Someone recently mentioned that they enjoyed reading my circus blog back when I posted it here. So I decided to repost it for those who missed out the first time. I intend to update this thread once per week, assuming that's allowed.
Here is the very first post: http://taz-39.livejournal.com/749.html
...and here is the most recent, in which we play the Giant Center in Hershey, PA: http://taz-39.livejournal.com/57663.html
I'm a trombonist with Feld Entertainment on the Ringling Bros. Red Unit currently performing the 145th edition of the circus, called "Circus Xtreme". During the course of the tour we visit something like 40 cities and perform around 800 shows. Each show is about 2 hours long, and there are as many as 3 shows per day (that's 6 hours of playing time) and up to thirteen shows per week. Windjammers, indeed!
We live on a 1950s passenger train owned by the circus but pulled across the US on rented freight engines operated by Norfolk Southern, CSX, Union Pacific, etc. This means we get to see the many faces of America...the farmland, the industrial railyards, the pristine wilderness, the small town backyards, the sketchy urban underpasses.
It's an interesting lifestyle. I hope you'll enjoy my little backstage peek