A Professional Clown's Thoughts on "IT"....

Just for clarification, I am only writing to get the attention of the press.  You the one reading this!


I am being asked, in my personal life my opinion of IT.  (working out at Aikido in the changing room.  At  The Speakeasy, a show I do on Thursday, Friday Saturday nights and of course Russia loving Facebook).

I couldn't give two shits about "It".

The clown is an incredibly powerful character.  The clown can make people laugh till they can hardly catch their breath.  Children love clowns.  I mean love like they want to hug you and not let go love.  Old ladies come up and hug me.  Old people love coming up to me and singing "be a clown, be a clown...all the world loves a clown..."

So of course this same power has an opposite.  The power of the clown to make people laugh and smile so broadly, also has the power to frighten.   Look at 4 kids in line waiting for Santa.  Two are jumping up and down,  2 are crying and clinging to their mom's yoga pants.

I am also a big Stephen King fan.  I've never read "IT".  But I've read about 30 of his 450 novels, novellas, and short stories.  Stephen King is a brilliant writer.  He manages to turn the things we most love to the things we fear most.

I was being interviewed by a TV producer a couple of years ago.  They wanted to do a reality show about the real lives of professional clowns.

She said, "I saw Cujo when I was a kid, but I'm not afraid of puppies"  That was perfect for me.  

It's fun to hate clowns.  I love clowns and sometimes I look at them and say, "wow, this is really odd what I do"

My bigger fear of clowns are those out there protesting.  How lame.  Have a sense of humor clowns.  But wait, if you don't have a sense of humor about being a clown, then maybe you really aren't a clown. Come on. If you can't make fun of clowns and you're a clown, then maybe you don't get what being a clown is

...oy.

Read a little Shakespeare and find out what a fool (clown) is.

I'm available for interviews any time of the day or night.

Boswick@pacbell.net

Working On My Website....La Da Dee...La Da Dum...

Sit around for three or more minutes with variety performers and they will start talking about their web sites.  The problems, the expense but mostly.  "I really have to update it"  

It's time consuming and you seldom get what is in your head onto the page.   

When I search I want easy navigation and easy to contact someone.  

I have been doing my new web site for the bast 10 months.  (I've gone through 2 designers).  My first designer kept getting angry with me.  It was a very strange experience being you know...the one paying them.  They did a mediocre job.  I fired them without telling them I fired them.  Because I'm a wimp. 

I hired another company recently to fix things up.  I like this guy a lot better. 

Neither of these companies is in the US.  The first one was in India, the one I'm currently using is in Pakistan.   For someone like me, the pricing works,  I can't afford much more.  When I'm done, it will be about a thousand bucks all done.  

Politics out of the way.  I believe in a world economy. The world shrank many years ago.   Economies change with borders.  I was in Japan when the dollar bought nothing.  A cheap meal started at about $17.  And this was in the late 1980s.  It was very expensive, I was performing there on $350 a week.  I also spent time performing in the Philippines where my dollar made me feel like a millionaire.  I took a cab 4 miles for just over a dollar.  In both these places, people just lived. 

As I looked at the designs of web sites, very few performers have good sites.  If you're looking for good designs go outside of the entertainment field.  Entertainer sites are muddy, they are hard to figure out what the person is selling.  

My message:  Boswick is a highly trained seasoned performer. He will bring mirth magic and laughter to your next event...He'll also do birthday parities. 

Now, honestly, most of my shows are kid's birthday parties.  But I like that feeling that I'll step down from my pedestal to entertain.  It works less and less the longer I've been around.  Most people hiring now are native to the internet.  They don't remember a time they used Yellow Pages or local Parents Magazines to look for ads to help them. The Yellow pages were easy.  Just have the best ad on the page, you got hired. 

In our world I look the same as someone that is newer to the kid's entertainment world.  I'm not the same, I've been around a long time and have honed my comedy to a sharp edge.  

Unfortunately most people are trained by Amazon where a Sony TV looks about the same as a Vizio TV.  (I have been thinking about getting a new TV)

Here's the thing.  A Toyota looks about the same as a Hyundai or a Kia.  But a Toyota is a lot more.  

I own a Toyota because they are just better.  I learned this way back. I've rented a few Hyundais.  They aren't nearly as good.  (sorry Hyundai owners).  I also figured a cars a car and bought a Mazda some years ago.  I was stuck with that thing for 8 years till it committed suicide. Then I got myself a nice Toyota.  

For similar web sites,  I looked at kids shoe sites.  That seemed close to what I wanted.  I also looked at children's dentists.  Mostly terrible but a few were very easy to navigate.  Children's dentist seemed close. Easy to send a question or make an appointment.  That's pretty much what I do.  

My son made a new video for me. We used my annual theatre show to get footage.  I have a new look, no clown nose, very little make up.  

I got a bunch of really nice photos from an amazing photographer that thought I was so funny, he followed me around for a charity event I was doing.  Then gave me all the photos to do what I would.  Greatest gift in the world. Now there's a gift!

I have to accept a web site is always a work in progress.  I want it to be a big brochure. It's frustrating.

I don't really like working on it.  But how do I stand out?  It's gotta be your web site.  

If you're reading this looking for advice.  Front page with a picture that tells a story.  Easy links.  Birthday parties, about me, why I love what I do... Not too many.  Easy to read. Check to see it works on your phone. 

A phone number and email on each page, easy to see and click on.  I hate it when I'm on a web site and I have a specific question but I have to use a form.  

But have the forms.  Don't make the forms hard to use.  If someone doesn't want to fill out the whole form don't make them.  My only required items are email and date of event.  

Wish me luck.  I'll be done in five or ten years.