"The freaks'll stay together, they're a tight old crew
You'll look at them, and they look at you
I love the ballyhoo girl but she don't care
It's hard to find love anywhere." - Mark Knopfler, Devil Baby
Yes, Gentle Viewer, they look, and what they see ain't pretty...
Plug.
I had just gotten my camera and popped over to the fairgrounds which I thought would be a 'photo-rich environment' I was just taking photos of the equipment and learning about depth of field and no one was around so I had the run of the place. It was sort of fun seeing how the rides went together and collecting different images...(cont)
Carnies.
Then the carnies showed up. It was my first time taking photos of people I didn't know and I wasn't sure how to go about it. I couldn't really yell up to this guy and ask permission to get this shot...
A Carousel Floor Panel
So the workers would always scurry off when I came over and snapped pictures but they didn't say much.
Greg, one of the South Africans later told me that they thought I was with the fair or OSHA and they rarely wore their hard hats so they'd run and get them when I came around...
A call went out and everyone headed for one section of the Midway. I thought there had been a death or something, but it was the opening of the Raging Rapids. The fair workers rode it over and over, testing to make sure it was safe for you, Gentle Viewer. They loved every minute of it.
Clayderman. One of the South Africans travelling with the show. His brother was with him until this spot but they'd meet up at the next. Fiesta Shows has different teams who mix and match all summer.
Ride Operator's Meeting
This is where they are given the rules. No rides for your girlfriends, ummm...and if you do, somehow they get your badge..then you have to pay to get it back and you owe the person who ratted you out. It was complicated. I couldn't figure it out. Later they tried to explain it. I still never got it.
Eskimos call themselves Inuit, which means 'people.' At the rider operator's meeting 'the people' who get mentioned a lot is clearly the paying public. I never found out the word they used for themselves. But I DID learn that it's NOT carnie.
The Sea Dragon Crew, also known as the Dick head Crew. Although later a photo was requested with a slightly different membership. There are clear definitions of who is and who is not on this crew.
Old Man Freddy being gracious. This is the guy that most of the game workers, food concessions folks, and ride operators refer to when they say they MAY have actually met a carnie ONCE.
Buchino's Footlongs. I think this guys name was Larry. he called me over when he saw me after word got out that I was giving away pics. he wanted one for his family.
Mitch waiting on a customer while his friend stands out of the photo so Mitch can have a fine pic to send home without his friend in it. Even though his friend is. Heh heh
Mitch's friend and Mitch. I never found out Mitch's friend's name because he always called Mitch, Mitch but Mitch never said much.
It was 5 bucks if you wanted a photo with the snake. By taking it myself I saved 5 and didn't have to wear the damned thing.
I can't recall his name. But he never wore a shirt and always wore that necklace so he's easy to find in other photos.
You can see in these 3 shots how the wheel collapses. They remove these spacers between the giant spokes on each side..then the spokes close up like a fan.
A weight bench. These guys manhandle some of the biggest machinery in the State and still work out on their off hours for 'the beach muscles that the ladies like' according to Artie.
Clay, our tour guide.
So he asked if after taking so many photos of the fair and giving them so many, if I wanted to see where they lived. This is an offer one doesn't turn down....
Shower, contrary to popular belief.
"Yeah, we can get dirty, working hard all day, all greasy and dusty, but at least we have an excuse, you should see the people that come to the fair. Why are they so dirty?" - Eric
Bull's DHC tattoo
These guys get tattoos indicating which crew they work on. The DHC is the Dick Head Crew which sets up, runs and takes down the Sea Dragon. The other major tattooed crew was the Thunder Bolt Crew, TBC. Why the Sea Dragon Crew is DHC and not SDC is something that never got answered....
Eric's DHC Tattoo
Fiesta Shows has 3 types of rides, Family, Kiddie and Thrill. Only Thrill Rides have tattooed crews. There is no Strawberry Shortcake Crew or a Bouncy House Crew. The Giant Gondola Wheel, while impressive and has a very capable crew does not have a tribal crew.
It really DID feel tribal. These guys are fiercely loyal to each other and simply because you are ASSIGNED to a ride by the Midway Manager, you MAY or MAY NOT be part of the Crew.
