New Knitting Group

Knitting has returned to the Clown Brigade and I could not be happier. I have always loved the knitting groups that clowns have. There is no one slamming Red Heart you do not have to explain why your scarf is thirty feet long. Everything is cool just as it is.

By the way there are a couple of the projects that we were working on pictures to the right. The two top projects are long scarves that have just been started. The purple thing bellow is a baby blanket that is half way done.

These pictures were taken from our second meeting. Thus far we have Sergeants Kisielnicki, Thurman and Wilson Attending. there is myself and our newest member Mr. Jefferson {currently Junior Clown}.

We are meeting at the Chic Fil A in the Waterfront. Our group appear to need to have food at our meeting or shortly there after. This group was meeting at a book store. The food in the cafe was over priced and the staff that was once welcoming is not so much anymore.

The Chic Fil A appears to be one of the Favorite Restaurants of the Brigade. Of course they are the top of my list for fast food. So it all works out nicely. Frankly I was surprised that they are letting us meet there. When Kisielnicki suggested meeting there I thought there was no way. As it turned out it has been the friendliest place that we have had Clown knitting at since we started having a group.

Well just checking. Be safe out there and keep your stick on the ice.

The Golden Rule Show

I am realy starting to like the interplay between the younger memebers of the Brigade in this new script. I especially like how Sergeatn thurman's part is shaping up. More than half of her part is the original narrator's part. Still as the Sergeant Major she is the one that must see that everything is going the way that it should. And of course in a clown church that is not the way things go. So there is an exaserbated quality to her part.

Sergeant thurman has a real talent for chaos. Some people might think that is a bad thing to say about someone. In her case she can work in this medium like and old master. It is a really interesting thing to watch. I think this is going to be a great part for her. It is just the sort of thing that a grotesque white face clown would be into.

This is going to be a great little show for us.

Be safe out there and keep your stick on the ice.

Still tinkering

I am still tinkering with the script for the Golden Rule Show.

In the original version of the show the piano player was also the annoucer. To divide up the work more fairly i am making the Sergeant Major the announcer in this show. I am thinking that Sergeatn Thurman will play the part of the Sergeant Major. He clown persona is very commanding so i think it will be a good fit for her.

Sergeant Wilson and the Brimage that is not in the puppet stage will play the parts of the clowns that are fighting with each other. We did get away with a fair amount of violence in the first go round for this show. I might throw in a couple extra things in that area. This particular group is fairly good at the physical violence. So I would like to give them something to do.

I am only going to give it anout half hour. I have to be up early for church.
Be safe out there and keep your stick on the ice.

The Golden Rule Show Revisted

It is two in the morning and i am looking over some red composition book and a four year old scrip[t for a clown show. The two have nothing to do with each other. The composition books are from a very old story that I have not touched for seven years until recently. The script is the first stage show that the Steel City Clown Brigade did. In fact it was being written before the Clown Brigade even had the name that it does now.

A couple of churches have asked if we would be willing to do a show for them in the future. For the last year we have been more involved in skills building than doing stage shows. We have been in a few variety type shows and have made a good showing for ourselves at them all. We have even done a couple revivals which was a new experience for us. All and all it has been a great crowing experience for us. Now it appear that it is time for us to get back to what we were doing when we founded the Brigade a few years ago. We need to do a stage show.

Six months ago we had a grand plan. We wanted to deep six the conservative music that we have been using and switch to Gospel Music. Since Walt and I have joined the choir at Second Baptist I do admit we have become enamored with it. Frankly i have always loved to listen to Mahalia Jackson. The bottom line is that we do not know enough yet. And it is also a small miracle that I was able to spell her name correctly. I am terrible with names.

We also wanted a show that would be a showcase for our new skills. This grand new show is something that I think we could do if we put our minds to it eventually. Sadly I think it would take us too much time to put it together. It might be another year of us messing around with it. During that time we will not be out there evangelising.

Something else that worries me is that I think the younger clowns of our group are ready to be out there performing. They loved doing the mustard seed show. Unfortunately it we very prop heavy and we did not get our props back. the Golden rule show was much simpler and had almost no props. We need to drag it out and dust it off. It never really had it's time. We only performed it three times before we moved onto a bigger and better show.

I must admit that i very conflicted about this decision. I want to make the right decisions. This show was first done with all adult with the exception of one show were JC Stewart.

