alright

[Brian Wilson]

Well I figure that Robert has given enough to the performing community, and that we all owe him at least a comfortable retirement. And telling fun stories is hardly work at all.

Chance, maybe you should write your own book!

take it easy,
Bri

[Chance]

I did already, Bri. It was all about the many obvious Freudian connections between jugglers and their favorite props. Only a blind man could miss the phalic implications of those long fat clubs with the bulbous heads. Or how about the repressed sexual anger and resentment displayed by juggling sharp bladed objects? Wow, that's gotta hurt, right ladies? And how about fire torches? Good God Almighty, that one alone is enough to have Sigmund begging for mercy! And no book on the subject would be complete without making mention of the countless 'ball' tricks available to the juggling community, and just why it is so important to master skills involving multiple-ball patterns: no Performance Anxiety Complex there, right Siggy?

And what about juggling cross-dressers? My book gave special attention to the subject of taking on the skins of other mammal types, not the least of which is the bovine character: Bovine do not possess language skills; it is easily domesticated and subdued; although it has many uses it is used mainly as a food source; it has a brain the size of a baseball and all the intelligence of one as well.

This composite image would be further defined if, for sake of example, a male homoerectus were to take on the image if a female bovine - a cow. Not only does this inspire a strict cross gender ("Who am I really, maybe I should have been born a woman?"), debate, but what about the obvious picture of 'breast envy'? And not just any breast, but of a size (really big and always full of milk) and shape (four nipples/teets) unavailable to any human female, let alone a male of the species?

All of these subjects were thoroughly covered in my book. Perhaps you would like me to send you a copy?

[Jim]

Chance,

What does your book say about straight jackets, handcuffs and chains?

Jim

[Brian Wilson]

Woah. For sure send me a copy. I'm really up on my Freudian studies.. wrote one too many Psychoanalytic papers in university.

Although I think you may be reading too much into our act. I haven't worn The Cowsuit in a few years. Even when I did wear it twas always grudgingly, and at the willing of the crowd. We did such stellar stuff as squirt water out of the udders, and tell bad cow jokes. (no Freudian or mother imagery.. sorry Dude. It was really just a silly costume.)

Chance, read "Houdini: A Mind in Chains" a Psychoanalytic Portrait, you'll find it informative. It also demonstrates that the escape artist (using Houdini as an example) has a few more Freudian "issues" than the average juggler/comedian/clown type.

One of which might be projection...

Take it easy.

[Chance]

FYI Bri and Jim, I have already read the book you mentioned, about 1984. Since I have read so many other books on the subject of Houdini I can not remember everything this book had to say, but I do remember that it was the first book to mention his imaginary son, which I found fascinating.

Did you also know that Harry had a dog which could escape from a custom made doggy strait jacket? I wonder what his pet psychologist had to say about that!?

[Prof Willie B]

I'm looking forward to chance's definitive "How To Win Friends and Influence People" book, whilst I work on my newest publication "The Prof's Cookie Book". Did you try the "Peanut" cookie recipe yet, Brian?

[Brian Wilson]

Prof haven't tried it yet because you guys haven't sent me the recipe!

[Todd]

Not to get in anywhere I don't belong, but I was struck by the Freudian images of a man sheathing himself in a cold steel womb of chains, who, nightly commits his body to the slow torture of "escaping" a bitter, suffocating "prison" of masculine design all to titillate an anonymous crowd of onlookers.
.............but then, I guess when you come down to it we all live in our own glass houses. Don't we.

[Chance]

Actually Todd, chains are not often cold at all and they get very hot when laying out in the sun - and when combined with a strait jacket (as in my show) the ensemble becomes nothing less than a full scale sauna.

And when drawing inferences to a "womb", be sure to include all references to wooden boxes and sundry glass and metal containers; and don't forget to mention underwater escapes: probably the closest 'womb' representation there could be.

Don't make the mistake, as so many have, of believing that I am in denial over my occupation/lifestyle. Not every weird person you meet dislikes the comparison!

[Brian Wilson]

So Chance, why do you do what you do?

You're one of a handful of people on this planet that call themselves an escape artist. Locking yourself up in chains, straightjackets, being shackled & chained up and then thrown in a harbour, well why? It's obviously painful sometimes, a sauna on other days, a dunk tank on other days, is it worth all the pain?

Personally, I've chosen the route of entertainer/comedian as I like making people laugh and like to "wow" them with certain skills. I like to inspire sort of a "Wow-hahaha" reaction.

I do what I do because I want to.

Why do you?

[Chance]

Bri,

The tone of your last letter suggests that you feel that I am somehow reluctant to discuss or be confronted by the questions and/or issues you have brought up... But the fact is that 99% of what you just asked for has already been answered in the FAQ section of my website, which I wrote and published over the Web almost 2 years ago. If you have any other, more original questions, please don't hesitate to ask -- as I am sure that you only have my best interests at heart, right? Right!