THE BALLOON MAN: 2012-10-07

Saturday, October 13, 2012

FROM CASEY GIBBS---

NEW McLAREN CIRCUS PROGRAMME

From Denzil McLaren

in South Africa

It's time for Apple Scrapple
Bridgeville's annual fair to be held this weekend

Cynthia Durham helps members of Bridgeville United Methodist Church cook at the annual Apple Scrapple Festival. / Gary Emeigh photo
Written by Jeff Kauffman
from---delmarvanow.com
Oct 10, 2012
BRIDGEVILLE — There’s no better way to celebrate the small town than by combining the two things its known for — apples and scrapple — in a two-day festival.

This year will mark the 21st Apple Scrapple Festival, and there’s already a buzz of excitement in the community.

“We’ve been with the festival since it started and we’re always looking forward to it,” said MaryLou Hammond of TS Smith & Sons, one of the remaining two apple orchards in Delaware and a primary apple supplier for the festival. “Everybody in town is part of Apple Scrapple. It’s everywhere.”

Those who attend can enjoy carnival rides, scrapple chunkin’, scrapple carving, live entertainment, a car show and more.

Karen Johnson, executive chair and event organizer, said the festival spans five blocks.

“It’s truly a great festival,” she said. “(Guests can) walk around, eat great food and listen to live entertainment.”

The festival is scheduled to start Friday with T.S. Smith’s apple-baking contest, the naming of Little Miss Apple Scrapple, and a street dance performance with entertainer Mike Warren.

The festivities will resume early Saturday morning with crafts and live bands playing throughout the day.

“I’m extremely excited for the event,” Johnson said. “It promotes our town and tourism.”

Over the years, the two-day event has grown in popularity; last year it was attended by nearly 25,000 guests.

April Buckler, who works at Town Hall, said curiosity about the event continues to grow, and she’s confident this year will see the best turnout yet.

“It brings people in, supports local commerce,” she said.

1950'S

Old Time Picture for Posters

It's Moslah Shrine Circus time! Help celebrate 70 years!

by Karla Coe-Specker

wfaa.com

Posted on October 11, 2012

1950's

1950's or 60's
If anyone has any info or pictures of this show---
please let me know!
Thanks! Dick

Circus comes to town

from: cinewsnow.com

By WEEK Reporter

October 11, 2012

Friday, October 12, 2012

CELEBRATION OF LIFE RUDY RUDYNOFF, JR.
SATURDAY, OCTOBER 13, 2012, 5 P.M.
SHOWFOLKS CLUB IN SARASOTA

Dress is Casual and Food will be served
Please come and share with us the memories you have of Rudy and his family

As circus performers and life-long circus fans
*************************************************
Pete Adams

Montreal's Circus Culture Hides In Plain Sight (PHOTOS)

from---huffingtonpost.com

Posted: 10/11/2012

At the edge of Montreal's Saint-Michel neighborhood, a zone known for the diversity of its immigrant populations and street gangs, a relatively unremarkable office park perches on the edge of a landfill. The glassy facades of the three buildings are pleasantly unremarkable in the way that most office park buildings occupied by accountants, insurance agents and software developers are pleasantly unremarkable. The parking lots are filled with average cars.

Ecole National De Cirque

Inside the school, which does function as a traditional school, future performers perfect tricks and learn new skills in a padded environment.

This is all to say that a passerby hustling along Boulevard Saint-Michel hoping not to get mugged would probably never guess that this place is devoted to pushing the physical limits of the human body, making the impossible achievable through practice.

TOHU
The one giveaway may be the round theater in the middle of the TOHU center.

The buildings are the Ecole National De Cirque, the TOHU Cite Des Arts Du Cirque and the International Headquarters of Cirque du Soleil. They house, on any given day, what may well be the highest concentration of traditional circus skill in the world. Inside, men and women bend themselves into unlikely shapes, hoist each other high into the air and ride very, very, very small bicycles.

