Midweek Mixorama: Rings of Promise Come My Way ...

At the edge of every vacant ring, I wax hopeful. This may be the One. This may be a tentbuster. Indeed, in my program, the most intriguing thing about the American circus is how unpredictable it can be — and I am talking ALL shows — from the tinniest to the tallest. In any, a star may appear ... If chasing the red wagons has taught me anything I can count on, it is that any show can drastically change from one season to the next, for a changing lineup of acts and other variables (direction or lack of) spell the dramatic differences that can leave you bored or thrilled ...

Which is why the search for this nation’s or the world’s “best circus” eludes me, and makes no sense. (Yes, I'm waiting to hear from you, Wade.) Any circus company, no matter how established, will NOT deliver the same quality year after year ... That elusive quest to sanctify "best circus” misses the mark, overlooks the younger upstarts who can ring magic, too, and risks awarding sacred cow adulation to sacred cow duds. I refuse to kowtow to any name. They all must renew their credibility each new season ...

And here come three more, right in my own backyards:, all reachable on foot and bus without hassles. Ringling=Barnum rolls into the Oakland Arena tomorrow, Circus Vargas tenting up over in SF this very moment. Not to mention the invasion next month of Carson & Barnes, throwing forth banners and canvas, elephants and acrobats over the Cow Palace parking lot, which may mark a daring first ... How lucky I am for a change; In years past, I have walked many dedicated miles to take in a number of Carson & Barnes dates. Sometimes well worth it, for the intriguingly unpredictable C&B will now and then, by direction or wonderful accident, snap crackle and rock in the older bolder vein ...

Around the lots: E-mailing with a chirp, Kelly-Miller’s Jim Royal exudes implicit relief in the wake of weeks of rain rain and mud mud mud. “We are in Flushing, MI today. Beautiful small town, nice lot (a park downtown), fine weather and good business. Shouldn't it always be this way?" -- confirmed by the Ben Trumble rumble on his mud show blog, conceding how "delighted" he feels to have been "wrong” in his forecasting (or fearing) weak turnouts at the Michigan dates ... Nicole Feld, who before the big top seduced her wanted to be a photographer, nicely & politely profiled in a New York Times piece.. “I knew it was an irreversible decision. It was nothing my parents ever said. It was pressure I put on myself. There was an expectation I had to succeed and be brilliant to carry on the legacy of my father and grandfather.” ... So, let’s see what this 30-year-old can do — most critically, what sort of an influence she might wield over her control-freak dad. Perhaps traces of it will leak through at the Oakland Arena...

Come August 20 in select movie houses for a limited time, Cirque du Soleil offers yet another variation on its uniqueness titled DELIRIUM (the caps, theirs), touted by CDS to be a “ground breaking living dance and musical extravaganza.” which tells me they continue to move closer closer towards circus ballet ... I'm sticking to sawdust this weekened --I assume.

Best in the world? Best in the US, that year, that lot, that performance ... That mood.