the Way of the Showman

This episode starts quite personal and then moving through an examinations of what it means for some Material, or anything else for that matter, to be a Novelty Act, or new or for something to be a genuine creative innovation. To understand this I look at the difference between something being a novel creation by an individual in isolation and what that means in a wider cultural or community context.Through this I end up bringing in the only phrases which repeats in the Showman's Manifesto which we looked at in episode 25. The Manifesto Poem starts with the epic words "I AM," and with this as a starting point we rocket off on some deep cosmic ponderings. As strange and deeply poetic as those explorations might be it pretty much leaves us right back where we started at the personal conundrum in my life of attempting to do the right thing for my Daughter, my Wife and myself. Three aspects of one whole who, as it turns out might be living a catch 22, dilemma situation based on our itinirant lifestyle catching up with us. A traveller citizen of the world migth eventually find themselves with a problem of geography.Notes:Poems:Billy Collins: On Turning TenWilliam Blake: Songs of Innocence and Experience and Augaries of InnosenceBooks: Henri Bortoft: Taking appearances seriously - the Dynamic Way of Seeing in Goethe adn European Thought. (Here's a link to a whole lecture series this man did at Schumacher Colleage in England.Bjørn Kruse: the Thinking Artist. Here is a link to a lecture he held about his ideas from the book.Hans Georg Gadamer: Truth and Method, Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy's entry on Gadamer's AestheticsVincent Van Gogh: Painting of a chair Theodore Annemann the Jinx magazineYou can contact me on thewayoftheshowman@gmail.cSupport the show...Now you can get t-shirts and hoodies with our wonderful logo. This is the best new way to suport the podcast project. Become a proud parader of your passion for Showmanship and our glorious Craft whilst simultanously helping to gather more followers for the Way.You'll find the store here: https://thewayoftheshowman.printdrop.com.auIf you want to help support this podcast it would be tremendous if you wrote a glowing review on iTunes or Spotify.If you want to contact me about anything, including wanting me to collaborate on one of your projects you can reach me on thewayoftheshowman@gmail.comor find out more on the Way of the Showman website.you can follow the Way of Instagram where it is, not surprisingly thewayoftheshowman.If you find it in you and you have the means to do so, you can suport the podcast financially at:https://www.buymeacoffee.com/captainfrodo

To celebrate that we have reched the magical and intensly meaningful number 42 broadcasts here on the carnival underground I have put together a special sonic treat for you all. I have written a poetic exploration encompassing the dawn of time and all the way up until to day seen through the lense of Showmahship. This is a humble, no doubt flawed and incomplete attempt at developing the mythopetic space of Showmanship.I have written and played all the music and created all the soundscapes used in this episode.I hope you like it.If you want to help suport this podcast it would be tremendous if you wrote a glowing review on itunes or Spotify.If you want to  contact me about anything, including wanting me to collaborate on one of your projects you can reach me on thewayoftheshowman@gmail.comor find out more on the Way of the Showman website.If you find it in you and you have the means to do so, you can suport the podcast financially at:https://www.buymeacoffee.com/captainfrodoSupport the show...Now you can get t-shirts and hoodies with our wonderful logo. This is the best new way to suport the podcast project. Become a proud parader of your passion for Showmanship and our glorious Craft whilst simultanously helping to gather more followers for the Way.You'll find the store here: https://thewayoftheshowman.printdrop.com.auIf you want to help support this podcast it would be tremendous if you wrote a glowing review on iTunes or Spotify.If you want to contact me about anything, including wanting me to collaborate on one of your projects you can reach me on thewayoftheshowman@gmail.comor find out more on the Way of the Showman website.you can follow the Way of Instagram where it is, not surprisingly thewayoftheshowman.If you find it in you and you have the means to do so, you can suport the podcast financially at:https://www.buymeacoffee.com/captainfrodo

