Sorry if this interrupts the flow of things, but I am very very excited.
For the last two years, I have been doing sideshow bits with the Devil Dolls. I say bits because we never did a full set of just sideshow. We would do a piece here and there intermixed with our signiture skits (AKA evil goth mime acts), and the sideshow stuff was just a segway between sets or as an opener for a band.
This last weekend, my partner Sylver and I started doing a completely seperate comedy sideshow act for Ren Faires called Knotty Bits (Tag Line-It's called Knotty because we do all the things that YOU are not supposed to). We took all of the basic acts we could do and threw them into a half hour show. Bed of Nails, Glass Walking, Fire Eating, Voodoo Box, Fire Dancing, piercing...
I am used to performing these acts for Goth and Fetish audiences, where the crowds make an effort at being unimpressed. We would still wow them, but nothing like what we did to people who had never experienced this sort of thing before(Or expected to EVER see).
They were freaking out from the moment I lay down on the nail bed on my stomach, let alone when my assistant stood on me. When I jumped up and down angrily in the bed of glass (Which I had never done before...I had been taught how, but had never had the nerve to actually do it myself) they screamed! And throughout it all, they laughed.
I forgot what it was like to perform for normal people that didn't see people hung from hooks on a regular basis.
Six shows this last weekend, nine next...And from this first weekend I am now completely booked through August.
I know there are a lot of people on this part of the Café that have Mountains more experience than I, that my stunts were relatively simple and I have a long ways to go. To them I bow in respect and thank them for serving as an example to follow.
Currently I am putting as much $ into my account as I can save so I can take a trip south and learn those skills I do not yet have from one of the best.
I just want to keep this art alive...the world needs it.
Thanks for listening to my overexcited ramble.
Gwyd the Exhausted

RIGHT ON!!!!

Thank you for sharing! It gets me so excited when I hear about my fellow performers working and getting good crowds. Awsome!!!

Nice!

Keep up the great work!

That's what its all about.

Only one way to go,,,,upwards,,,try to never loose the buzzzzzzz

Ken

Congrats!!! If you really like responsive crowds try what I did. When I work clubs in different cities I always like to play to hip hop audiences, they are the most responsive, and very interactive. Goth and fetish people I have found that a lot of them not all of them, kind of have the attitude of you better impress me or else. It is unfortunate that they just don't let go and have fun and laugh every once in a while.

Yes, the word "jaded" comes to mind. I've found the same thing with tatt conventions, at least in this country. It's as if there's an attitude of "if you don['t spatter me with blood, I won't be impressed". In this day and age, that variety of sharing of bodily fluids, would be frowned on by Emily Post.

FANTASTIC gsidhe!!

Good for you pal!!

Like others have said, keep your good vibes going so the audiences that you've booked in the future will get an even BETTER performance!

Ride the wave and enjoy the view from the top!

Prof. Piper
(Terry)

You have tasted the very thing that is so appealing about this area of performance. Sideshow skill hit an audience on a very different level. The frustration is that not everyone likes this material and the venues appropriate in which to perform it are limited. Still, it's great stuff and performing it will add a richness to your life experience.