Third year in a row for us to go to Ringling Bros. Might do Cirque du Soleil instead next year (never been to it, always wanted to, even if they are a Metric System operation).
This after a long, long drought. Right before the divorce the artist formerly known came up with some Shrine circus tickets. I hadn't been to one since I was a little honyock, and I really enjoyed it.
When I took the girls to the Greatest Show On Earth a few months later, I was instantly won over. Bello came right up by us on the meet-and-greet part of the pre-show, but I didn't realize he was the star of the show. I just took his picture because of the freakish hair.
Last year was one of the other show's Ringling Bros runs. They have three, and the one last year seemed like a let-down on some levels because I was anticipating seeing Bello. Yes, he's that good. Most times, clowns are clowns and acrobats are acrobats. And mimes are mimes. He does all of it better than I do anything.
It took us a lot longer to get in than I expected. The Power & Light District, a heavily subsidized urban renewal project (though the term is as out of fashion as 'boondoggle,' so we now say 'underperforming TIF'), is nice. It's bright and shiny and new. And there's no Sinclair station selling parking spots for half what the arena charges (like there was across from Kemper). In a case of obvious collusion, everyone charges $10 for parking in lots that would be empty on the weekend under any other circumstance. As far as I can tell, the Sprint Center has no parking of its own.
Plus, there was a security checkpoint like a courthouse. Metal detectors and all that. So by the time we got down to the floor for the preshow we were rushed and harried and it was impossible to see over the Dads with kids on their shoulders. Mo didn't want to try on a clown jacket or anything.
After the show she started asking for a clown nose, but they weren't selling them except for a light-up version that comes with an $18 program. Which wasn't going to happen. I think they might have been giving them away down on the floor during preshow again, but we'd missed it.
It was a slightly different show than two years ago, but Bello was still what it was all about. I wonder what they insure him for. He's very good, and I can tell they're careful, but he has a dangerous job. Working without a net fifty to seventy feet up, he could very realistically have a fatal accident on the job and the show is literally built around him.
For that matter, working with a net is dangerous. When I was a kid, I saw an aerialist fall from a trapeze to a net only to have the net give way and send him all the way to the arena floor. He was rushed to the hospital. I was such a cynical child, I was sure it was all an act, but I later learned that no, he was in serious condition and being treated for broken bones and a concussion. True story.
Financially, I came prepared. I love the circus, but don't plan on getting anything cheap. Fifty bucks is traveling light: for real, I left with eight bucks left, and that was parking, one cotton candy, one soda, and one snow cone. The cotton candy came with a souvenir top hat, and the snow cone came in a cup that lights up, but it's not as if you can forego the souvenirs and get the concessions for less. If you don't want to share a soda and do want to give each of your two daughters one other treat/souvenir, you better hit the ATM if you're down to $50 in your wallet.
The circus is one of those things that's expensive but worth it. Not if you can't find the funds, of course. I wouldn't suggest you go to the circus while your lights are being shut off for non-payment. But if any afternoon of entertainment can be said to be 'worth' $100+, this makes the list.
For that matter, how much does it cost to maintain ten elephants on the road? And ten tigers? And five Zebras, over a dozen horses, etc. Plus the acrobats, clowns, a live band, Bello and his freakish hair, and all the support staff. For that matter, how do you get that show moved, housed, fed, and displayed with the blessings of fire marshals and insurance underwriters and so on? Yes a $15 snow cone is an obscenity in a world where there are people who earn less than that in a day, but I'll bet you that operation has as many full time veterinarians as it does aerialists.
I know people write letters to the editor every year trying to shame me out of going to a circus that abuses animals so badly, but I don't see it. They are animals in captivity, true enough. If you have a problem with that, there's no way they can do it right enough for you. Enjoy you metric Canadian circus and go in peace. But what does the circus gain from mistreating the animals? You got ten elephants you need to do head-stands on cue, you take care of them. You got a guy getting in a cage with ten tigers, you don't want them desperate to strike back at their human captors. I'm sure there was a time when all this was done badly, when animals too old to perform where euthanized or sold to any crackpot who'd take them, but from what I can tell that's gone the way of child labor and the company store.
I remember reading a book on writing by a book editor, and he was lecturing on the mistake some writers make of over-detailing their protagonist's job. Because most jobs are mainly drudgery or nobody would pay to have them done. This editor had once met a woman who worked for a circus and asked her what it was like. 'A lot of paperwork.'
I'll bet.
Anyway, the camera policy was 'still' cameras only. And no removable lenses. But if you want still cameras only, dSLR's area the only thing to let in. The Nikon D90 coming out is the first one of its kind with any video capabilities, but all pocket cameras as far as I know shoot video now.
Anyway, they didn't keep me from taking my little PowerShot in. Obviously. I took almost 500 pictures, no kidding. 485 including three shots at my Dad's house later and a few outside shots of the P&L District.
My camera is truly not the man for the job. Distance, fast action, low light, I'd need some fast glass, a monopod and a top of the line SLR to do this right. But I played with high ISO and shutter speeds to make an attempt and got some stuff.
The 'Bellobration' number before intermission had everyone in Bello hairpieces. Well, rubber things that make them look more Eraserhead than Eraserhead. Including the elephants, which I think have to be Bellophants with that thing on their melons.
One bummer was I had to stand up and sit down a lot this year. me and the girls were on the end of a row that contained some younger families. I think a couple of kids still in diapers, others too young to remember to use the bathroom when they were taken to the bathroom two minutes ago.
And I'd felt guilty for not taking my kids to the circus until a couple years ago, but I think maybe there is a minimum age to the 'children of all ages' thing. Old enough to sit through a show that goes two and a half hours with one intermission for a start.
Though maybe the parents, like me, are just glad they can use their kids as an excuse to go to the circus. If you pretend you're doing it for your honyocks, you don't have to admit you enjoy it as much as or more than they do.
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