On this leg of the journey I am joined by Juggler Extraordinaire Jay Gilligan, a man who needs no further introduction amongst the practicioneers of the art of juggling. Or, perhaps to those of you who listened to episode 37 where I spoke with Jay about our collaboration. In this episode Jay and I go deeper into our process of creation and with all the themes and ideas which surrounds the creation of a show.I would say that conversations like this one is a big part of what got me through the early dark ages of the pandemic. To have an ongoing always evolving conversation about developing my Craft and refining and coming to understand my process as well as adapting it to suit fellow artists has been a glorious highlight of all the uncertainty, restrictions and lockdowns.I find conversation to be an amazing tool for myself to learn what I think. The dialectic nature of the back and forth is really fun. I hope to explore this further on this podcast, perhaps again with Jay and also perhaps with others.Links:ARE WE LIVE? Here's the Penn & Teller's brilliant Saturday Night Live appearance.Jay's show REFLEX, which is a co-creation between mysylf and him opens january 28th 2022 in New York CityYou can contact me on thewayoftheshowman@gmail.comor find out more on the Way of the Showman website.suport the podcast:https://www.buymeacoffee.com/captainfrodoSupport the show...Now you can get t-shirts and hoodies with our wonderful logo. This is the best new way to suport the podcast project. Become a proud parader of your passion for Showmanship and our glorious Craft whilst simultanously helping to gather more followers for the Way.You'll find the store here: https://thewayoftheshowman.printdrop.com.auIf you want to help support this podcast it would be tremendous if you wrote a glowing review on iTunes or Spotify.If you want to contact me about anything, including wanting me to collaborate on one of your projects you can reach me on thewayoftheshowman@gmail.comor find out more on the Way of the Showman website.you can follow the Way of Instagram where it is, not surprisingly thewayoftheshowman.If you find it in you and you have the means to do so, you can suport the podcast financially at:https://www.buymeacoffee.com/captainfrodo

In this episode I propose a new way of looking at the distinction between Audience and Showman. I also use this new inclusive view inform me in my pursuit of meaning in life. You can contact me on thewayoftheshowman@gmail.comor find out more on the Way of the Showman website.suport the podcast:https://www.buymeacoffee.com/captainfrodoSupport the show...Now you can get t-shirts and hoodies with our wonderful logo. This is the best new way to suport the podcast project. Become a proud parader of your passion for Showmanship and our glorious Craft whilst simultanously helping to gather more followers for the Way.You'll find the store here: https://thewayoftheshowman.printdrop.com.auIf you want to help support this podcast it would be tremendous if you wrote a glowing review on iTunes or Spotify.If you want to contact me about anything, including wanting me to collaborate on one of your projects you can reach me on thewayoftheshowman@gmail.comor find out more on the Way of the Showman website.you can follow the Way of Instagram where it is, not surprisingly thewayoftheshowman.If you find it in you and you have the means to do so, you can suport the podcast financially at:https://www.buymeacoffee.com/captainfrodo

In this episode I take a deep look at what the mechanisms are of finding ones way in life. I do it through a metaphorical exploration. How do we find what we love in life? This is not something that should be taken lightly. I do not give a step by step set of instructions that will allow anyone to find THEIR way, but I do believe that understanding some of the structures involved in this undertaking give anyone a leg up in achieving this important life goal.Support:https://www.buymeacoffee.com/captainfrodoSupport the show...Now you can get t-shirts and hoodies with our wonderful logo. This is the best new way to suport the podcast project. Become a proud parader of your passion for Showmanship and our glorious Craft whilst simultanously helping to gather more followers for the Way.You'll find the store here: https://thewayoftheshowman.printdrop.com.auIf you want to help support this podcast it would be tremendous if you wrote a glowing review on iTunes or Spotify.If you want to contact me about anything, including wanting me to collaborate on one of your projects you can reach me on thewayoftheshowman@gmail.comor find out more on the Way of the Showman website.you can follow the Way of Instagram where it is, not surprisingly thewayoftheshowman.If you find it in you and you have the means to do so, you can suport the podcast financially at:https://www.buymeacoffee.com/captainfrodo

In this episode I tell the story of how I really discovered that a triangle would be a good symbol for Showmanship. I also reveal how Attention is perfectly represented in the symbol. The Eye. What could be more perfect. My enthusiasm of the esoteric and occult, the philosophical finds a lot to work with in this episode.links:Michael Tomassello - Becoming Human: A Theory of OntogenySupport:https://www.buymeacoffee.com/captainfrodoSupport the show...Now you can get t-shirts and hoodies with our wonderful logo. This is the best new way to suport the podcast project. Become a proud parader of your passion for Showmanship and our glorious Craft whilst simultanously helping to gather more followers for the Way.You'll find the store here: https://thewayoftheshowman.printdrop.com.auIf you want to help support this podcast it would be tremendous if you wrote a glowing review on iTunes or Spotify.If you want to contact me about anything, including wanting me to collaborate on one of your projects you can reach me on thewayoftheshowman@gmail.comor find out more on the Way of the Showman website.you can follow the Way of Instagram where it is, not surprisingly thewayoftheshowman.If you find it in you and you have the means to do so, you can suport the podcast financially at:https://www.buymeacoffee.com/captainfrodo

This episode will be different. This is the first time you will hear other voices than that of your trusted guide along the Way, Captain Frodo on this podcast. This is because for a year and a half there has been a collaboration cooking. Through the dark of the Scandinavian winter I had the distinct pleasure of going through an incredibly deep and all encompassing creative process with Jay Gilligan on his new and upcoming show REFLEX which opens in January 2022 in New York City.First you will hear me talk about the creative process and a major mind blower of a creative clincher we experienced in the second day of our three day intesive In Real Life creation in Stockholm Sweden. Then you will hear a collaborative recording made by Josh Aviner and Lydsay Magid Aviner. This power couple are the minds behind the Hidaway Circus Podcast and are also producers of the recent outdoor production Stars Above which toured america last summer and also of Beyond Babel, playing New York City at the time of writing this. It's these two superstars who's producing Reflex. The final voice is of the inimitable Jay Gilligan who is an extraordinarily deep thinker as well as a world class juggler not just of traditional juggling but he also puts ART back into the art of Juggling.I hope you like this side trek along the Way.REFLEX plays in New York City from 28th of January till 20th of February 2022 at THEATER MITU580 in Brooklyn NYC.Links:This is the website for the show where you can find all the info you need and its also a really cool looking site!You can buy tickets here. (at least you can until the final date...)Support:https://www.buymeacoffee.com/captainfrodoSupport the show...Now you can get t-shirts and hoodies with our wonderful logo. This is the best new way to suport the podcast project. Become a proud parader of your passion for Showmanship and our glorious Craft whilst simultanously helping to gather more followers for the Way.You'll find the store here: https://thewayoftheshowman.printdrop.com.auIf you want to help support this podcast it would be tremendous if you wrote a glowing review on iTunes or Spotify.If you want to contact me about anything, including wanting me to collaborate on one of your projects you can reach me on thewayoftheshowman@gmail.comor find out more on the Way of the Showman website.you can follow the Way of Instagram where it is, not surprisingly thewayoftheshowman.If you find it in you and you have the means to do so, you can suport the podcast financially at:https://www.buymeacoffee.com/captainfrodo

