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My name is Glasserella con Carnie and I am professional glass specialist and transgendered sideshow entertainer. For my act I eat glass objects such as lightbulbs and wine glasses while performing various acts physical contact with a bed of broken glass. My performances range anywhere from the gentle and comedic to the sexual and burlesque to the downright rude and intimidating, depending upon the needs of the audience. Aside from my life as a sideshow entertainer I am also a person of deep faith and a participant in the independent sacramental movement, as well as a unionized independent contractor in the industry of adult entertainment.
The title Circus Candy is circus and carnival slang for cheap candies that are sold in fancy packages in order to raise prices on the customers. I chose this title because it represents my current life as a sideshow entertainer and sex worker and person of faith: although I may try and make things look classier than they are you are still not going to get much more than the thoughts of someone who scrapes around the bottom.
The purpose of this online journal is to record various thoughts and feelings and experiences concerning the worlds of the circus and the carnival, along with the sideshows that occupy the gaps between. There have been several people in my life who have commented that circus folk and carnival folk and even sideshow folk are all just cousins in one big family of sorts, and it seems it to me that this is a damn fine family to belong with even if we do get quarrelsome at times.
Circuses are most often travelling companies of entertainers and athletes. Traditionally these circus shows include aerial acrobatics, clowning, hoopers and jugglers, trained animals, and other impressive stunts as well as live instrumental music. Travelling shows have also begun to include vocalists and even more obscure forms of physical and often avante-garde entertainment. With the rise of the contemporary art circus there has also been a rise in thematic material and many shows no longer stop at simple entertainment, including social messages akin to those found in socially progressive theater forms.
Carnivals began as communal celebrations held before the Christian holiday of lent - celebrations such as the Mardi Gras or and though the word once applied only to a specific holdiay it now also applies to the mobile theme parks one typically finds alongside state fairs and other events. Carnivals typically include mechanical rides such as the famous ferris wheel as well as game booths and food stands and other forms of inexpensive entertainment. In the past carnivals were believed to be havens for con artists of all degress and this is still true in many cases, though the degree of hustling and conning once found in traditional carnivals has begun to diminish over time.
Sideshows were traditionally the secondary show to the entertainment which was provided by either circuses or carnivals, often catering to those customers who had not yet been roped in by other distractions. Though the state and health of modern sideshow is arguable, three of the four main forms of sideshow still remain. The ten-in-one show includes a grouping of entertainers under one admission price and these entertainers most often include either stunt performers known as working acts, human oddities, or animal oddities. The single-o show is a show with only one performer and are typically working acts which nowadays work nightclubs and other alternative venues. Finally there is the museum show which puts on display various oddities and other articles from history for the amusement and entertainment of its customers, sometimes promoting faked attractions or gaffs and sometimes providing the real deal. Unfortunately due to contemporary morals and the difficulties of dealing with licensing fees and corporate sponsors, girl shows are no long an active part of the sideshow and have been relegated entirely to the world of burlesque reviews and stripclubs.