Among the changes that will have to me will be the fact that there will only be two older people in the cast. The Sergeant Major part will be played by Sergeant Thurman. The physical comedy of the Corps' soldiers will be done by Sergeant Wilson and the JCs Brimage. When this show was first done they were all probably too young to get in front of group and speak. Now they are going to carry the entire show just a couple years later. It is odd but I do not have the slightest reservation about them carrying the show. In fact I don't have a single doubt that we will be able to pull this show together in short order.

It is odd how we sometimes end up just where we started with an entirely new perspective.

Be safe out there and keep your stick on the ice.

Clown Sewing Never Ends

This is a picture from the upper incline station. We were coming home from the COIA Meeting on monday. Here you can see Sergeants Thurman and Wilson with the Ap. Bags. Soon to be Junior Clown Brimage has an Apprentice Bag. It is also called an Ap Bag for short. The Appretice bag has fewer pockets. The other Brimage in a yellow shirt still has one of our first generation Aprentice Bags. Some of people found it to be to small. Still they served us for a year or so.

Someone sent me a message on one of te other posts asking me why I call the kids Aprentice and Sergeant. Those are teir clown ranks in the Brigade. Also t is a securit thing. If someone come up to them in the street and does not know their first name then they know something is wrong. Althouh i feel srry for ayone that tries to take any of these girls. Tey are alwas togather and ca proably take any adult that tried to mess with them.

Sergeant Thurman's Ap Bag

She is really happier about her new bag than she looks. My bad photography made all the pictures with her smiling blurry. This is the best one with her holding the bag.

As stated earlier this bag has a better Ledgerdmain pockets and a more tailored club pouch. The shoulder strap is also attached lower on the baton pocket so that it fits shorter people better.

The first design of this bag hung well bellow the knees of the younger members of the Brigade. This design wears a little better and people under five feet tall.

Well be safe out there and keep your stick on the ice.

More Sewing

Several Hours this evening have been dedicated to working on Ap Bags. A bag for a Senior Clown is a complicated ing. You have to have a place for everything from clubs to ball and deck of cards and scarves. This to put it mildly translates in a pain in the neck for sewing.

The current version of this overly complex thing is a actually simplified from the type that I have carried for many years. It has one single club pouch and has be streamline with more internal pockets rather than a bunch of external ones that are indivdually swen on by hand. This has ade sewing most of it a great deal simpler. The one place where the complicated still hangs on is the shoulder strap. This thing has to be padded and comfy. Tis is also the place where the juggling rings and most magical aparatus are stored. this includes on strap for the rings and two pouced that stick out like much all the pockets used to stick out in the bag. ecause the shoulder strap is so bulky there three things have to be sewn on by hand. This are also the last hing that get's sewn on the completed bag other than some insignia.

Well tis is the stage that Sergeant thurman's bag is at. So se will be al to try it out at the practice tuesday evening. Fun Fun.

Well be safe out there and keep your stick on the ice.

More Sewing and the Flu or Something

Besides the sweing there is not much going on around here. My wife and have been under the weather for the ast few days. It is very odd. She appears to get sick and then she gives me what ever she has. Se likes to share like that. Unless there is ice cream involved. There is no sharing with ice cream involved.

I am running low on number 10 snaps. If it were not for the snaps I should be able to finish two Ap Bags. So I suppose I a going to go out into the muggy weather to find some snaps.

Well on the up side I am feeling a little better from the flu like alergy what ever thing that has been dogging me for the last week.

Perhapse I will have some pictures of young people wth their new Ap Bags soon.

There is not much going on other wise. Oliver says hello. Be safe out there and keep your stick on the ice.

Some Sewing

First off is Sergeant Thurmans new Apparatus bag. As se learned new stuff to juggle se need a new bag. She is also on the verge of becoming a standard clown. This in itself is a wonderful thing.

We have decided that each of the new Ap Bag will have a personalised type symbol on th Juggling Baton pouch. Sergeant thurman has opted for a heart shaped peace sign.

I was also working on an ap bag for Sergeant Wilson. She is also doing quite well at juggling. The symbol that she wated was a wee bit more complicated. Still it was fun to make a kitty cat applique. At 1:30 this morning i ran out of black thread so her bag is still in peices. Sadly there is ot a 24 hour sewing store on the South Side of Pittsburgh. I personally think that tere should be. Still that is just my opinion.

