am scared of any kind of circus

World’s Greatest Flies Again ... Russian Horse Show Struggling in Texas ... S.F Tiger Taunters Win Big Bucks ... Symphony and Circus Share Stages ...

from 5/30/09

Roustabouts, hold your props! Vendors, cease all vending! Maestro Evans, softly into “Wedding of the Winds,” if you please! Ringmaster Ronk, your lines ...

“Now ladies and gentlemen, it is with profound pride and respect that we present, high over center ring, the return of the greatest flyer who ever lived — Miguel Vazquez!”

When I first viewed the photo above, that's how I felt. What a fantastic event the return of this big top icon would be. All that Miguel Vazquez, still evidently fit, would have to do is turn a double, even a laid back tipple. The announcement of his name and unmatched legacy alone would stir the crowds. After all, Americans still swoon to the spectacle of trapeze. The good news is that the quad king, who thrilled audiences through the 1980s and then vanished from view like a shooting star lost in space, is back, back here on Planet Earth, back being interviewed by and flying for Hollywood actor Philip Weyland.

Weyland is independently at work on a documentary about Vazquez's life, assisted by a group of high ender Hollywood pros, some with Emmys to their names: documentary producer and director Jake Gorst, and composers Richie Saccente and S. Cosmo Mallardi. "I've chosen this 'independent' route to give myself the freedom to make the film I want without any outside interference," explains Weyland.

Just getting the elusive Vazquez to talk should earn Weyland some sort of a prize. He did not know the flyer when he decided to undertake the project. "We never actually spoke until I arrived in Las Vegas and met him in person."

In March, Miguel flew for the first time in five years, with his brother Juan catching. "What a thrill it was," says Weyland, who witnessed the reunion in the air. "Miguel is in shape and is still one exciting and graceful athlete."

Another Weyland coup, in my awed opinion, I get goosebumps just gazing at the photo, to your left: yes, you are looking at two legends seated next to each other: Tito Gaona and Miguel Vazquez, along with Miguel's son, David. The road ahead for Weyland will be, I suppose, rough. When will the big tops ever get a decent documentary? Something more than another lame Celebrity Circus. Miguel, welcome back!

Tiger Tiger, Verdict Bad: The Dhaliwal brothers, who sued the San Francisco Zoo for injuries suffered when a tiger escaped its compound and attacked them, also killing one of their friends, have settled out of court to the tune of $900.000. Local radio talk show hosts push the taunting angle, sure the brothers were responsible for provoking Tatiana to jump a wall lower than national zoo standards and have at them. They downplay the same tiger attacking its keeper a year or so before. And despite conceding that the zoo itself was negligent, and without any evidence found that the brothers actually provoked the tiger's escape, Bay Area residents tend to view the brothers, who have had run-ins with the law, as thugs, Tatiana as the victim. A twisted media nightmare is over. Let's see, didn't a tiger in some other zoo just kill a keeper? Wonder if that keeper was a thug?

Another Troubled Horse Show: From Houston, where it first played in the U.S., to Dallas goes the Russian-based Artania horse and acrobatic show. Artistic director Mairbrek Kantemirov is banking on a lush U.S. tour, which I sorta kind of don’t see exactly happening. These horse show things are difficult sells. Two in recent years from Montreal came on with a bang, and faded out soon ... Show plays under white tents, with a cast of 50 performers and 19 horses. ... Turnout in Houston was “low.” Surprised, anybody? Artania then took on a new marketing firm, trying to recoup losses so far and turn the books from red to black. A Peterson peanut bailout, per chance? ... Tents go up on a street replete with bail bondsmen, liquor stores, and the county jail ...

Symphony and Sawdust: Concert orchestras are starting to send tumblers and aerialists aloft while Mahler and Ravel play on. Cirque du la Symphonie is the brainchild of one Bill Allen, who was inspired one day watching a Bolshoi circus performer warming up to a recording of Tzchaikovsky. In 2006, Allen started booking circus artists into concert halls. All over the country they have performed. En route to Modesto, California are six ring artists who will “fly across the stage, dance, juggle, tumble and perform feats of strength.” The musicians will share the same stage rather than retreat to the pit. “The orchestra plays harder when we’re out there doing our thing,” says Allen. Audiences will hear a mix of classical and modern selections, from Dvorak's “Carnival Overture” to music from Harry Potter.

[photos by Philip Weyland]

5/30/09