I should start with a little background on myself. Currently, I have one semester of college left, and am for now a part time sideshow performer, with hopes of performing full time after graduation. Every kid likes the circus, but not until high school did I become obsessed with it. After seeing the Enigma on the X-files, I realized that running away with the circus, which I had always jokingly said was my career goal, was not a joke. I really did want to run away with the circus, and seeing him made me realize that there was still circuses to run away with. From that point till now I have been studying, learning, and training to reach that goal. Learning the history, watching performers, and learning the skills involved has proved to be a very, very long journey, about 9 years to date, but my patience and persistence has paid off. Midway through college I met other established sideshow performers who took me under their wing. Through their guidance I reached the level I nee ded to be at to perform, that you cannot reach from reading books and doing trial and error experiments in your room. It is almost impossible to learn these skills entirely on your own, and even the things I did figure out for myself were greatly improved through pointers from these professional performers.
At A Glance Author Gozleone Contact Gozleone@bme.anon IAM Hollywood When Three months ago Artist Self Done Studio club Warsaw Location Brooklyn Once I felt comfortable with my ability to 'safely' do the acts with guidance from my mentors, I began getting comfortable in front of a crowd. Friends and roommates became my first audiences, and after I worked out the basic kinks of keeping people's attention, I moved on to performing for free at the meetings of different clubs at school. Around this time I sent an email to one of my favorite bands, The World Inferno Friendship Society, volunteering my services since their fire-eater had moved to china. They replied back that they were moving away from the fire shows (this was before the Great White disaster), but that they would keep me in mind. Time went on, about a year or so, and I continued to do short sideshow demonstrations when my band's equipment would fail, which was often, when out of the blue World Inferno emailed me about performing at their annual Halloween show called Hallowmas. I enthusiastically agreed to do it (how could I say no to opening for one of my favorite bands, on my favorite holiday, in front of a huge crowd for my first real show?), but only had 2 weeks to put something together.
I made a list of what I wanted to do, what I was comfortable doing and what I needed practice with, and got together all the supplies. Some things I had to throw out because of time constraints, but one thing I was set on doing was a pierced weightlifting variation I hadn't seen performed before. It was a combination of a few acts; pierced weightlifting, the human pincushion, and a flesh-hook pull, that I called Fishface. BME, suspension groups, and my sideshow background helped me prepare for it. I had been working it out for some time and I knew what was needed, and had an idea of what risks were involved, but because of the extreme lack of time I couldn't test it out before the gig. I would be trying it for the first time on stage, which I knew could blow up in my face, and it indeed did, but I felt like I needed to have a grand finale and was willing to risk something going wrong never thinking something actually would. I performed 2 shows that night, both times doing th e Fishface and a small variation that came to me while on stage as the final act.
Now that the backstory is out of the way, I'll end this submission with a description of the act and the aftermath:
After running through my other acts, it came time for me to close the show. I took the deep-sea fishing hook I had modified, put it into my mouth, and began pulling it through my cheek. The hook was sharp, but not that sharp, and it took a great deal of force to pull it through. I was mentally prepared, and already running on an adrenaline high, and did not feel any pain. I felt the hook going through, but it did not hurt at all. I sat there tugging on the hook, pulling it farther and farther into my cheek until finally it began to poke out the other side. Once it was through, I attached the line to the large Spackle bucket I used to store my equipment, and stood up, lifting the bucket about knee high off the ground. The audience had been moaning and groaning while the hook was being pulled through my face, but when the bucket was lifted up using only my freshly pierced face and I began swinging the bucket back and forth, they went totally nuts. After a few moments of swingi ng, I knelt back down, and extracted the hook. But as I stood up to take my final bow, I spotted the glass of milk I had used in an earlier act and inspiration hit me. I took a mouthful of milk, put my palm up to my mouth, and forced the milk to squirt out of the fresh hole in my cheek. The audience went crazy, some running away, some screaming for me to stop, and some cracking up and loving every minute of it. I took my bow, gathered my equipment, and went backstage.
Once backstage, I found a mirror and checked myself out. There was no blood at all, but my cheek was slightly swollen. I assumed it was from the piercing, and got ready for the next show later on that night. Right before World Inferno went on was my cue for the second show. I repeated the performance for an increased in number and now rowdier crowd, and decided to again finish with the Fishface and the newly thought of milk squirt. I now used my other cheek, and made another fresh hole, and this time swung the bucket much harder, took a much bigger swig of milk, and blew much more forceful to get a stream of milk rather then a trickle. It was at this moment where things went very wrong.
Suddenly I could not see clearly. It was as if someone had put pantyhose over my head, everything was out of focus. I again felt no pain, and finished up and came off stage. My friends came running up to me and asked what the hell I had done. I didn't understand what they meant, they called me a "Sick Beast" and they told me to go find a mirror quick. I went into the bathroom, and to my horror from my eyes down to my chin my face was EXTREMELY swollen. My lower eyelids were now purple and each about the size of a grape, and each cheek was about the size of a large orange. It looked like I was either a human chipmunk, or had just gone 10 rounds with Mike Tyson in his prime. I had in effect created a new sideshow act, the human balloon! (I didn't find it funny at the time). My face was fucked up big-time. I iced it throughout the night, drove home from the show, and decided I would sleep it off. However, the next morning it was not at all improved, and I drove myself to the em ergency room.
Three hours and five X-rays later and the doctor said I had Subcutaneous Emphysema, prescribed me an antibiotic, and said the air trapped under my skin would be absorbed in a few days. I had known about "Rice Krispies", but had not thought it could be so extreme. In the process of my improvised milk squirting demonstrations, I had forced a great deal of air and milk into my face, where it inflated my skin and became trapped. The swelling did go down... 5 days later.
So what is the moral of this story? I know I certainly learned a lot. I learned a lot about myself that night, about my limits, about my abilities, and a great deal about performing in front of a large crowd. But I also learned what BME has always stressed; THERE ARE VERY REAL RISKS INVOLVED IN THE THINGS YOU SEE OTHERS DOING ON THIS SITE! I had studied not only what to do but what could go wrong, and ignored the risks. I didn't think my Fishface lift would have such adverse effects, and when I spotted that glass of milk I didn't consider the consequences my improvised squirt could have. Well I learned first hand what the consequences were; a trip to the hospital and a deformed swollen face that lasted 5 days! So this is my warning tale to you. Whether you are interested in entertaining people, in experimenting with a partner, or exploring your own limits, body modification can be very rewarding but also very dangerous. The risks are real and many. Things can and do go wrong , and I was lucky to have escaped my experiment with only minor, but very noticeable, side effects. Many of the things I performed that night could have killed me if something had gone wrong, and I was lucky that my hasty experiment with fish-hooks and milk could be considered to some degree a success.
So after you do all the research, after you read the how to's, the risks, the testimonials, and even find someone with experience to guide you through whatever procedure you decide to do, know that things can still go wrong, and that you must be prepared to face the consequences of your actions...which in my case involved me looking like a goddamn chipmunk for 5 long, long days and getting stuck with a hospital and subscription bill. Have fun out there, but be careful!