Wigs and Other Stuff - A Report by Apprentice Brimage

This is Apprentice Brimage. She took most of the pictures in this post. She did not take this picture because her arms are not that long and I have not figured out how to use the timer on the camera. She probably knows how to use the times but I did not think of that at the time. Her great uncle was Albert Einstein.


We have some wigs given to us by a couple of the clowns from the local COIA Alley. I am not sure they want to be publically linked with this crew so I will not share their names. I imagine they have carears to think about. from left to right is Sergeant Thurman, Apprentice Brimage and Sergeant Wilson. The two Brimages are related. The blue shirt are Junior Clowns the rank above Apprentice. We just figured out at the meeting the second Apprentice Brimage should have been promoted to Junior Clown six months ago.
This is the Apprentice Brimage that should have been promoted. So imagine that she has a blue shirt. She is very patient. By the way the patient is an inside joke thing.


This is me in the purple shirt saying something terribly important. You can tell it is terribly important because no one is paying attention. Cadet Miller is to the right and Sergeant Thurman is explaining something about balloons to someone off camera.


Well goodnight from the Steel City Clown Brigade. Thank you to the COAI folks and Apprentice Brimage for taking these pictures.

Good Practice

We had a very good practice today. Not only did we cover balloons and juggling we also got to some dancing. One of the adults in the group is going back to school. This will leave a bit of a void in the leadership of the group. Even so two of the young Sergeants ran the dance practice today with only a little bit of outside direction. This is a feat to say the least.

Eleven years of age is an interesting age. It is an age with so much promise if things go the right way. The sergeant in charge of the Dance group is now eleven. She had been with the Brigade for more than a year now. Today was the first day that she ran something without the direct supervision of an adult. It was a bit rough at moments. Still they go through several thing without someone giving them a plan. This is the first step to a young person becoming a leader. If she sticks around long enough I think she has a fairly good shot at becoming a Master Clown before she is eighteen.

By the way in the clowning world becoming a Master Clown is a bit like becoming an Eagle Scout.

In addition to this first we also had our first guest from another Clown Troupe. Two member of the local Clowns of America International Branch attended the meeting. They were very nice and appeared to enjoy themselves. There are not many clowns left. So it is truly important that those that are left band together to preserve the craft.

Be safe out there and keep your stick on the ice.

Second Tuesday Meeting

We had a really great Brigade Meeting this evening. We have two new candidates. So that is always a really nice thing. Tonight we did some Christmas carols and had a bit of a sing song in addition to the stuff we normally do. We also got a chance for some of our folks to work on a dance routine. I have never really thought of clowns as dancers. So this is a new thing for me. Still a hundred years ago clowns did not really do balloon animals. So it is something that is always evolving. So maybe some day clowns will be dancing. That is something that is a bit odd to me still. I also have a young person that wants to do skate boarding. So things are changing.

I also had a chance to visit the local Clown of America International meeting yesterday. This was a really neat little meeting. They were very friendly and even invited us to their Christmas Party. I have never been invited to a Christmas Party at my first meeting with a group.

On the up side moving the meeting to Tuesday appears to have gotten a couple of people that have not been to Wednesdays for a while to the meeting. So that was a bonus as well. So just a note for any of the Brigade members reading this. The Brigade Practice will be on Tuesday from 5:30 to 8:00 PM at Second Baptist The Knitting and Production Practice will be on Wednesday at the same time at the Barnes and Nobles at the Waterfront. Church is still at Second Baptist at 11:00 AM.

Clown Associations

Now that the Brigade is off on it's own we are going to have to form partnerships with other organization. This is one thing that we were not supposed to do when we were within The Salvation Army. We were never told that we were not allowed to. It was simply never done. And when we asked if we could it was always we will get back to you. And then we never heard from anyone.

Well now we are off on our own. So we make our own decisions. Well there are three choices to choose from as far as clown association go. Actually there are many more. There are just the three that cover our area.

Well the three that cover this area have the own virtues and strengths. From what I recall no organization is perfect. The local clown ally is a member of all three if I recall correctly. I suppose that is one way to deal with the strength and weaknesses of the three.

The first is the oldest of the three. The Clown of America International. I do believe they are also the largest. I was a member of this group once upon a time. It is a nice little group. They have a fairly decent conference. Their only draw back is that they minimum membership age it to high for some of the Brigade's members.

The Second Group is the World Clown Association. They appear more interested in humor therapy than the COAI. So this might be a plus for us. It also appear that Dr. Richard Snowberg is their current President. From what I know of Humor Therapy within clown he is doing a great deal.

The third group is the Mid-Atlantic Clown Association. They are a regional group that covers the region around us. I was never a member of this group. Still I have heard only good things about them. I do not know where they stand on Humor Therapy. Still, they have the advantage of being local. So we would be able to attend their conference more easily than the others.

Well I know that out board will vote on all of this so it is not entirely my decision. Still it is interesting looking into their things.

Be safe out there and keep your stick on the ice.