Steel Pier, Diving Horses, and Me!

Being the roving gypsy that I am, I tend to take a few odd jobs here and there for the new experience and the opportunity to travel.

I found some old footage of a show I did a few years back in between circuses.

One day I received this email from a colleague of mine in the circus community:

HELP WANTED: MAN TO RIDE MOTORCYCLE ON A HIGH WIRE. NO EXPERIENCE NECESSARY. WILL TRAIN.

Okay...

Who in their right mind would turn this down??!?!?

A little back ground on all of this.

In the early part of my career, I've been a circus clown.

And being a clown in the circus, you are ranked somewhere in between a dancer and a elephant fluffer.

Here I am backstage at Slava's Snowshow in NYC.

Sure, we have our groupies and Sure, we have our fun...

But man, oh man, to get into the Daredevil Club... (Human Cannonball, Trapeze, High Wire...)

woowee...That's where the good times roll!

I'm talking about the best dressing rooms, first in line for laundry service, better wardrobe people and no early morning PRs...

Making people laugh is hard work. I worked my ass off, bruised my tailbone, broke a wrist just to wring a few guffaws and titters from the crowd.

To be a daredevil? All you have to do is jump up once on your apparatus and stick your hand out to style and the crowd goes nuts for you!

Now THAT I can take!

So back to the email.

I get this email and I said to myself:

"Myself, A. Reply YES to this email and B. Learn how to ride a motorcycle."

Two weeks later, I found myself at the infamous Steel Pier where I'm performing on the same venue with past legends like Frank Sinatra, Al Jolson and the Amazing Diving Horse!

And Yes, I get to stick my hand out to the loving adoration of the crowd below.

The gig was only for three months but after being part of the Daredevil Club for this short period of time, I realized that I rather make people laugh. Much more challenging..

Oh, and less gasoline on the face after the big finale... See the video below (around 1:30):

Video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=51s_4GlbYsw