Main Street America is kicking up its heels—and you're invited to the party!

Goodbye sprawl-and-mall—hello downtown! Long-neglected town centers are coming to life once again, and the buzz is back on main streets all across the country. Come celebrate their rebirth with this one-of-a-kind guide to over 700 local festivals and events nationwide. From the weird and wacky to the wild and wonderful, the fun starts with Main Street Festivals. Which will you do first?

Enter a rubber duck race . . . Join a "walk of art" scavenger hunt . . .

Find hot-rod heaven . . . Play cow patty bingo . . .

See antiques and heirloom displays . . .

Discover "bullistic" bull riding . . . Go to a hog slopping contest . . .

Eat black dirt cake . . . Hear blues, bluegrass, and brass bands . . .

Watch a Little Miss National Peanut Pageant . . .

Inside you'll also learn where to find: an onion rodeo, cornstalk shooting, a beautiful baby bagel contest, arts and crafts demonstrations, the perfect-pierogie cookoff, a slugburger fest, quilting exhibitions, farmer olympics, and more. . . . There's something for everyone in Main Street Festivals.

Lucid, easy-to-follow guide covers voice use and synchronization, stage deportment and interactions, improvisation, staging, lighting, much more.

'The entire town is disguised', declared a French tourist of eighteenth-century Venice. And, indeed, maskers of all ranks - nobles, clergy, imposters, seducers, con men - could be found mixing at every level of Venetian society. Even a pious nun donned a mask and male attire for her liaison with the libertine Casanova. In "Venice Incognito", James H. Johnson offers a spirited analysis of masking in this carnival-loving city. He draws on a wealth of material to explore the world view of maskers, both during and outside of carnival, and reconstructs their logic: covering the face in public was a uniquely Venetian response to one of the most rigid class hierarchies in European history. This vivid account goes beyond common views that masking was about forgetting the past and minding the muse of pleasure to offer fresh insight into the historical construction of identity.

Germany's cultural glory and for a time Germany's political shame: the operatic festival established by Richard Wagner in 1876 is one of the most intriguing phenomena in modern European intellectual history. The oldest and best known of all musical festivals, Bayreuth soon after Wagner's death in 1883 became the center of a reactionary and nationalistic ideological cult. This book is the first to provide a frank and fully rounded account of the institution and the way it operates. The focus of the study is a critical analysis of the performances and productions, brought alive with photographs and sketches of stage settings, conductors, singers, and costumes from 1876 to 1990. Around this artistic history is woven the remarkable story of why, against tremendous odds, Wagner built his famous Festspielhaus and established his controversial festival and of how his descendants have managed to keep it alive. At the same time, the book traces the institution's association with nationalism and racism, its eventual debasement into "Hitler's court theatre," and its postwar liberation from its chauvinist, anti-Semitic past. With its own form of Wagnerian Gesamtkunstwerk-linking art, the personalities of the Wagner family, and German ideological development-this provocative study will be compelling reading not only for Wagner enthusiasts but also for anyone interested in European intellectual history since 1876.

Partial Contents: At the Gates of the Supernatural; The Mysteries of the Pyramids; Ancient Oracles, the Sibyls and the Fates; Magic from the Beginning of the Christian Era to the End of the Middle Ages; Supernatural Sciences and Curiosities; General Theory of the Horoscope; General Keys of Astrology. Numerous charts and diagrams. Several rare rituals are included. This massive work on magic should be in every magician's library.

The festivals of the Athenian sacred calendar constitute a vital key to classical Greek culture and religion. Erika Simon sets out here to explicate those complex and often obscure festivals. By careful marshalling of a variety of proofs from literary, historical, and archaeological sources, she is able to justify some startling conclusions and achieve a comprehensive and truly original synthesis that clarifies, as never before, the probable origins and meanings of the Attic cults.

A Choice Outstanding Academic Title 2019 This book documents and discusses the meaning(s) of the creative process at play in the crafting and staging of circus acts. It highlights the experience of circus artists as their skills develop and mature into public performances that create aesthetic and emotional values in the modern economy of live spectacles. It scrutinizes the meaning that circus acts produce for the spectators and for the artists themselves who live this process from the inside. This is a book for those studying semiotics and wanting to see it applied to a real life milieu in accessible and passionate prose. The Meaning of the Circus is grounded on the personal experience of Professor Paul Bouissac as both a circus entrepreneur and a researcher with decades of primary material on the significance of past and contemporary circus acts. It is based on substantial accounts provided by many men and women who have agreed to share the challenges, joys, and anxieties of their life as artists. Personal and rigorous, it contributes to the hermeneutics of the circus arts by adding existential depth to the production and reception of their performances.

