I used to live in North Carolina. I was having a hard time finding a job "as usual," and a female friend I was interested in, wasn't ready to not be with her bf anymore; so I figured I would find something to do. I went down into the town of Fayetteville NC and found a carnival there. I already liked the whole carnival thing because it has such an aura of burnt out lights, booze, and R-keys that I loved as it was. I asked around for a few and found someone who was looking to hire someone but only for travel. I was new to the whole thing, so I was sad to find out that I wouldn't be traveling in the bunk house being pulled by the truck watching out the little door window and drinking a beer. I would have to sit up in one of the trucks... not nearly as romantic as I'd hoped but still traveling to unknown places regardless.
I had also brought along my acoustic guitar because I was hoping to come across a dirty carnie guitar god who could teach me some new things. After a crash course in getting peoples attention and trying to keep it while I take their money, I ended up in South Carolina. I was doing a carnival outside of some little po dunk town built around a chicken rendering plant. You know, the towns big local "thank you for not complaining about the chicken gut smell" festival. The local church goers of the area (which was pretty much everyone) decided that us dirty carnies could possibly use some cleaning supply's so they gave us all a bag with toothbrushes and soaps and a towel. We gorged ourselves on chicken all day and then rolled out for another part of South Carolina.
I was unaware that some carnival owners are not as cool as others and quickly came to realize that The boss was allowed to drink his Heinikens and I wasn't allowed to drink my Milwalkees best. Anyway I made some friends and ended up saving about 20 people from burning to death in a bunk house fire started by some crack heads with a candle. Oh and I realized the crack head was the weird Bernie Mack-looking-guy from Fayetteville that kept telling me "we can be friends," "we can be friends" with a really scary river boat crack head at the crossroads kinda "devil" thing going on.
Needless to say, I was up all night with the people I had woken up from burning death and drank till dawn. I got in trouble when I walked back to my bunk house that morning because: one, I was plastered; 2, I had a world wide carnival shirt on and; 3, it was time to start working and I was going to bed, lol. So the boss kicked me out and said fuck you, here's your 15 bucks you've made, I don't care how you get home.
Luckily, I met a guy who worked for another group, and he liked the way I used my pseudo-radio personality voice to attract "marks." He also noticed that I was a metal fan and that we drank the same beer. So he told me..... by the way, I would drop names but I don't think a lot of these people would be happy with being talked about on the net, lol.
So he told me, "hey come work up in the meadowland in New Jersey with me for like 3 months and I'll hook you up with my boss who has the contract for the games at Ozzfest." This was the year 2002. So of course, I am like fuck yeah! Either that or be stuck in South Carolina in the middle of nowhere. So me and another guy who got kicked out of his carnival group traveled up to New Jersey. The other guy was an old school bozo and had pissed off some people and was later made to quit working for us because of it... the whole things kind of mafia-ish.
Anyway, I did New York and New Jersey, living in a piss stained carnie bunk house with my beers and my new Puerto Rican girlfriend from Yonkers. I got on Ozzfest 02 and dropped out of that in Detroit, after I'd say about 10 or 15 shows or so. I was standing in Detroit with no money and no shoes because they were on the bus and I didn't want to face my boss because I probably owed him money, lol.
Another guy and his girlfriend quit with me and he ended up ditching her pregnant ass with me while he went home with his grandfather while I hitched us rides all the way back to North Carolina. Her family picked her up from South Carolina and she went home..... Over all, I would definitely do it again and with my new found interest in trains, I think this next trip will be even more entertaining. :twisted:
I had also brought along my acoustic guitar because I was hoping to come across a dirty carnie guitar god who could teach me some new things. After a crash course in getting peoples attention and trying to keep it while I take their money, I ended up in South Carolina. I was doing a carnival outside of some little po dunk town built around a chicken rendering plant. You know, the towns big local "thank you for not complaining about the chicken gut smell" festival. The local church goers of the area (which was pretty much everyone) decided that us dirty carnies could possibly use some cleaning supply's so they gave us all a bag with toothbrushes and soaps and a towel. We gorged ourselves on chicken all day and then rolled out for another part of South Carolina.
I was unaware that some carnival owners are not as cool as others and quickly came to realize that The boss was allowed to drink his Heinikens and I wasn't allowed to drink my Milwalkees best. Anyway I made some friends and ended up saving about 20 people from burning to death in a bunk house fire started by some crack heads with a candle. Oh and I realized the crack head was the weird Bernie Mack-looking-guy from Fayetteville that kept telling me "we can be friends," "we can be friends" with a really scary river boat crack head at the crossroads kinda "devil" thing going on.
Needless to say, I was up all night with the people I had woken up from burning death and drank till dawn. I got in trouble when I walked back to my bunk house that morning because: one, I was plastered; 2, I had a world wide carnival shirt on and; 3, it was time to start working and I was going to bed, lol. So the boss kicked me out and said fuck you, here's your 15 bucks you've made, I don't care how you get home.
Luckily, I met a guy who worked for another group, and he liked the way I used my pseudo-radio personality voice to attract "marks." He also noticed that I was a metal fan and that we drank the same beer. So he told me..... by the way, I would drop names but I don't think a lot of these people would be happy with being talked about on the net, lol.
So he told me, "hey come work up in the meadowland in New Jersey with me for like 3 months and I'll hook you up with my boss who has the contract for the games at Ozzfest." This was the year 2002. So of course, I am like fuck yeah! Either that or be stuck in South Carolina in the middle of nowhere. So me and another guy who got kicked out of his carnival group traveled up to New Jersey. The other guy was an old school bozo and had pissed off some people and was later made to quit working for us because of it... the whole things kind of mafia-ish.
Anyway, I did New York and New Jersey, living in a piss stained carnie bunk house with my beers and my new Puerto Rican girlfriend from Yonkers. I got on Ozzfest 02 and dropped out of that in Detroit, after I'd say about 10 or 15 shows or so. I was standing in Detroit with no money and no shoes because they were on the bus and I didn't want to face my boss because I probably owed him money, lol.
Another guy and his girlfriend quit with me and he ended up ditching her pregnant ass with me while he went home with his grandfather while I hitched us rides all the way back to North Carolina. Her family picked her up from South Carolina and she went home..... Over all, I would definitely do it again and with my new found interest in trains, I think this next trip will be even more entertaining. :twisted:
