Meeting sideshow carnies on the street in Knoxville

While strolling over to Tribe One's fundraising exhibit on South Gay Street, I met two fellows:  Ray the Human Skeleton and Sideshow Greg.

Sideshow Greg has a dream: he wants to be the impresario of a good, old school sideshow.  I pointed out to him, he was in competition with cable TV, in that people can tune into "Hoarders" or "My Strange Obsession" and indulge themselves in some guilty viewing pleasure without having to leave their homes.  Nonetheless, Sideshow Greg believed there was a need for such live entertainment.  Indeed, I would have to agree with him.

"Are you heading to the Square?" I asked.

"We're waiting for it to get darker," Sideshow Greg explained.  "We once did our act while it was light, but the people eating on the patios could see us and were kind of getting grossed out.  So a cop shut us down, and said we needed to wait until it was dark."  Fair enough.

I picked up Sideshow Greg's suitcase, at his invitation, to see how heavy it was before he attached it to his ear.  I estimate it weighed between 20 to 25 pounds.

You really can meet some of the nicest folk on a summer's eve in downtown Knoxville.