The devil is a defiant, nefarious figure, the emblem of evil, and harbinger of the damned. However, the festive devil--the devil that dances--turns the most hideous acts into playful transgressions." Festive Devils of the Americas" is the first volume to present a transnational and performance-centered approach to this fascinating, feared, and revered character of fiestas, street festivals, and carnivals in North, Central, and South America. As produced and performed in both rural and urban communities and among neighborhood groups and councils, festive devils challenge the principles of colonialism and nation-states reliant on the straight and narrow opposition between good and evil, black and white, and us and them.
Each section of this volume opens with regional maps ranging from the Andes, Afro-Atlantic, and Caribbean, to Central and North America. However, festive devils defy geographical as well as moral boundaries. From Brazil's Candomble to New Mexico's dance halls, festive devils and their stories sustain and transform ancestral memory, recast historical narratives, and present political, social, and cultural alternatives in many guises. Within economic, political, and religious cross-currents, these paradoxical figures affirm the spirit of community within the framework of subversion and inversion found at the heart of the festival world.

The author of the first complete text on clown ministry is back by popular demand with this follow-up book. Clown ministry has grown, changed and flourished in the decade-plus since its inception. This book updates through inspirational features and dynamic new material. Part I - Who's Who contains profiles on the "movers and shakers" in the clown ministry field, including "Where are they now?" looks at clowns featured in The Clown Ministry Handbook. Veteran clown ministers from America and abroad share performance tips and anecdotes, their philosophies of clown ministry and more. "Before and after" photographs (with clown makeup and without) and other illustrations add a delightful dimension to the clowns' stories. Part II - Everything New contains seventy-five clown skits for all the traditional holidays and a few untraditional ones as well, such as Good Neighbor Day, National Procrastination Week and even National Nothing Day! Some contain spoken dialog and some are pantomimed. Skits are included for any number of clowns, from one to a whole troupe. Prop lists and production notes accompany each skit. Contains a wealth of fresh, funny material.

Karagiozis -- a form of comic folk drama employing stock puppet figures -- was immensely popular in Greece until recent years, when newer forms of entertainment have virtually eclipsed it. Derived from ancient Byzantine and Greek sources, it takes its name from the principal puppet character, the clever, humpbacked fool-hero Karagiozis, who appears in many guises, surrounded by a cast of folk caricatures from all walks of life. Kostas and Linda Myrsiades present here a tripartite view of Karagiozis: a translation of a typical text taken directly from a live performance; interviews with one of the last master Karagiozis puppeteers; and an analysis of the place of this indigenous genre in Greek life and culture. The first part of the book examines critical issues concerning the context of Karagiozis performance: its place as an expression of an unofficial social world, as a gender statement that reveals the split vision of its culture, as an expression of a pluralistic society, and as an indigenous event shaped by economic, geographic, political, and social forces. The second portion offers insights from interviews with Giorgos Haridimos, until his retirement Greece's preemi-nent Karagiozis player, and a translation of his classic text "Karagiozis Baker" reflecting an actual performance by Haridimos. Through novel verbal and typographic devices, Kostas Myrsiades succeeds in preserving the full flavor of his oral source -- its rhythms and intonations, its linguistic nuances, and even audience reactions -- to convey the actual experience of the theatergoer. This unique translation thus establishes a model for collecting and disseminating oral theatrical tradition. Folklorists, cultural historians, and students of theater will appreciate this introduction to an ancient but little known folkloric form.

A collection of thirty-two clown skits for one or two performers, accompanied by tips for aspiring clowns on props, gestures, terminology, and safety.

For one year, Alma Guillermoprieto lived in Manguiera, a village near Rio de Janeiro, to learn the ritual of samba--the sensuous song and dance marked by a rapturous beat--and to take part in Rio's renowned carnivale parade.

The 30 original, reproducible puppet scripts in this collection are designed for the one-person show. Advice and suggestions on all aspects of presenting a puppet show, patterns for puppets, and illustrated instructions for construction accompany the scripts. Grades PreK-3.

While blacks have played an important role - as explorers, scouts, Indian consorts, soldiers, cowboys, farmers - in the exploration, conquest, and settlement of the American West, they have received scant attention from the chroniclers of the pageant of western development.Few of rodeo's early heroes matched the achievements of the black cowboy Bill Pickett, and his story is recounted here for the first time in book form. Pickett grew up in Texas in the 1880's, the child of former slaves, to become nationally famous as the star of the 101 Ranch Wild West Show. Pickett was associated with such western figures as Tom Mix, Will Rogers, Milt Hinkle, and Lucille Mulhall, and earned a reputation as an all around cowboy of legendary abilities. His greatest claim to fame is as the originator of steer wrestling, the only rodeo event to the traced to one individual. Audiences all over the United States, South America, Canada, and England were amazed to see the ""Dusky Demon"" fell on thousand-pound steers and bring them down bite-'em style with his teeth. In spite of a life of incredible physical daring - afoot and unarmed he once took on an enraged fighting bull in a Mexico City arena - he lived to age sixty, to die with his boots on in a professional career had been with the 101 Ranch, and his funeral was on the ranch's last great events. In recognition of his many achievements Pickett was elected to the Cowboy Hall of Fame in 1971, the first black cowboy to be so honored. The author brings together all that is known about Pickett, sorting out the facts and legends, and un telling the story sheds new light on early-day rodeo and 101 Ranch life.

