Archive for freakshow

Advice to Young Performers

Posted in Behind the Scenes at FSD with tags , , , , , , , , , , , on October 11, 2016 by freakshowdeluxe
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Merchandise for sale after the show! Check out the new Glow-In-the-Dark shirts!!! This is a photo from FrightFest 2016 at Frontier City Amusement Park in Oklahoma City, OK.

FIRST: FreakShow Deluxe has finally opened an online store! Yay!You can purchase FSD-branded merchandise online and get it delivered wherever you want. Send it as a gift, or get a little something for yourself.

Get several somethings… they’re small.
We are offering over 20 items, including: our exclusive line of coffee (it is so good!), shirts, hats, buttons, stickers, shrunken heads, cigars, and so much more!
Go visit our store right now here: https://freakshowdeluxe.bigcartel.com
SECOND: There is a horrible public group on Facebook called the Sideshow Spectrum. It was put together by the amazing Todd Robbins, who is a great guy – but the group is a heckuva time waster when Reverend Tommy Gunn should be doing other things.
So it is a public group. You can go check it out yourself. Recently, a young performer posted, asking:

I am a very new performer (less than a year), but I feel I have a good act that I am still polishing. The trouble I am having is that it is only ~20 minutes and that feels short.
So far I have only been able to perform open mics, a local performing arts festival and as entertainment at a local outdoor event.

There was more – you can read the whole thing here.
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FIRST: Get a nifty banner and some cool costumes! (photo of Grennan the Green Monster and La Pequeña Arañita at George Washington’s Mount Vernon for the 2016 Colonial Marketplace)

After thinking about it, your Reverend decided to give his advice – in kind of a way like this:
You didn’t mention any of your other background, so you may not need this, but let me offer you the following advice that I have given to young actors — So you’re feeling pretty good about your sideshow show?
Good!
NOW: STOP DOING SIDESHOW. Walk away. Go take some acting classes, elocution lessons, speech classes, dance class, singing lessons, and movement work (maybe some martial arts training, too). Learn how to read music and maybe play an instrument. At the same time, study stage lighting, sound design, set design, and properties. In your free time, research performance history (not just circus and sideshow history – and not just new stuff, either – really get into the meat of it), mythology, story structure, philosophy, and psychology.
Once you’re done with those – COME BACK to your sideshow work, and rebuild it all from the ground up (because now you’re going to realize it wasn’t as good as you thought it was).
While you’re rebuilding it, take some time to do some formal study of business, accounting, insurance, contract law, and other money-related matters. Study some investing. Take some sales courses so you learn how to sell. Study, then apprentice, in tour management, booking, working with agents…
NOW you’re closer to really being ready to move forward!!
If you’re not going to do all those things, then HIRE people you trust who KNOW how to do those things for you that you’re not clear on – listen to those people when they tell you what you should do.
All of this will help you to see how all of these things are interrelated – and that nothing and no one operates in a vacuum.
By doing this you will hopefully avoid most of the pitfalls, and keep from adopting many of the bad habits that end up ruining performer’s enjoyment of what, ruining them financially, and making their life a lot harder than it needs to be.
I do not doubt that some folks are going to say/feel that I’m an a**hole for pointing all this out. I am. Some other folks are going to worry I’m giving away the secrets of success. I’m doing that, too.
But it’s not free advice. You’ll pay… oh, yes… you’ll pay.
OH! And don’t forget to attend the annual The Southern Sideshow Hootenanny in New Orleans, LA!! It is THE place to be for the modern sideshow industry. We look forward to seeing you there!
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The last thing you need to know is GTFM!

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Discount tickets offered for Hollywood Fringe Festival

Posted in Uncategorized with tags , , , , , , , , , , on June 19, 2011 by freakshowdeluxe

Get a discounted ticket to your FreakShow Deluxe’s shows at the HOLLYWOOD FRINGE FESTIVAL!

Tickets, normally $12 – can be yours for ONLY $8!!

Just use the codeword: freaks
when you pre-purchase your tickets at: http://www.hollywoodfringe.org/projects/384

Donate to the FreakShow Deluxe at the Hollywood Fringe Festival!

Posted in Uncategorized with tags , , , on May 10, 2011 by freakshowdeluxe

http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/freakshowdeluxe/freakshow-deluxe-will-rule-the-hollywood-fringe-fe

Folks – there are only 18 days to go to raise the $1,200 we need to fund FSD‘s production at the Hollywood Fringe Festival. Please visit the link above and donate!

An update about the FSD Facebook Page(s)

Posted in Behind the Scenes at FSD with tags , , , , , , , , , , , on April 19, 2011 by freakshowdeluxe

So here’s the thing —

In an attempt to keep up with the 21st century technology – we have done a bit of updating to Facebook. So NOW there is a new Facebook page for FreakShow Deluxe (as a ‘company’) here:

http://www.facebook.com/freakshowdeluxe

Please go to it. “Like” it and all that kind of stuff. Post pictures and video of FSD to there, if you have them.

If you are still interested in the “old” Facebook profile (with FSD as a ‘public figure,’ it can still be found here: http://www.facebook.com/pages/The-FreakShow-Deluxe/5940383978

Now, if we could only catch up on everything else!!

the big banner from FreakShow Deluxes show in Lakewood, TX

World’s Youngest Sideshow Performer to Appear at Cincinnati, OH Show

Posted in Uncategorized with tags , , , , , , , , , , , , , on March 30, 2011 by freakshowdeluxe

(bottom to top) FreakShow Deluxe's Rev. Tommy Gunn and the Green Monster perform the Bed of Nails (photo: Harold Jenkins)

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

World’s Youngest Sideshow Performer to Appear at Cincinnati Show

CINCINNATI, Ohio, April 8, 2011 – The world’s youngest professional sideshow performer will appear for 2 shows with FreakShow Deluxe at the Tattooed Life Tour tattoo convention at Paul Brown Stadium in Cincinnati, OH.
The 5-year-old performer, billed as “The Green Monster,” will perform during 2 daytime shows during the 3-day convention, which features well-known and up-and-coming tattoo artists from around the country, tattoo contests, vendors and “cutting edge” entertainment by the FreakShow Deluxe.
FreakShow Deluxe, billed as Hollywood’s own & only carnival-style sideshow, was originally founded in Xenia, OH in 2001 before moving to Hollywood, CA in 2004. Since the move, the show has toured the U.S. multiple times and been featured on such television networks as MTV and the Discovery Channel. The company was awarded Best Circus/Cabaret at the 2010 Hollywood Fringe Festival.
The Tattooed Life Tour tattoo convention is Friday, April 8 from 4:00 – 11:00 pm, Saturday, April 9 from 11:00 am – 11:00 pm, and Sunday, April 10 from Noon to 7:00pm. Tickets are $10 a day, or $25 for the weekend. FreakShow Deluxe’s shows (included with admission) are Friday at 9:00 pm, Saturday at 3:30 and 8:00 pm, and Sunday at 3:30 pm.

Additional details at http://www.tattooedlifetour.com/Cincinnati-.html and http://www.freakshowdeluxe.com

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March 29, 2011