Metaphoric thinking is fundamental to our understanding of the world. It is by likening one thing we understand to something else which we might not quite understand that we learn about the world. This makes us active participants in the creation of the world. Along the Way we have called this Map Making. They are never perfect but they do illuminate the world.The best metaphores, or in fact all metaphores, are dynamic and goes both ways. If we say someone is like a mountain, then it's not only the person which takes on mountain characteristics, the mountain is also coloured by the human. We learn about both by looking at them with the intent of seeing what each has in common with the other, or the ways which they are the same.When I first started to imagine a way to illustrate the pillars of Showmanship (Showman, Audience, Show and Attention) I landed on a triangle. This has one immidiate shortcomming, as it has three points and the pillars of Showmanship is four. The serendipitous thing about this though was that through exploring the nature of a triangles and what geometry has to tell us about them, I realised that I had landed on a very fruitful metaphore. In this episode we focus mainly on the triangle as a symbol for the process of Showmanship, and next week we shall look into how I found the fourth pillar could be beautifully illustrated in the triangle.Support:https://www.buymeacoffee.com/captainfrodoContact me:Thewayoftheshowman@gmail.comSupport the show...Now you can get t-shirts and hoodies with our wonderful logo. This is the best new way to suport the podcast project. Become a proud parader of your passion for Showmanship and our glorious Craft whilst simultanously helping to gather more followers for the Way.You'll find the store here: https://thewayoftheshowman.printdrop.com.auIf you want to help support this podcast it would be tremendous if you wrote a glowing review on iTunes or Spotify.If you want to contact me about anything, including wanting me to collaborate on one of your projects you can reach me on thewayoftheshowman@gmail.comor find out more on the Way of the Showman website.you can follow the Way of Instagram where it is, not surprisingly thewayoftheshowman.If you find it in you and you have the means to do so, you can suport the podcast financially at:https://www.buymeacoffee.com/captainfrodo

In this episode I explore what the essense of Showmanship is. What is the difference between a Show and Showmanship? How are they related? What are the fundamental aspects of performance? These are the questions we explore today, and for me these are what I found on the next level up, after last weeks exploration yielded that Showmanship is a process. This episode I build on that flowing foundation a structure I believe is fundamental not just to Shows and performing but to all aspects of human experience.Links:Jack London's story To Build a Fire.A reading of To Build a Fire from youtube.Support me:https://www.buymeacoffee.com/captainfrodoContact me:Thewayoftheshowman@gmail.comSupport the show...Now you can get t-shirts and hoodies with our wonderful logo. This is the best new way to suport the podcast project. Become a proud parader of your passion for Showmanship and our glorious Craft whilst simultanously helping to gather more followers for the Way.You'll find the store here: https://thewayoftheshowman.printdrop.com.auIf you want to help support this podcast it would be tremendous if you wrote a glowing review on iTunes or Spotify.If you want to contact me about anything, including wanting me to collaborate on one of your projects you can reach me on thewayoftheshowman@gmail.comor find out more on the Way of the Showman website.you can follow the Way of Instagram where it is, not surprisingly thewayoftheshowman.If you find it in you and you have the means to do so, you can suport the podcast financially at:https://www.buymeacoffee.com/captainfrodo

Now we start looking at the heart of the Way, what is Showmanship. This episode and the next we look into this. The faithful listener might recognise some of this episode from the first season where we discovered that Showmanship is a process and not a thing. This is the flowing bedrock of, not just Showmanship but also, as I see it, the world. From this firm but flowing foundation we shall next week explore the anatomy of Showmanship.Links:-the School of Athens, the famous painting by Raphael of the philosophers of Athens-Henri Bergson on Duration. This is a great introduction to Bergson's concept of duration. (this is a lecture in philosophy by Nathan Hohipuha, who's channel Absurd Being is a gold mine for those interested in existentialist philosophy.)-an example of how little is captured of the Kamikaze Freakshow at the Institute of Contemporary art in february 1999.- a little more about the Freakshow captured on my old blog, the Illuminated ShowmanSupport:https://www.buymeacoffee.com/captainfrodoContact me:Thewayoftheshowman@gmail.comSupport the show...Now you can get t-shirts and hoodies with our wonderful logo. This is the best new way to suport the podcast project. Become a proud parader of your passion for Showmanship and our glorious Craft whilst simultanously helping to gather more followers for the Way.You'll find the store here: https://thewayoftheshowman.printdrop.com.auIf you want to help support this podcast it would be tremendous if you wrote a glowing review on iTunes or Spotify.If you want to contact me about anything, including wanting me to collaborate on one of your projects you can reach me on thewayoftheshowman@gmail.comor find out more on the Way of the Showman website.you can follow the Way of Instagram where it is, not surprisingly thewayoftheshowman.If you find it in you and you have the means to do so, you can suport the podcast financially at:https://www.buymeacoffee.com/captainfrodo