Return of the Freak Show

By James Russel

THE DEVILS WORK
A ROSE BY ANY OTHER NAME? SORRY, SCOTT McCLELLAND AND CARNIVAL DIABLO ARE THE REAL DEAL, PROMISING TO PUT THE FREAK BACK IN FREAK SHOW

When I first heard of Carnival Diablo, I have to admit I was a bit skepticle.
I've seen The Jim Rose Circus Sideshow, I've seen The Torture King, and my first reaction was that this would probably turn out to be someone trying to make a quick buck off the success of other freaks. But talking to Diablo's Scott McClelland, I quickly began to realize how wrong I was. McClelland's grandfather owned the largest Circus Sideshow in Canada for almost half a century. Starting in 1920, he performed and toured constantly, only stopping and setting up a stationary tourist attraction in Canora, Saskatchewan,after the death of his wife{who could swallow 7 swords}in 1968.

McClelland spent his childhood summers at the Sideshow , watching the performers and learning from his grandfather, and it is from this tradition that Carnival Diablo was born. His grandfather passed away in 1989 at age of 103, and 3 years later , McClelland opened Carnival Diablo in Calgary as a stationary tourist attraction." We were open from 6p.m. until 5a.m.," he remembers, with his own performance every night at midnight. " We had real freaks," he says, including a collection of "two-headed calves, pigs with three eyes and a albino skunk."Late in 1992, he decided to start touring, but ran into a few complications. "We turned over the ranks a few times,"he explains."It is very hard physically to perform every night.{being a freak}is not cool. It is a lifestyle. If your not totally into it, you burn out very quickly."

After a few years, McClelland decide that he needed to clear his head a little, so he put Diablo on the backburner and spent a year and half performing a "Paranormal Show"."It rocked!,"he says, calling that aspect of Sideshow his "personal love." He'd been doing Carnival Diablo a little to long and"wanted to indulge myself" he says. But Carnival Diablo is as much a part of McClelland as he is of it., and it was only a matter of time before Diablo would return.That time has come."

We're back full force," he says with unrestrained excitement unmistakable in his voice.The excitement is easy to understand when you consider that he is actually at the theater in Toronto while we are talking, taking time out while setting up the tour kick-off show to speak to me.

"We have a new set, new costumes, new props."Hey they even have some new freaks too. Which leads nicely to my next question, where does one get 'Freaks' anyway? "I train them" he explained." I am one of the few trainers left in the world."Sideshow training is as close to being a 'lost art' as you are likely to find these days." I'm trying to keep it alive,"McClelland explains,but his work is cut out for him.Originally, knowledge was acquired over time,centuries in some cases,as performers past their knowledge down from generation to generation. Incredibly dangerous stunts{like Sword swallowing}evolved very slowly,with knowledge of what not to do being gained the hard{and frequently fatal}way-"the result of trial and error over hundreds of years," he says." The first few swordswallowers died pretty quickly,but performers would watch each other," McClelland explains,"and they would see how the other guy died and what he did wrong, and there is knowledge gained." "Books are not good enough-You'll hurt yourself,"McClelland assures me ,a little unnecessarily perhaps. I've got two words for anyone that tries to stick 20 inches of solid steel down their throat after reading a book: natural selection. Simpler stunts can be learned in "three to six months,"according to McClelland. To become a good swordswallower, he tells me that I'd expect to take"two to seven years." " It's all about knowing your body,"he tells me. "It is a applied science. It is practical.You have to know where your pumpers{arteries}are,where your nerve-endings are."But why are people fascinated with a show were performers do things that would be incredibly painful for anyone else? It does seem a little perverse at times.

"It rates back to the Egyptians and Romans," McClelland explains. "Like throwing people to the lions. People are really into speckle, and Sideshow is an amalgamation of spectacles.' But unlike a simple gorefest, this Sideshow is, in many ways, a testament to the human mind and body."Sideshows let people really see the endurance and strength that are required. They show that we have the ability to transcend boundaries that most people never thought possible."

The rarity of trainers combined with ,err,unorthodox lifestyle of being a professional freak, means that the real thing is pretty hard to find these days.

Other then Carnival Diablo, McClelland mentions three other acts which he considers legit: Jim Rose, The Torture King{"I'm good friends with him"}, and an act from New York called The Coney Island Sideshow. Other then that, there are people who do similar stunts for special events, but, "they are not true sideshow,"he explains.

Audience participation is a big part of Carnival Diablo- 65% estimates McClelland. When you get someone from the crowd on stage, "they become the hands and eyes of the audience,"McClelland says. "Everybody watches them to see how they react."

However , getting someone from the crowd is not always a good idea. McClelland recalls one incident in Vancouver where things allmost went very wrong." We had a escape-artist on stage and we got some guy from the crowd to come and chain him up."he tells me. " It turns out he was a murderer. He was stupid enough to come up on stage-his poster was around town and the crowd recognized him. He tried to twist the chain around the escape- artists neck and I had to stop him. He tried to murder one of my performers! He was taken away later that evening."

The one question McClelland can't answer is which act the crowd enjoys the most." The show is such a roller coaster ride of emotion,"he explains, that there is no one single act that people respond to." It's a wild ride."He does caution me though that the last segment of the show is the real crazy stuff, and there is a fainting warning for that part.

I expect a little exaspiration at least when I brought up Jim Rose again. After all for whatever reasons, his was the only Circus Sideshow that anybody could name and I imagined that McClelland would be tired of hearing it. But McClelland is more then happy to discuss Jim Rose.

"He was a huge fan of Carnival Diablo when it was in Calgary."McClelland recounts how Rose and his troupe would come through, snapping pictures and having a great time. But there is no direct comparison he tells me.

"This show{Diablo} has a tone- mysticism as opposed to rock'n'roll- and is very theatrical, like a bad dream! Our formula is completely different and we pride ourselves on that."

"There is no rivalry ,"he explains. He thinks that his show and Rose's could perform in the same venue on the same night and it would be two totally different shows."And, with a new appreciation for the history of Diablo's origins, I don't doubt it a bit.

As well as plans to write a book on the history and the development of Sideshow in the 20th century, McClelland is working on plans to take Carnival Diablo on a U.S. tour next year and into Europe in 2000.He has high hopes for the future and I can understand why.

As society evolves into some sort of cyberculture, where the only bizarre stuff we see comes in the form of disgusting pictures our friends download and insist on e-mailing to us, there is a need for a truly amazing spectacle which we can experience with others." This is the reality and why sideshow is having a resurgence now," McClelland explains.

"We can surf the net, learn and play,etc., but we are not getting together anymore. Our Sideshow brings people together in such a way that they can become part of a new culture of storytelling and ritual."

"Now you can get 'Faces of Death' and that 'Not Seen On TV' stuff, but that is just gross,"he says. "It is very different when it is before your very eyes. People are starving for an entertainment that can get them out of the 'pool of nothingness' that other shows like David Copperfield stick you in. You watch it passively, like TV- that's boring. At this show we interact. We take the audience on a journey," I can hear him smile. "Hopefully, they leave a little changed."