Eric's TBC Tattoo
Eric is dually certified. TBC and DHC.
A funny thing about Eric, when the girl in the orange T shirt by the blue and yellow tent found out that Ihad taken his photo she said something to the effect that I was lucky I wasn't taking photos of my colon with my new camera. He was always very busy but he was always very nice. And this night, decided he was going to let me in on some Fair Philosophy...
Eric
So it was Eric who explained that no one working this spot was a carnie. (A 'spot' is particular fair or carnival during a particular year. Consensus on everyone's favorite spot? Topsfield, Mass. The last one of the season)
Carnie is a title of great honor and not easily applied. Anyone who begins working at the fair and calls themselves one is quickly corrected. Eric thought Old Man freddy MAY be one, or the closest he'd ever met, anyway.
A Carnie, he says, never loses money (these guys are hellish gamblers, at this point Joe had lost ALL of his money to Eric and had to go to Eric to 'borrow' it back. Eric later admitted he had Joe's money but that he wasn't really going to keep it. he just liked having Joe to have to ask for it. See? Tribal.), a carnie never gets hurt. "Hurt?" I asked. "Like around the equipment?" Nay nay Gentle Viewer. You see those scantily clad girl roaming the fairgrounds? They HURT the workers. These are sensitive men looking for love and...well...Carnies don't get hurt.
Eric
A person who saw this essay wrote: "Carnies have a bad reputaion, known as scummy people. Yet there they are...smiling, posing, attitudes. One has to wonder.... they were once children... how did they grow up to be carnies... what misfortunes brought them to this.Do they even consider that life to be a misfortune? Known for drugs and drinking yet there they are... putting the equipment together that our children and grandchildren will ride on... Kinda scary...we don't stop to look at them at the fair... in photographs we can see them and take the time to think."
Almost to a person they come from some unpleasant of background. Even the South Africans who have to have clean criminal records to get VISAs. It's almost proverbial, if you are free to literally 'run away with the carnival' you've pretty much shot your load. And I don't think it's so much that they are away from home because people often have jobs that require travel, but this is HARD WORK and LONG DAYS and none of them ever mentioned doing it for the money.
I think that is what makes them bond TOGETHER so strongly. These people are more than coworkers.
And they drink but I never saw them drunk. Delivering pizzas to college campuses? Now THAT was when I saw drunks. I trust their judgement. I'd also trust my neices and nephews on rides. Also, recently in the news have been stories of trials and arrests concerning priests and teachers and the abuse of children. But I hadn't heard any stories of Carnies getting busted. Heh heh
As far as the equipment goes, they take great pride in these rides and the condition they are in. It's a reflection on the crew if a ride isn't maintained. At one point during the fair they shut down a ride, I forget which one now, but I had also gotten to know fair management and there was no undue pressure to get it running again, or certainly not running it unsafely.
Everyone also points out that these rides are inspected everytime they are put up, roughly every 10 days of so as opposed to standing amusement parks which they said have much less frequent inspection schedules.
The writing on the wall
These guys have a very black and white, nihilist philosophy. They do not tolerate complaining.
Roy and Bull
Roy's jaw is wired shut here. For the next 6 weeks he is planning on living of a diet of Ensure which he'll drink through a straw placed in the hole where a tooth used to be. He didn't miss a day of work because of this.
Logan (Bull) striking a pose. When I'd point my camera at him he'd stop and stay motionless until I told him I got it. He'd stop in midword.
Clay's new tongue piercing which SERIOUSLY affected his speech. I thought the blue was some sort of antiseptic but it was a Slush Puppy.
Clay, Joe, and Artie
This was actually the first time I had seen Joe without a telephoto lens. They brought him over because he had gotten a copy of the photo of him in front of the carousel horses and his wife took it to WalMart to have copies made. They thought it was a kick. He's older than most of the other guys and travels in a small camper with his wife and kids.
So although they modestly defer away from the honorable term carny. As an outsider, I'll give it to them.
Gentle Viewers, these people are carnies in the finest sense of the word.
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