one bottle of pop, two bottle of pop...

So back in the day, about 1942-1956, Emmett Kelly was a clown for the Ringling Bros. Circus. He was a big deal because he had this great tramp clown, Weary Willie, when people just weren't doing that, circus clowns went in whiteface or auguste and made people laugh. Kelly would sweep up after the other acts, including a famous gag where he would try to sweep up the spotlight (other clowns have done spotlight gags since, like Oleg Popov or David Larible, but Kelly was the first) and he was the mascot for the Brooklyn Dodgers for a year. Generally, he's just great.

One thing he did that gained him a good deal of fame was that at the beginning of the show all the clowns would run around the ring, jumping and leaping and doing clown things trying to attract people's attention. But Kelly would just walk out calmly, find a seat on the edge of the ring and sew a button onto his very tattered coat. Rather than desparately trying to gain people's attention, he would just create his own little world and invite people in if they so chose. So naturally the crowd's attention would go to him because of the huge difference in energy level, a calm sitting figure amid an orgy of color, movement and sound. 

So I wanted to play with a similar idea, create a little world and invite people in if they felt like it. I got some bottles, figured out what pitch they created, and set up shop. I had a little pentatonic going, or the first five notes of a major scale in my case. I'm gonna say C D E F G, though I have no idea what key I was in. Not the point. 

I didn't really know how to play many things, given only a few pitches. But I managed some things, your basic Mary Had a Little Lamb, Tea for Two, Beautiful Soup and plenty of other ones that sort of worked, like Frere Jacques, except that I was missing a few notes. But a good time to be sure. 

I was set up on the back porch of my house, which wasn't terribly public but I chose it because it was raining and the porch was covered by a room that sticks out on the third floor (my room, actually.) so as it turns out, there are great acoustics in that little corner thanks to my jutting out room and the sound carried a lot more than I thought it would. Maybe that was a little less private than it should've been, but it got peoples attention. 

I wouldn't say anything profound came out of this. I hit some bottles with a spoon. But it was a nice dynamic to play with and one that I don't try often enough.  I definitely felt like I should be doing something, like making faces, so that it would be engaging since I didn't think my musical prowess was so captivating.  But it was nice being a quiet unassuming clown as a break from the tensed-to-every-hair feeling of something like commedia dell'arte. I'll keep playing with this.

Many thanks to Lily for taking the pictures. And I haven't figured out how to rotate videos so neck cramps ahoy!

good evening frieeeeeeeends!