A MUST HAVE for ALL Ventriloquists 52 Complete routines Will suit various puppets This book was first written in 1989 - the jokes are over 25 years old Some humour never dies However you need to bear in mind that some of the jokes are dated and corny. Even if you are just searching for new gags to use in your present routine, this book is jam packed full of a variety of great items. The dialogues have been written in such a way that they will suit any kind of vent doll and personality. Also bear in mind that when a comedian buys a joke book, he may only find one or two jokes that suit his personality. This book should be treated in the same way. If you find all the routines useable - lucky you. However, even if you just get one useable gag that enhances a current routine, that is worth gold A massive number of topics are covered You will find something for all tastes and occasions, including: General, On Stage, Hobbies, More School, Famous, Sport, Family, General Cheekiness, Sick, Airplanes, School Again, The Problem, Marriage, Interview, Holidays, Mr. Entertainment, The Alphabet, Mother's-In-Law, My Dog, Television, More Sport, More General Cheekiness, More School Again, Opera, More Family, General Again, Overseas, Even More School Again, My Other Dog, General Knowledge, Jobs, Who's Being Clever Now? More Television, And Still... Even More School, Family, Religion, Even More General Cheekiness, Space, Driving Exam, And... Even More General Cheekiness, Sailor Boy, Hot Dog? Hamburger? Oh No Not Even More School, Inventions, How Much Cheekier Can You Get? Modem Music, Animals, Difficult Old Dummy, Love, It Can't Be More General Cheekiness, On Strike.

Every year, magic is gaining greater popularity because it offers more rewards than almost any other hobby. The time spent learning tricks, practicing them and working out individual notions is a pastime in itself.

Harry Blackstone was one of the great magicians of the twentieth century. Along with his equally famous peers Houdini and Thurston, Blackstone's feats of legerdemain dazzled audiences around the globe.

The present volume is Blackstone's legacy to the parlor magician. All of the props required can usually be found in the average household and those not easily at hand may be purchased at a neighborhood shop. Indeed, here are 200 tricks... feats of magic... which will mystify and entertain but may be performed in anyone's living room.

88 new tricks (no duplication with Self-Working Card Tricks): impromptu card tricks, telephone tricks, shuffle setups, telepathy with cards, gambling secrets, tricks with torn and folded cards, card-forcing secrets, card tricks with props, vanishing cards, tricks with aces only, card deck that operates like a calculator, more. 96 illustrations.

"Wondrous Brutal Fictions" presents eight seminal works from the seventeenth-century Japanese sekkyo and ko-joruri puppet theaters, many translated into English for the first time. Both poignant and disturbing, they range from stories of cruelty and brutality to tales of love, charity, and outstanding filial devotion, representing the best of early Edo-period literary and performance traditions and acting as important precursors to the Bunraku and Kabuki styles of theater.

As works of Buddhist fiction, these texts relate the histories and miracles of particular buddhas, bodhisattvas, and local deities. Many of their protagonists are cultural icons, recognizable through their representation in later works of Japanese drama, fiction, and film. The collection includes such "sekkyo" "sermon-ballad" classics as "Sansho Dayu," " Karukaya," and "Oguri," as well as the " "old joruri"" plays "Goo-no-hime" and "Amida's Riven Breast." R. Keller Kimbrough provides a critical introduction to these vibrant performance genres, emphasizing the role of seventeenth-century publishing in their spread. He also details six major " sekkyo" chanters and their playbooks, filling a crucial scholarly gap in early Edo-period theater. More than fifty reproductions of mostly seventeenth-century woodblock illustrations offer rich, visual foundations for the critical introduction and translated tales. Ideal for students and scholars of medieval and early modern Japanese literature, theater, and Buddhism, this collection provides an unprecedented encounter with popular Buddhist drama and its far-reaching impact on literature and culture.

80 different tricks with cards, coins, matches, tumblers, handkerchiefs; colorful, explained with model clarity for beginner. 89 illustrations.