Wandering the halls of the Ecole National De Cirque -- unfortunately off limits to the general public -- is like walking the halls of that mutant prep school from the X-Men comic books. In one room, a group of 13-year-olds diligently read and answer questions. In the next room, two women roll around in metal wheels, spinning like quarters about to go heads up only to return to their rims again. Through one door, a clown does a silent, mesmerizing dance while laughing to himself.

Cirque Du Soleil
Sure, something crazy is going on there, but from the outside it might as be Mutual of Omaha.

It should be said that not all the rooms here are the same size. Some are classrooms, others are basically airplane hangers carpeted with pads and foam shape filled pools so aerialists can practice their most dangerous tricks on wires, corde lisse and aerial hoops.

The graduates of this academy of the unbelievable frequently go to work for their neighbors, Cirque Du Soleil. The Cirque building is a no more than 100 yards away and the demand for their particular skills is amplified by their obvious scarcity.
read more---
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/10/11/montreals-circus-culture-_n_1955038.html

Circus clowns teach Watertown students about voting

The "Boss Clown" candidates debated in Watertown over proper clown attire, shaving cream pies versus real pies, and how each would handle head honcho clown responsibilities.
by Jaclyn Reiss
from--boston.com
October 11, 2012
Watertown’s Cunniff Elementary School students received a lesson in voting this week, but not in the traditional sense.

The school’s third, fourth and fifth graders filed into the school’s gymnasium, preparing to watch a mock debate Wednesday afternoon, before the vice-presidential debate airs tonight.

But instead of encountering two men in suits with slicked-back hair, both candidates in the debate arrived in red noses and comically oversized shoes, running after each other in circles as the moderator tripped over his microphone stand and jabbed himself in the face.

Part of a four-city national tour, the Ringling Bros. and Barnum and Bailey Circus brought “The Greatest Election on Earth!” to participating schools to teach young students the importance of voting and learning about political candidates.

The mock debate pitted two circus clowns against each other – Todd Voting, a traditionally-dressed clown who stood for wigs, costumes, and real cream pies to the face; and Mike Matters, a young, fresh face with new ideas, favoring minimalist clown clothing and shaving cream pies for throwing. The two lobbied the students to vote for them to be the next "Boss Clown" of the circus.
read more---
http://www.boston.com/yourtown/news/watertown/2012/10/circus_clowns_teach_watertown.html

Ind. State Fair cancels paid concerts for 2013
from---businessweek.com
By Rick Callahan
October 11, 2012
INDIANAPOLIS (AP) — The Indiana State Fair has canceled paid concerts at next year's fair because shows moved to downtown Indianapolis following a deadly 2011 stage rigging collapse failed to attract big crowds during August's fair, officials said Thursday.

A financial report on this year's fair showed that revenue from fair events that included those concerts was just 40 percent of what officials had expected, totaling only about $1.1 million. The report showed the fair made an overall profit of more than $505,000.

State Fair Commission Chairman Andre Lacy said the downtown concerts at Banker's Life Fieldhouse that included shows by Barry Manilow, Journey and Pat Benatar "didn't work" and won't be repeated next year.

"We just didn't get anything out of that hardly," he said.

Paid concerts were moved from the fairgrounds to the downtown arena after high winds toppled stage rigging on Aug. 13, 2011, killing seven people and injuring dozens before an outdoor concert by country duo Sugarland.

State Fair Director Cindy Hoye said the 2013 fair will still have some "b-level named entertainment" on the fairgrounds' free stage. But she said the lesson from this year's low ticket sales at Banker's Life Fieldhouse is that fair visitors want their concerts at the fairgrounds.

"Our customers want to be here. They didn't understand the whole idea, it didn't work and so we're bringing back some headline entertainment for free on the free stage," Hoye said.
read more---
http://www.businessweek.com/ap/2012-10-11/ind-dot-state-fair-cancels-paid-concerts-for-2013

WITHOUT A NET documentary trailer

Published on Mar 12, 2012 by withoutanetmovie

Djeferson, Bárbara, Rayana and Platini live in a drug controlled slum of Rio de Janeiro. Their families are struggling, their homes are physically unstable, and everyone they know has dropped out of school.

