In the last post, we heard about Tim Marston’s guide to marketing for freelance performers, How To Sell Your Act. Today, the fire eating, fire breathing, staff spinning and staff juggling performer takes a moment to share his background and inform HeyRube readers about his path to becoming a marketing guru: First off, how did you [...]
As sideshow and circus performers, we are in the business known as show business and recently, Bello Nock reminded me that the business part makes up 2/3 of that title. This is a crucial lesson and one that is easy to overlook while spending countless hours honing new routines, crafting new props and building new [...]
Karrie Waarala earned her MFA in Creative Writing from the Stonecoast program at the University of Southern Maine. Currently, she teaches writing in her home state of Michigan, where she lives with and is vastly outnumbered by her books, pets, and circus memorabilia. Recently, Waarala has allowed her love of writing and circus/sideshow to merge into [...]
For lovers of the bygone area of vintage, traveling carnivals, the pop music and gaudy facades of most modern midways and county fairs just don’t cut it. Lucky for us, Buffalo Brothers Amusements are here to fill that void in the contemporary carnival scene. According to their site, Buffalo Brothers Amusements was formed in 2007 with [...]
There’s nothing like the shared love of fire manipulation and sideshow arts to break down international borders and remind us that our community exists in all corners of the globe. The street performance tribe is alive and well around the world, and with the help of the internet and social media platforms, we’re able to connect [...]
Yesterday, HeyRube readers were taken into a dark world, one that involved a tortured monkey, a crazed ringmaster and impending horror. Sound like a good time to you? I concur. This creepy carnival narrative is the backdrop for Circus of Fear, a 3D haunted house based out of Colorado. Here’s what you need to know [...]
On a moonless autumn night, in a small hamlet in Northern Colorado, the wagon train of a small traveling circus has rolled into town and set up its tents in a mostly vacant field on the outskirts of town. In their rush to unload the wagons, feed the animals and set up the circus before [...]
A funny tale from Wendy Whiplash: Picture this: It’s a lovely early fall evening, cool and crisp. I’m hanging out in my driveway, the dog is playing in the yard, and I have my lassos, fire torches and a can of Hamm’s next to me. I’m alternating between toys, throwing ropes for a little while, [...]
Sad but true; this is your third and final installment of the Doctor Sick’s burlesque series: What does it take to do a good job talking a Burlesque show? Well, it helps to have a quality show, with performers who are prepared and professional, with their music already set, the routines fully costumed and rehearsed, [...]
Get ready for your second dose of Doctor Sick’s burlesque series: There’s two types of gigs for announcers. He or she (or they) is either a member of the troupe or a hired gun. Being a member of the troupe generally leads to taking on multiple production roles (see Part 1), moreso than an outsider [...]