Playing Ketchup (Catsup?)

I've been very remiss despite having internet in my apartment.

After thinking about this and myself a lot, I realize that I tend to think that if I'm not off touring somewhere, I have very little to blog about. I've also realized that this is not true. I've had quite a few small adventures and slightly larger ones, all of which have happened in the seven months I've been back in the states, none of which - save the new car - have made it here on these pages.

That said, I have some catch up to do and tales to tell.

Let's start with right now: I'm in Baraboo, WI for the summer. "Why," you may ask, "are you in the middle of Wisconsin for the summer?" It's easy: my friends Neal and Jessi suggested me for a job that I accepted. I'm working with Neal as a clown at Circus World Museum through September. That means three-and-a-half months of daily shows working on stuff and hopefully developing and becoming a better clown and performer in general. I hope to achieve what I haven't yet done in the last six months, which is develop more material and get some of it on its feet so I can have something videotaped to send out and secure more work in the future.

I arrived here Sunday evening and started moving in and cleaning up. Fortunately the house is in somewhat better internal shape than it was most of the last few times I saw it. Monday featured more cleanup, setting up of clown alley and buying vacuum bags; making peace with spiders, spiderwebs, and Neal and my separation from our girlfriends, waging war on accumulated grime, spiders, and spiderwebs. We have a trailer just out in back of the hippodrome with a working record player and an air conditioner that will come in handy as the weather starts acting like summer.

I have yet to tweak some props, finish some sewing, and figure out a one-man-band build. Making props to this degree is a new experience for me and it's taking some innovation. The up side is that I have resources at my disposal and I should have a more extensive rig by the end of the summer. The plan is to put it to use well after this gig, hopefully to the additional promotional benefit of a couple of local organizations that I'm involved with in the Twin Cities. I have even more plans to learn to play ukulele and clarinet. I had held off on the uke for a while because it seems like everyone and their grandmother is learning uke, and not just in the clowning world. I have found my own spin and angle on it and I'm going to pursue that and have less fear than I did of being another person standing still with a uke and playing songs with an "aren't I quaint?" air about them. I openly admit to liking The Gooch on "Scrubs". Uke can be as entertaining as it is ubiquitous.

Ambition, time, and a bit of prejudice seem to be my fuels.