The circus comes to Woonsocket

Published on May 22, 2012 by ProvidenceJournal

5.22.2012: For the Piccadilly Circus, whose tent crews spent a very soggy Tuesday setting up at Barry Memorial field in Woonsocket , the show must go on. That meant despite the constant and sometimes heavy, rain crews lifted the circus's giant blue and yellow big top under the unfriendly skies. Slowed, but not deterred, the tent went up and is ready for the Wednesday, May 23, start of a six day run. Providence Journal video by Kris Craig

Muttville Comix---Johnny Peers

FRIDAY MORNING AT THE CIRCUS

Woodford County Journal
from---pantagraph.com
All Photos by Jerry McDowell.
October 10, 2012
EASY PULL – Hundreds of local school children lined the outside of the Miller Circus tent Friday morning to watch an elephant pull four tall posts and raise the circus tent. The circus, sponsored by the Eureka Reagan Fest Committee, put on two shows at lower Lake Eureka Friday.

Students get a back stage view of the circus

Workers prepare poles for the mighty elephant

read and see more at---
http://www.pantagraph.com/wcj/workers-prepare-poles-for-the-mighty-elephant/image_f809a28a-1316-11e2-b75a-001a4bcf887a.html

Norway's Agriculture Minister Refuses to Ban Circus Elephants

from--- circusfederation.org
Oct 5, 2012
The Norwegian Minister for Agriculture, Trygve Slagsvold Vedum, has rejected a ten year old proposal to ban elephants in the circus, stating that a ban was unnecessary. Instead, the ministry will prepare draft regulations to ensure appropriate care and welfare of performing elephants in the circus.

St. Louis Restaurant Week Coincides With Two Top Circus Premiers

The Greater St. Louis Restaurant Association on Thursday treated the Ringing Brothers and Barnum & Bailey star pachyderms to a free lunch of elephant gourmet fare. Credit Suzanne Corbett
from: arnold.patch.com
By Suzanne Corbett
October 11, 2012
To kick off the ultimate dinner and a show concept, members of the Greater St. Louis Restaurant Association treated the Ringing Brothers and Barnum & Bailey star pachyderms to a free lunch today.
read more---
http://arnold.patch.com/articles/st-louis-restaurant-week-coincides-with-two-top-circus-premiers#photo-11684017

Circus comes to town 'Fully Charged'

Brett Barlow, above, is the band leader for "Fully Charged," the Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey Greatest Show on Earth, which comes to Bridgeport Oct. 18-21. Photo: Contributed Photo / CT
from---norwalkcitizenonline.com
Phyllis A.S. Boros
October 11, 2012
Norwalk, CT---A good day for Brett Barlow is when something goes wrong.

Not terribly wrong; just wrong enough for him to feel that he's earned his paycheck.

Barlow is a trumpet player and director of the nine-piece band that performs for every performance of "Fully Charged," the new production from the Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey Greatest Show on Earth.

This year, the circus will be in Bridgeport -- showman P.T. Barnum's adopted hometown -- Thursday, Oct. 18, through Sunday, Oct. 21, for eight performances at the Webster Bank Arena at Harbor Yard.

Barlow's job is to keep the music and his musicians coordinated with the action, and the performers and animals cued to the music -- no matter what. All the music is original and created especially for each tour, he pointed out. The band has four horn players and a five-piece rhythm section.
read more---
http://www.norwalkcitizenonline.com/news/article/Circus-comes-to-town-Fully-Charged-3939646.php#photo-3575869

Mother Nature Vs The Circus

Published on Jul 8, 2012 by dancinghorses101

A 90 MPH storm ravished the Big Top Of The Great American Family Circus. The story Of The Show Must Always Go On

Sunny Skies Bring Big Crowds and Traffic to South Carolina State Fairgrounds

from--- wltx.com

Written by Jenny Wirtzberger

Oct 11, 2012

2012 South Carolina State Fair: Opening Day

By Crandall Sims

from--- abccolumbia.com

Oct 10, 2012

Thursday, October 11, 2012

BILL PRICKETT VISITS:
Members of the BYRD FAMILY - BELLATTI TENT, #164, CFA, had lunch with John Ringling North, and two other guests on Tuesday, 10-09-12, in S. Jacksonville, Il., and attended the 4:30 show. Several more membes attended the 7:30 show. The weather was ideal during the daytime, but cold and rain moved in around 7pm. Business very brisk and alot of favorble comments were heard on the show.