From the prizewinning Jewish Lives series, an exuberant biography of the world's greatest escape artist "Will leave [readers] entertained and astonished, and that's a kind of magic of its own."-Jerry Z. Muller, Jewish Review of Books In 1916, the war in Europe having prevented a tour abroad, Harry Houdini wrote a film treatment for a rollicking motion picture. Though the movie was never made, its title, "The Marvelous Adventures of Houdini: The Justly Celebrated Elusive American," provides a succinct summary of the Master Mystifier's life. Born Erik Weisz in Budapest in 1874, Houdini grew up an impoverished Jewish immigrant in the Midwest and became world-famous thanks to talent, industry, and ferocious determination. He concealed as a matter of temperament and professional ethics the secrets of his sensational success. Nobody knows how Houdini performed some of his dazzling, death-defying tricks, and nobody knows, finally, why he felt compelled to punish and imprison himself over and over again. Tracking the restless Houdini's wide-ranging exploits, acclaimed biographer Adam Begley tells the story of a mystifying man's astonishing career. About Jewish Lives: Jewish Lives is a prizewinning series of interpretative biography designed to explore the many facets of Jewish identity. Individual volumes illuminate the imprint of Jewish figures upon literature, religion, philosophy, politics, cultural and economic life, and the arts and sciences. Subjects are paired with authors to elicit lively, deeply informed books that explore the range and depth of the Jewish experience from antiquity to the present. In 2014, the Jewish Book Council named Jewish Lives the winner of its Jewish Book of the Year Award, the first series ever to receive this award. More praise for Jewish Lives: "Excellent."-New York Times "Exemplary."-Wall Street Journal "Distinguished."-New Yorker "Superb."-The Guardian

In 1847, during the great age of the freak show, the British periodical Punch bemoaned the public's 'prevailing taste for deformity'. This vividly detailed work argues that far from being purely exploitative, displays of anomalous bodies served a deeper social purpose as they generated popular and scientific debates over the meanings attached to bodily difference. Nadja Durbach examines freaks both well-known and obscure including the Elephant Man; 'Lalloo, the Double-Bodied Hindoo Boy', a set of conjoined twins advertised as half male, half female; Krao, a seven-year-old hairy Laotian girl who was marketed as Darwin's 'missing link'; the 'Last of the Mysterious Aztecs' and African 'Cannibal Kings', who were often merely Irishmen in blackface. Upending our tendency to read late twentieth-century conceptions of disability onto the bodies of freak show performers, Durbach shows that these spectacles helped to articulate the cultural meanings invested in otherness - and thus clarified what it meant to be British - at a key moment in the making of modern and imperial ideologies and identities.

The authoritative guide to planning, organising, managing and delivery events of all size Anyone responsible for organising a voluntary or public event will want to do it safely and well, complying with the legislation relating to different aspects of their event. This book will help you to research, plan, organise, manage and deliver any event, match, show, tournament or function that will be attended by more than a handful of people. You may be running a gymkhana, fete, fun run, steam fayre, half marathon, carnival, school sports day, jumble sale, tennis tournament, car boot sale, model aircraft show or even a huge pop festival or Formula 1 car race. Whatever it is, the principles are the same. As event manager you will need to research, plan, liaise with authorities, obtain permissions and licences, comply with legal requirements and then deliver the event to the public. Contents: 1. Introduction; 2. The event manager; 3. The event objective; 4. Planning the event; 5. Health & safety; 6. Type of event; 7. When to run the event; 8. Defining your target audience; 9. Audience size; 10. Advertising; 11. Event attractions; 12. Event requirements; 13. Accommodation and services; 14. Event site; 15. Traffic management; 16. Sign posting; 17. Permissions; 18. Car parking; 19. Radio communications; 20. Staffing; 21. First aid; 22. Security; 23. Insurance; 24. Emergency and normal procedures; 25. Formal presentation; 26. Event manager's manual; 27. Money; 28. Accounts; 29. Video diary/evidence; 30. Setting up; 31. Site maintenance; 32. Strip down/clear up; 33. Final debrief 34. Final report; 35. Conclusion; Annex A; Annex B; Index.

Take a wild ride into the TIGERS Preserve and witness the unique animal friendships created there. Wild Family reminds us that friendships aren't just for humans. When the life-and-death struggle of the natural world is removed, even animals that would be mortal enemies in the wild can become best buds. This collection of stories and photographs chronicles these unusual interspecies animal friendships. A depressed black lab named Pharos finds his purpose in life by helping to train two liger cubs, Aries and Yeti. German shepherd Anubis helps Woola the wolf grow into a healthy and well-adjusted adult. Chimpanzee Anjana helps her trainer raise two white tiger cubs born prematurely during a hurricane. Adorable photographs accompany these heartwarming stories, all told from the perspective of Doc, the proprietor of the TIGERS Preserve. Each story points to the same conclusion--that all kinds of animals, like all kinds of humans, are capable of empathy, compassion, and love.