OK, I have to admit, starting in May, my life became VERRRRY hectic.
I had made the decision after 16 years, to move away from Toronto. This was a slow process, because I had built a strong fanbase in the city and was also well connected with the media. It was something that I felt I had to do if I were to progress and move forward.
I have many dreams and aspirations, and Toronto was limiting the goals that I had set for myself. Yes, it is the largest city in the country and a MECA for many Canadian entertainers, but it was also stifling. There is soooo much entertainment in the city and not enough rooms to go around. So, many of the pros have to wait for theaters to open up schedule wise and also contend with the deluge of street advertising that over shadows the work that we do. To put it plainly, there is just to much to do in Toronto... so, the public sometimes goes into an entertainment coma.
That being said, I also tour alot and sometimes do not see my home for up to 6 months out of the year. So, when I have down time... do I really want to spend it in a city that is grid-locked almost 24/7 and filled with people rushing around with their heads cut off?
The answer is
NO.
And so, I decided to make the move... but it would have to be to a place that was still central and could also give me some peace of mind.
For the past 2 years I have been working large shows in the Ottawa area and I have struck up a good rapport with the media... so, I decided to move to a cabin on the Mississippi River in Eastern Ontario. What a wonderful change and I mean that in the most profound way!
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| Looking out from the back porch onto the Mississippi River |
Right before I started the move, I performed at the
Innovator's Ball, which during this year also had the
Harry Potter Exhibit on show. The event took place at the Ontario Science Center and was attended by over 3000 people!
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| Eisengrimm performing Miracles at the Innovators Ball |
I began the move in June and started to slowly move my furniture and LIFE to this little piece of Paradise during that time, I was also starting to work on some NEW ideas for my upcoming shows and would spend what little time I did have between moving, building strange new props and routines for my stage shows.
On July 1st until July 4th 2010, I set up
Carnival Diablo's World of Wonders at
Upper Canada Village. This was the first of many high profile gigs I would be doing through the summer and into the fall in the area that I lived in.
Here is an ad that ran during the event in the Eastern Ontario area
And here are a few pix of the time spent at Upper Canada Village
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| Crowd gathers to see the FREAKS! |
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| Nikolai Diablo appraises the situation |
And with being open for the first time at this wonderful park, we garnered some great press! ...
And this was just the beginning of a whirl wind of events that took place almost back to back all summer long! Right when I got back from Morrisburg, I had to start to prepare for the
Ottawa Super EX. And this was beginning to become a huge endeavor. At first the Super EX just wanted to have my
Carnival Diablo World of Wonders at the Exhibition... but when they discovered that I owned my grandfathers estate, plus a collection of
Machines of Death used in Sideshows, they asked if I could create a Retrospect Museum based on my grandfathers life, and would I be interested in doing a Lecture about the History of Freakshow Entertainment in the carnival industry. Of course my answer was YES to all questions! But now, I had created a massive workload in a very short period of time, and I still was moving stuff from Toronto and would be right up until the end of that month.
So, I started building a modular Historical Museum of my grandfathers life and also spent my nights writing a lecture about the History of the Freakshow.
We opened on August 19th and once again garnered alot of attention from the Ottawa public as we put on show, not only the last traveling Freakshow in Canada, but also a complete Museum and a display of Machines of Death. And nightly at 7pm I would do a lecture in front of up to 300 people in the Coliseum Building.
The Exhibits and lectures were a huge success and I felt privileged to be the last Showman to run a Freakshow at there historical
Landsdowne Park Exhibition Grounds. For this was the very last time that they were going to use Landsdowne Park as the grounds for the Ottawa Super EX.
Here are a few pix from that historic occasion
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| Crowds enjoying the Freakshow Exhibition |
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| Audience watching lecture |
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| Audience on a different day |
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| Audience reaction to my demonstration |
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| A corner of my Grandfathers Museum |
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| Receiving Award for Best Attraction |
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| Machines of DEATH |
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And with the end of summer came the preparations for
Fort Fright in Kingston ON, which would open on Sept.22nd 2010. I had two NEW acts that I wanted to add to the show and I also wanted to design a NEW costume for the upcoming run. The work was none stop as we got ready for another BIG run of Shows... 6 weeks of shows in a row, and even as I write this from a Sheraton Hotel in Kingston, we still have 15 shows left before I can breath again. (And trust me, I am not complaining)
The story continues....