. John Ringling North, Rick Purdue (Pres), Dave Williams, Marilyn Sorrill, Bev Johns, Lynn Beeley,and Earl Finger.

Lynn Beeley, Earl Finger, Shirley Finger, Lu Johns, Lonnie Johns, Charlie Bellatti (Sec),
Bill Prickett (V- Pres), empty chair.

Gigi Greene, 4, (Sara's daughter), parrott in Pirate Number.

Gene Hembree, tickets and generally useful.

Louie and Tabatha Del Moral, elephants (Armando Loyal gone for 10 days to work Shrine date In Ft. Worth, TX.

Shirley North assisting Carolyn Rice with dog act

Elisa Rhodes and Steve Copeland, additional guests

Ryan "Radar" Easly, tiger trainer and presentor, and Elisa Rhodes

Tabatha Del Moral, MINNIE, LIBBY, and Louie Del Moral
ALL PHOTOS BY BILL PRICKETT

UniverSoul Circus defies all boundaries

Scott Cunningham
The UniverSoul Circus is bringing its Party Rock Dancers to State Fair Park in West Allis next week.
By Jackie Loohauis-Bennett of the Journal Sentinel
from---jsonline.com
Oct 10, 2012
Milwaukee---If you've ever dreamed of joining the circus, mark Tuesday on your calendar. It's the day you can become part of a troupe under the big top.

That's when the UniverSoul Circus, a live show that combines urban energy with audience participation, starts its six-day run at State Fair Park in

West Allis.

UniverSoul Circus steps it up
Come prepared to jump up. "The interactiveness, the fan participation. You're in the action," says UniverSoul spokesman Hank Ernest. "When you get there, our dancers and our performers go into the audience. They'll have them dancing with them, high-fiving the ringmaster. They'll pull you out in the aisle. This is something you will want to do."

You'll want to dance in the aisle, Ernest explains, because of the circus' music lineup - everything from hip-hop to classics to salsa to jazz. "The power of the sound is part of the feeling. The music gets you out of your seat. We keep up to date with today's music, so it's like party-type radio."

But there's more than music to get audience members caught up in the two-hour show. Even the Cash Funny improv comedy group draws the audience into the ring.

"People come to UniverSoul expecting to be involved, to be part of the family. We do the loudest shout under the big top together. We do 'Simon Says.' We do a skit for 'I Smile,' the gospel song," says Cash Funny member Reggie Jackson (no, not that Reggie Jackson - this one's female).

The group, which includes Clayton English from TV's Tyler Perry's "House of Payne," also involves UniverSoul audience members in "skits from everyday life, like the Home Shopping Network," says Jackson.

Internationally known performers, of course, will still take the lead in the UniverSoul lineup of circus arts, dance, music and theater. The dancers in the show have appeared on the BET awards, Ernest says. "The show is all choreographed on the cutting edge of hip-hop dancing."
read more---
http://www.jsonline.com/entertainment/universoul-circus-defies-all-boundaries-mh74dep-173548671.html

Kids Swim with Tigers; Florida Animal Sanctuary Allows Tourists to Swim With Tiger Cubs

Published on Oct 10, 2012 by ABCNews

The sanctuary says it's the only place on the planet where kids can swim with tigers.

Three days of Ringling Bros. circus at the Civic Center

ADAM GERIK/JOURNAL STAR
.In this Journal Star file photo from 2009, performers with Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey's "Over the Top" circus open their show with a variety of animals and costumes at the Peoria Civic Center.
From---pjstar.com
Oct 10, 2012
PEORIA —
Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey circus will bring performances to the Peoria Civic Center arena at 7 p.m. Friday, 11 a.m., 3 and 7 p.m. Saturday and 1 and 5 p.m. Sunday.