Be safe out there and keep your stick on the ice

There are Days

I sepnt a couple hour working on section 1 of the clown handbook. being that it is the basic clowning section i think i am obsessing over it. it is also the material we will be teaching in the march training session. So I would really like to have it perfect. In going through it today i found a couple picture in the balloon portion of the text that i do not like. I mean for crimeny sake I thought I was done with them. You just want to cry sometimes.

Anyway I hope that Walt and I will have some time to take some pictures on tuesday. It would really be nice to make some progress on this bad boy at some point.

that leads us to some confusion on the juggling section tough. We are debating to some extent what should be the first thing that is juggled. My opinion is that it should always be balls. Sadly I think this opinion may be overshadowing what other people's ideas might be. a couple of the young sergeant have made a case for scarves. When they first suggested it I thought they were wrong. Still the more that i talk to other people there are many out there that like scarves. And to make it even more confusing there are those that say it should be rings.

To experiment with the ring thing I have tried team juggling rings with Sergeant Thurman. even though she had never team juggled before she almost has ring. Number one this completely shakes my faith in starting team juggling with clubs. It also give a strong argument for learning on rings. Yep I suppose this will have to seriously examined.

Well If anyone jugglers out there want to weigh in I am listening.

Be safe out there and keep your stick on the ice.

Kettles Again

 

We were out on the Kettle again this week end. One again back to the Century III Mall. Here I am juggling on the kettle. One of the kids figured out how to get the samera to take action pictures. You will note that the picture is clear and crisp. That mean that someone who knows how to take pictures was using the Camera. It was Apprentice Brimage. She is Seven. 

  

Here is Walt. He was making inflatible wildlife. At least that is the politically correct way to refer to balloon animals these day. They got a lawyer and you know the rest of the story. 

Here was the rest of our crew thsi week end. Sergesnt Thurman is in the back. She is doing wicked stuff with scarves these days. She has only been at them a couple weeks and her routines are pretty impressive. In fron are Apprentice Brimage and Apprentice Brimage. They are sisters hence the same last name. Being that I don't like using you people first names on the old blog the five Aprentice Brimigaes that are in the Brigade is going to be confussing as time goes on. Actually now that I think of it one of them is still a Cadet.

This is Apprentice Brigade trying on a coat. We are starting to think about getting a real uniform for the Brigade. So we will need a coat. Being that we are supposed to be on a boat during out shows this may be the way that we go. By the way this is the Apprentice Brimage that knows how to use my camera better than I do.

And the cyber kettle is up to fourty bucks. That is fourty bucks more than I thought i was going to make the Corps on the Cyber Kettle. Cool Beans.

We will be out there this weekend if you still want to catch the dog and pony show. Be safe out there and keep your stick on the ice.

Knitting Stuff

The last couple weeks out Monday Knitting Group has been at our Corps in Homestead. The apprentices in the Brigade want to learn to knit. The group has become where we teach the Clown of The Brigade to knit. Now that there are a bunch of young folks in the Brigade it is easier to move the meeting than move the Brigade.

By the way that is Apprentices Thurman, Wilson and Brimage. Aren't they cute this is their first knitting group. Walt is in the fore ground working on some socks I think.

This is my and another Apprentice Brimage. She is the youngest Apprentice in the Brigade. I think she likes the idea of knitting. The practice of knitting is another thing.

By the way this took place in the Clown Room at our Corps. WE are still working on putting the room together. At the moment it dose not have an overhead light. So we are using the old makeshift lighting that the Knitting group used at the Bee Hive. It is not so good for photography.

My wife was around there somewhere trying not to be associated with me. That is a common thing for her when we are out in public. Still, I don;t mind eating with a ski mask on while at restaurants. Although it is much harder to go into airports that way these days.

Well look at that I actually had some knitting news. Be safe out there and keep your stick on the ice.

 Here are some cat under the bed. This is Abigail and her and here three kittens under the bed. Isn't that cute.

 

This is another kitten that does not have a name. I want to call her stripe.

 

 This is the boy. I could not get a picture with his eyes open.

We did another car wash. And this one did not go very well. We did it at our corps in Homestead. We did get to use the new car port tent. So that was kind of fun. Here is Apprentice Prelue and a couple of the neighborhood kids helping put up the tent. It was just like being the the circus again. Except the tent was really small. And there were no animals. A couple pigeons. But, nothing that would make this blog.

Here is Cadet Birmage, Apprentice Thurman and Apprentice Wilson waiting for the customers. Actually there was a great deal of waiting for customers. Like I emtntioner earlier this did not go terribly well.

