Come-in for the year 1995 on the Ringling Brothers Barnum and Bailey Circus red unit. The entire come-in showcased our musically inclined clown alley with myself in the part of the conductor.
A closer look at the clown band: I'm on the the ring curb as the conductor followed by Edge Szumoski on banjo, Mike Simpson on clarinet, Lisa Chapman on flute, Araron Schettler on trumpet, Keith Alexander on keyboards, Josh Schulman on drums and somewhere behind Mike Simpson is Ben Schultz on trombone.
Come-in for that year was unified with a musical theme. There was a band that was on the floor from the start to the end of come-in and led directly to the blow off involving a hat toss from high in the bleachers (usually by me) to Max Richardson's head as he stood in the center ring.
But during the time before the blow off there were a series of routines interrupting the band. Chad Miller would be a lost spectator looking for his seat. Greg May and Huel Speight tap danced. Michael Frum had a singing dog. There was a barbershop quartet which consisted of Grey May, Ben Schultz, Mike Simpson and Aaron Schettler. There was also a cloud swing routine (Darren Cooper) and skaters (Chris and Gina Allison) too. It was a pretty neat come-in because everybody got to show off a new skill or routine. That's what I like about circus. I got to do plenty of falls especially during the cloud swing routine.
Over time the higher ups nixed the barbershop quartet and tap dancers but the rest of come-in remained intact for one the more memorable come-produced in the nineties. I've got snippets of come-in somewhere and someday I'll get it on here. Got to get the right hardware first. Doh!!
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