Highlights include Dimitri the Strong Man (who lifts performers, bends pipes and drapes himself over a bed of nails), the Urias family (whose members ride motorcycles at 60 mph inside a 16-foot steel globe), 10,000-pound elephants, camels, ponies and trained dogs, acrobats, Anton the comedian and party clown DJ Dean.
read more---
http://www.pjstar.com/entertainment/x1787480148/Three-days-of-Ringling-Bros-circus-at-the-Civic-Center

Smoke and Mirror and a dynamic circus performance
Jugglers, trapeze artists, poi twirlers, belly dancers, hoopers, mimes and a live band will fill the stage.

Mime Bettina Black plays the lead role in the current Smoke and Mirror show.
Diana Duane photo
from--- pressherald.com
By Avery Yale Kamila akamila
Oct 11, 2012
Portland, Maine---The world-famous acrobatic circus Cirque du Soleil is in town this weekend, but if the $35 to $100 ticket price is too much of a stretch, head over to Geno's on Sunday and check out the homegrown human talents of the Smoke and Mirror Circus.
The scale, cast and set are smaller, but so is the ticket price: It will only set you back $6.

Like Cirque du Soleil, the Smoke and Mirror Circus performs without animals, instead relying solely on the talents of the human body. This means jugglers, trapeze artists, poi twirlers, belly dancers, hoopers, mimes and a live band will fill the stage.
The show, which lasts two hours including an intermission, features a dreamy, narrative tale set to music but without any dialogue.

Ringmaster Diana Duane.
Dana Erickson photo
"We've got this mime falling asleep and then her shadow steps out of her body behind a silhouette screen," said director and ringmaster Diana Duane. "It's a lot artsier this year. It's really colorful and dark at the same time. The story comes across as really dreamy and magical."

As the mime, played by Bettina Black, travels through this dreamy jungle world, she encounters numerous animal spirits that guide her on her way.

The circus made its debut last summer with a show that told the tale of a man finding his place in the world. This Sunday marks the final performance of the current show.
read more---
http://www.pressherald.com/life/go/smoke-and-mirror-and-a-dynamic-circus-performance_2012-10-11.html

Circus comes calling to Delhi

from---deccanherald.com
Kusum Kanojia
Oct 11, 2012
In this age of shrinking ground space in cities, restrictions on use of animals and children below 14 and numerous computer and mobile applications which ensure entertainment at the tips of your fingers, entertaining people through traditional circus is a very tough task!
The Great Bombay Circus, which boasts one of the oldest circus troups in India, has been enthralling audiences across the country since 1920. It is back in the city after a gap of five years, with its spectacular and daring acrobatic acts, sizzling performance by glamorous artistes and ear-splitting laughter by talented clowns. Besides Indians, the troupe has expanded to include artistes from Nepal, Manipur, Chennai, China, Mongolia and Africa.

Even with foreign artistes and breathtaking acts, it is not easy to draw people towards a circus show which has lost its sheen over decades courtesy advancement in technology. The troupe travels from one city to another depending up the season, just as this time is perfect to draw Delhiites.

Dilip Nath Nair, co-owner of Great Bombay Circus, says, “The cost of running a circus is getting higher. We don’t get ground easily, not just here but in many places of the country. People don’t have much time these days. It is a holiday driven business.”

This troupe was started by his grandfather and inspite of a degree in law, he chose to take forward his legacy. According to Dilip, it is tough to draw the audiences but calculated planning and adopting new ways works in this business.

“This time is perfect for Delhi. There are no exams, it is not the wedding season and weather is also moderate. But If I pitch a tent in this season in Kolkata, nobody will come. The season for Kolkata is December. So, all these things have to be kept in mind,” Dilip shares with Metrolife.
read more---
http://www.deccanherald.com/content/284435/circus-comes-calling-delhi.html