This is the grill stand. It did slowly as well. Still, we had hot dogs and popcorn for the kids. And really the Brigade is all about making kids happy. And if this means hot dogs on a nice summer's day that is close enough. Well despite the fact we didn't do terribly well financially we still have a good time.

This is Carol at the grill. She always likes doing the food. She comes from a family of people that are all about the food. Her mother worked in a restaraunt and her twin brother is a baker. There is no candelstick maker. Like I said they are all about the food.

Be safe out there and keep your stick on the ice.

Hats, Clown Hats

I have some pictures of the hats that I have been playing around with. The first is the one for Cadet Wilson. This is Apprentice Stewart wearing it at the moment. We have a front side and rear view of it.

This is a very traditional clown hat. It is the sort that a classic wihte face might wear. Since Cadet Wilson looks as if she will be wearing a fairly traditional neat white face this is excellent hat for her.

This is the hat for Cadet Thurman. She looks as if she is going to have more grotesque auguste. So we had a bit more fun with her hat.


She has he sleeve rolled up for a makeup test. It is not a clown gang sign or something like that. A clown gang sign is so terrifying that we cannot use it publicly. It sends people into fits of terror.

Be safe out there and keep your stick on the ice.

Met a man named G Dub

A good couple of day witting and typing mostly typing. While I was out and about on the Bus someone asked me if I was witting. Since I was writing stuff in one of my red notebooks I had to agree with him. He asked what it was about and I told him.

We then asked if I would make him a character in the book. I have never had anyone ask that before. The guy said his name is G Dub. Being a black man we said that he did not want his Character killed off in the book. I suppose I can see that.

If it makes him feel any better one of the main Characters in the book is a black man. He is in at least seven of the books.

IN the book there are several pirate ships. They have larger rolls in the subsequent books. Still they need commanders. I don't think any of the Pirate Captains buy it in the books.

Well anyway. just wanted to replay this unique story to both of my readers. Bellow are some pictures of Cadet Thurman and Wilson juggling. They are moving along rather well.

BE safe out there everyone and keep you stick on the ice.

Brigade Slide Show

Clown Practice Again

. This is the first round of Uniform shirts for the Brigade. These green shirts. I know everyone is terribly excited by this. I am. We used the iron on gizmos to make the shield thing for the shirts.

Cadet Thurmon is making off with a bunch of Balloons after practice. I imagine that half the parents in Homestead must hate me. I must have filled half their homes with Balloon Animals. Now I am teaching their children how to make balloons.

You are going to hear that Homestead is being over run with giant biles of balloon sculptures. The weights of the slowly deflating mass will make Homestead slide into the Monogahela River.

Here are some folks working on Balloon Animal.s I am sure we will have to shore up the building or something to compensate for the weight.

Be safe out there everyone and keep your stick on the ice.

Clown Founder Day

Hi folks, we had a fun Sunday at Steel Valley Corps. It was one of our Advancement ceremonies and Sunday Practices. This is me in an old ceremonial uniform. We don't have any of our own yet so I still wear my old one. By the way The Captain has been painting at the Corps. A couple weeks before this stair well was in not so great shape.

This is a close up of the candle arrangement used during the ceremony. Each clown is represented by a candle and we move the candles up as they advance through the rank system. It is a tradition that goes back through the various clown troupes that I have been part of. This is a pulled back shot of the altar after we have set up the clown stiff on it. The advancement steps have been covered with the Barry Scarf. As had become the tradition we display juggling equipment and a Bible on the alter to recognise the nature of the Brigade. Also displayed are the logos for each of the Sessions of Clowns thus far and the Brigade Logo.

After the Ceremony was practice time. His is Apprentice K in his kilt and a pretty pretty balloon hat. Behind him are several other Apprentice Clown and the newly appointed Second in Command of the Brigade Junior Clown and our Music Sergeant JC Stewart

The future of the Brigade is shown here with our first class of Cadets. Until this year we have not had enough people joining at one time to have Cadet Classes. One of the main reasons for the Sunday practices is to quickly train these new recruits. This the basic orientation where they begin to work on their clown face and names. Cadet Wilson on the right has taken the name Silly Lilly. Cadet Thurmon has taken the clown name Alakali.

This is Apprentice Prealu during the balloon section. She is up to eight or so Balloons in less than a month.

A big pile of balloons with Cadet Thurmon at Balloon Practice.

We also had a pot luck diner at this event. This was great fun as usual. See everyone at Hive Knitting. Be safe out there and keep you stick on the ice.