As the JIM ROSE CIRCUS rolls into town, Brian Donaldson explains why its leader’s current preoccupations might make you imagine Donald Rumsfeld dangling hot coals from his nipples.
he Jim Rose ('ircus has been called many
things in the past. Moira Knox. legendary
ex-lidinburgh councillor and Mary Whitehouse wannabe. dtrbbed them ‘disgusting‘ during their many Fringe spats in the 90s. The Tokyo Shock Boys called Rose a ‘plagiarist‘ who they believe shamelesst nabbed their act. Johnny .lru'kus's‘ Knoxville has cited Rose as a massive inspiration. But one thing you could never have imagined Jim Rose to be labelled is political.
Yet the good people of the United States who run the TV networks he works on and who book small scale circus freak show gigs have bestowed this tag upon Jim Rose. forcing him off the airwaves and onto aeroplanes to take him to litirope where he and his troupe can spread their ‘political‘ message loud and clear and bloodily. Only in America. ()r. to be more accurate. only in America in the run-up to a presidential election. ‘(ieorge Bush.‘ drawls
Rose over the phone from the London office of
Mark Borkowski PR. the firm that has done wonders getting him acres of press in the past. "l‘hat guy fucking sucks. Smart weapons. dumb president.‘ I think we can safely assume that Rose. a man who shoves iron nails up his nostrils and razorblades down his throat. would have preferred Gore to have been in the White House for the last four years.
On stage at Liverpool‘s Carling Academy one week later. the political nature of this year‘s Rose sideshow is revealed. The gig is preceded by the sound of Bill Hicks from over a decade ago. railing against conservative. fundamentalist America and within the set there‘s a 30-second Rose rant which revolves around repetition of the phrase: ‘(ieorge Bush: that guy fucking sucks.‘ If this is what stands for ‘political‘ in contemporary America. then those folks down there are in big trouble. '()ne of the reasons that I'm in the UK is that in an election year they change the media laws. For whatever reason. they‘ve decided that I'm political which means that every time I appear on television. they have to give equal time in response to Republicans.‘ Which immediately conjures up images of Donald Rumsfeld dangling hot coals from his nipples or Arnold Schwarzenegger having darts thrown at his stomach. Maybe these election rules aren‘t such a bad thing.
‘Bush is personable and has a cadre of advisors and that‘s why he gets elected.~ notes Rose. warming to his political 'theme'. ‘But he‘s also not as smart as some Americans might think he is. He’s basically a puppet. A fuck puppet who . . .‘ At which point Rose wanders off into a litany of entertaining but frankly highly libellous
; conjecture about those who control Bush on .\ Capitol Hill and which appendages they control
him with. his parents' sexuality and how he came
into this world. for a man who cites having dinner with lawyers as among the two scariest things in the world thaving dinner with accountants just pips iti. he clearly loves courting them.
Jim Rose didn‘t run away to the circus. He
didn't need to. as it came to him in the form of
the fairground which parked every year near his Seattle home. Perhaps as a means of distraction from the schoolyard bullies who taunted him for his squint. he became in awe of the motorcycle daredevils. the monster trucks. the freaks and the professional wrestlers; the year he brought dildo— w'ielding transvestite sumo wrestlers to lidinburgh is still his proudest moment. Yet. when it came to the moment when Rose was being asked to choose a vocation. his career advisor wasn‘t met with the reply: ‘fr'eak show co-ordinator”.
‘I didn‘t think I'd have a career in this at all.' Rose recalls. ‘I went to the l'niversity of .-\ri/ona and got a degree in political science. I moved to l)(‘ and ptit it to work btit politics abused people in a way that was unsettling for mef And so. Rose took his childhood obsessions and switched those unsettling emotions onto others. “ith the aid of pals such as Mr Lifto (who is in the (iii/tinny Book of Records for raising weights attached to piercings on all parts of his
body) l.ollapa|oo/.a in 1992 was his ‘ I I I I '1 ' I I . | r t ‘ ' I I I . I I ‘ 3 I A.
breakthrough and touring with Nine Inch Nails and Marilyn Manson was the benchmark. But it all nearly came to a crushing end in I998 when be cleared 27 cows on his motorbike in Belgium. only to land rather awkwardly. 'l landed on some freshly spent cud. That's why today I walk around with the posture of a jumbo shrimpf As is the nature of his trade. Rose has come close to corpsing on several occasions. 'There were the times we used to play chainsaw football and one time I ate too may lightbulbs. Some people think one is too many. but that day I think seven or eight went down.‘
Somehow. he‘s survived it all. and here he is
with his latest freak show incarnation. Roll tip for the lady who blows fire from her womanhood and disappears inside a tarpauliii sheet for more time than you really should with such decreasing levels of oxygen; audience members are encouraged on stage to replicate this feat. ()bserv e Big .\lak. a very large gentleman indeed. who acts as a symbol for .»\merica's obesil} epidemic; the change of spelling may be to prevent a call from a certain burger chain's legal representatives. ‘I describe it as a mirror image of today 's .-\merica.' states Rose. getting all political again on our bony asses. 'l.ibera|s have always championed nature. conservatives have always championed nurture. so if I threw up some nurture and show them what it creates. then I thought that could be impactful. I found that it was so iitipactftil that I'm not able to do this show in the l'nited States.’
Rose. like his gruesome tricks. isn't getting any younger. In his 00s heyday (round about the time he was making guest appearances on .\'» l'i/(‘s in an episode in which Scully eats a cockroach. and in The Simmons as the man who trains Homer to be the Human (‘annonballi lie was touring for ten frenetic months. Now. he pushes himself to the limits on stage fora maximum of two months of the year. using more time on his 'l‘ivi'sml 'Iour cable 'l‘\' show and lleecing a lot of celebrities in his capacity as a
I!
. rs , O I ,- I I 1 J
professional poker player. ‘I recently took Tobey Maguire and Ben Affleck for about “2.000 about ten days ago. I disguised myself to play Dave Navarro and took him for about £800. I also nailed kids from N‘Sync: can‘t even remember the names of those guys. And Macaulay Culkin. remember him‘.’ I turned over a pair of aces after he called my bet. He had a look on his face as though he‘d just found a finger in his Coca Cola.‘
Jim Rose Circus plays the Arches, Glasgow, Fri 8 Oct and Liquid Room, Edinburgh, Sat 9 Oct.
7—2‘ Oct. 27/. THE LIST 15