Showbiz David in Global Flight. Destination: China

Two friends, planning Chinese journey,Share dreams of New Year's DayFor one, first visit home ...For other, new adventure far awayI'm now in the air, en route with my friend Boyi for Hong Kong. From there, Shanghai, Beijing, then down to the farming village where Boyi was raised near the city of Taishan in the southern Guangdong province. To visit his still-standing house, to walk through bamboo trees and maybe bake a sweet potato in a dirt oven. And maybe watch Boyi ride a cow, if he can muster up his boyhood know how.Circuses, we will see several. And thanks to the generous courtesy of Chinese State Circus artistic advisor Tian Run Min, I may be talking to some directors of the famed acrobatic troupes.Forbidden City. The Great Wall. Boyi's...

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Today: World Circus Day!

On this day, the first World Circus Day, launched under the patronage of the Federation Mondiale du Cirque’s Honorary President, H.S.H. Princess Stephanie of Monaco, "circuses, festivals, circus professionals, circus schools and circus friends around the world will carry out celebrations of their choice to mark this day and to publicise the role of circus as part of our shared cultural heritage.' May I offer my profound gratitude to those wondrously gifted mortals the world over, for all the pleasure they have given me. What, oh what, would life be without Circus? On with your shows! You are the stars of my universe ...

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Jilted by Big Apple Circus, Charlestown RI Courts Kelly-Miller ... Flyer Lands in Kids' Laps ... Granny, 103, Rides Elephant ... and More!

Big Image Boost for John Ringling North II. You may recall, the Big Apple Circus, citing economic reasons, nixing its long-held date in Charlestown, Rhode Island after 25 years. Jilted, spurned, lonely and deprived, the town sponsor, Chamber of Commerce, reached out with a rosy, please-love-us invitation to Kelly-Miller Circus. Well, maybe not exactly like that, but according to K-M manager James Royal, his is the show they want. And his is the show they are going to get, come July 19 for three days. Ending an e-mail to Showbiz David, Royal quipped, "I am sorry to report....no rain or mud this week." Okay, and I should cry! Advice to Kelly Miler mud mavens: keep the stuff to yourself when you go out on your first date with the Charlestown Chamber of Commerce. I suggest pink sawdust.Granny,...

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Late Night Boob Tube Abyss ... I just can't get hooked on anybody ...

I tried Jimmy Kimmel. Rather interestingly, pleasantly low key character, with a little humor, but to my jaded funny bone, not much. Last night he had an ordinary repair man go out and do some work for a so-called celebrity. Very long bit, not very amusing. I blew the bit and the show.Jay and David: Both shows have things that irritate me. I go back and forth, and have nearly given up. I am about again to default to Jay, though his Jay Walking, among other specials, is such a bore. I can't believe, I actually am missing his 10 p.m. show; he had some hot opening monologues. I watched Johnny Carson's 20th anniversary show, having recently acquired a new "reconditioned" Phillips VCR-DVD player to watch my old VHS tapes on, which my friend...

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The Morning Midway: These Guys Were Impressed ...

Quite satisfied, thank you, at Ringling's new Funundrum, was klsdad, New Yorker on the town and on the lots, who e-mails a solid yes to the show, "particularly impressed with the use of the LED screens which they used to quite dramatic effect, along with the excellent performances." What left kls wanting was a lackluster menagerie parade into the garden. "Quite disappointing ... 6 elephants and a few horses." Does sound rather like a puppet show compared to long ago, doesn't it ... kls considered OVO, making me laugh describing the charges he faced: "senior mid week ticket prices at $99.50, plus $15 (processing charge, albeit it including the $5 computer generated ticket admission form, AND the $20 round-trip NY Waterways Taxi fee." ... That made it easy for him to default instead to a...

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Sunday Morning with James Michener: Courage At the Front of the Line ...

In civilian life I was ashamed until I went into uniform. In the States I was uncomfortable while others were overseas. At Noumea I thought, "The guys on Guadal! They're the heroes!" But when I reached Guadal I found that all the heroes were somewhere farther up the line. And while I sat in safety aboard the LCS-108 I knew where the heroes were. They were on Kuralei. Yet, on the beach itself only a few men ever really fought the Japs. I suddenly realized that from the farms, and towns, and cities all over America an unbroken line ran straight to the few who storm the blockhouses. No matter where along that line you stood, if you were not the man at the end of it, the ultimate man with his seating hands upon the blockhouse, you didn't...

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Friday Flashes: John Ringling North II High on Season; Logan Jacot Frames Sideshow; Tim Tegge Offers Affordable DVDs; All on the Inside, Folks!

A bundle of good news for fans of good news. Happy producers to retro sideshows, to DVD offers that are down-to-earth affordable! ... What a grand night for singing ... Tune up your expectations and get out your cash or plastic. Something to tickle everyone this way comes ...To Showbiz David from John Ringling North II, concerning my recent blogging about bloggers and weak Kelly-Miler Circus Texas biz, says the House of Ringling, yes, Jim Judkins did promote the dates, and, yes, fewer bodies showed up in the seats, and, also worth noting, "Even Jim Judkins couldn't control the unbelievable wet and cold weather," reports North II. However, playing away from storms in Mc Allen, "business was considerably up from last year." ... Most of all, JRN II is high on his 2010 opus: "Audience reaction...

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Cirque Sightings: New Show "Totem" Takes on Evolution ... "Banana," Still Evolving "Under New Management," Follows OVO into New York ...

Charles Darwin, here's your ticket! They're pre-billing it "A fascinating journey into the evolution of mankind." Now evolving out of Montreal mud (and are you envious, Kelly-Miller troupers?), this latest to open up there in Cirque du Soleil land will then leap -- drats, not down here to my neighborhood, but by ions of time over to Amsterdam. Wonder if they'll offer live promo teasers in those famous & racy Amsterdam windows?Written and directed by evolutionary guide Robert Lepage, with Pedro Pires serving as "Image Content Designer," here are some intriguing early images of acts in progress. And, yes, how shamefully hypocritical of me to actually feature a photo of a variation on the hula hoop. But, hey! These are not your garden variety...

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Morning Midway: The Strange Case of Alfredo Codona's Afterlife on the Big Apple Circus

Through the roaring twenties he flew, circus star of the universe. Then, the triple somersault on the return trapeze was a phenomenal rarity. Then, a rarity that he alone ruled. Then, his bird-like flights under waving canvas peaks thrilled the thousands lured to three-ring spectacles.Grounded by an injury during the Great Depression, he retired to the sidelines, a Great Sebastian in his own day accepting less spectacular jobs -- to blow a whistle or crack a whip or count ticket stubs. Now, he was merely a mortal. Grief stricken on earth, he opted for an early exit to the big lot above.But this transcendent angel of the air was destined to soar again. Yes, again! It's a story you may have never heard. Only a precious few attended the epochal...

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Big Top Blogging: Kelly-Miller Conundrum, Continued

This feels very personal, because it strikes me as unfortunate that the Kelly-Miller Circus goings-on, critically including day-to-day business, are covered by its blogging employees while virtually no other shows out there face the same sort of scrutiny. Once again, I raise the issue. But before any of you fly off, be assured this is not a criticism of you so much as an exploration of a situation unique to internet culture.Bloggers, of course, have every right (constitutionally, that is) to blog; they have their fans, in fact many many more "followers" than I could ever dream of having. Somewhere on my blog, I see I have a total of 3, and I don't know who they are (Yeah, go ahead, the HaHaHa is on me). I've looked at three K-M blogs, of...

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Morning Midway: Ringling 's at the Garden; David Letterman's Son is Not

David Letterman, at a desk bit last night, raised the subject of Ringling Bros. being at Madison Square Garden. A friend had talked up the circus and encouraged Letterman to take his son, Harry. So Dave approached little Harry, telling him he could get two tickets and the two could go. So, how about it, Harry?"Absolutely not," replied the talk show's son.Ouch!Don't know what that was all about. End of bit with Harry's retort. Maybe it's just a David Letterman thing. From the reliably circus-affirmative New York Times, comes another boffo review, this one from the sharper pen of Ken Jaworowski, calling the show "the best the troupe has turned out in years." but issuing extreme dissatisfaction with the excessive merchandising and ridiculously...

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