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Michael Sean Comerford - American OZ: An Astonishing Year Inside Traveling Carnivals at State Fairs & Festivals: Hitchhiking From California to New York, Alaska to Mexico

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American OZ: An Astonishing Year Inside Traveling Carnivals at State Fairs & Festivals: Hitchhiking From California to New York, Alaska to Mexico: summary, description and annotation

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American OZ Pulls Back the Curtain on Carnival Life to Show Us Ourselves, WindyCity/BookTrib Review

American OZ is a rollicking, gritty, adventurous story of life in the secretive subculture of traveling carnivals. Youll never see your state fair or street festival the same way again.

Comerford writes a bold, inspiring true story of a year working behind the scenes with the colorful characters and legends of carnivals.

He shares stories of freaks, a carnival pimp, and the last King of the Sideshows. A dunk tank insult-clown is shot. Masked gunmen rob his carnival. And a young showman friend dies a shocking death on the road.

Its a new classic American road story as he hitchhikes across Canada and the USA to shows in California, New Jersey, New York, Chicago, Alaska, Minnesota, Oklahoma, Texas, Georgia, and Florida where he works in a freak show.

He becomes the #1 hitchhiker in the USA and a top agent at the State Fair of Texas.

He travels to the lawless foothills of Mexico to see the new face of the American carny. He exposes the truths about immigration, labor abuse, and living between two worlds.

People seek love and meaning in their lives on the road. Comerford finds were all connected in more ways than we know.

Brilliant ... Deep Observations About Life! writes the Chicago Tribune.

Michael Sean Comerford: author's other books


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American OZ An Astonishing Year Inside Traveling Carnivals Michael Sean - photo 1
American OZ
An Astonishing Year Inside Traveling Carnivals
Michael Sean Comerford
Copyright 2021 by Michael Sean Comerford All rights reserved No part of this - photo 2

Copyright 2021 by Michael Sean Comerford

All rights reserved.

No part of this book may be reproduced in any form without written permission from the author, except for use in a book review.

Published in the United States by Comerford Publishing LLC., at MichaelSeanComerford.com

Library of Congress Cataloguing-in-publication data


ISBN 978-1-952693-007

The R-keys at scene breaks are linchpins used extensively in traveling carnivals holding rides and equipment together.

The photos on the back cover from left to right: the Mexican reefer bunkhouse for Butler Amusements in San Mateo, CA.; a jointee at the State Fair of Texas; view from the Grand Carrousel in Chicago; a Giant Wheel setting up in Waycross, GA.

Reader reviews are easy and free, free, free! Help the people and stories of American OZ find the voice they deserve. Please review at Goodreads or your favorite book buying site.

Praise for American OZ

A modern-day Odysseus A glorious, dangerous, lonely, exhilarating, joyful and life-altering year.

Burt Constable, Daily Herald columnist

By turns emotional, erudite, enlightening and ever engaging Brilliant!

Rick Kogan, Chicago Tribune columnist, author & WGN Broadcaster

Genuine enterprise reporting!

Jon Ziomek, professor emeritus, Medill, Northwestern University

Lyrical journalism.

Mike Nichols, President, Badger Institute, author, fmr Milwaukee Journal columnist

An American masterpiece.

Kerry Lavelle, author, Lavelle Law Ltd.

Reminds me of Orwell's "Down and Out in Paris and London" and Theroux's railroad adventures."

Howard Wolinsky, Chicago Headline Club board member, ex-Chicago Sun-Times reporter

Having been born and raised in the carnival business, I found it to be an extremely authentic.

Dave Galyon. His brothers Donnie and Ronnie Galyon were conjoined twins with their own carnival exhibition

This book is dedicated to my daughter, Grace Comerford; to my parents, Gordon and Alice (Flatley) Comerford; and to my sisters, Colleen, Maureen, and Katie. To the extraordinary people in traveling carnivals. To every driver who picked me up. And to luck.

You just grow more when you get others peoples perspectives.

Mark Zuckerberg, Facebook founder & carnival customer

Carny Lingo Terms Used In American OZ Bally A routine drawing a sideshow - photo 3
Carny Lingo
Terms Used In American OZ

Bally A routine drawing a sideshow crowd

Carny A carnival worker, usually on rides

Carny Code Unwritten worker rules

Cutting Up Jackpots Telling carnival stories

Flash Flashy array of prizes. Swag in Britain

Gaff Tricks, illusions or way of fixing a game

Hole Job slot or a joint space

Joint A booth for games

Jointee A person working in a game joint

Plush Stuffed animals and toys for prizes

Possum Belly A storage area under a ride

Ride Jockey A person running rides

Showman An entertainer. Sometimes a jointee

Slough Carnival teardown; rhymes with cow

With it Worker traveling with the carnival

Contents

I.

II.

III.

IV.

V.

VI.

VII.

VIII.

IX.

X.

XI.

XII.

XIII.

Acknowledgments

The writing of American OZ became a mission of sorts and inspired two people to volunteer their talents. Mary-Margaret Green and Dick Westguard donated their work to make American OZ possible.

A renowned journalist/editor who worked for the Washington Star, Washington Post, and Washington Times, Mary-Margaret Greens keen eye and generous spirit were inspirations.

Dick Westguard is an Art Institute of Chicago-trained artist and former newspaper graphics editor. His route map is crucial to understanding the scope and majesty of the year.

Already a fan of American OZ online, freelance editor Kevin Kohler asked to edit the book. His editing and advice were invaluable.

Writer Caren Chesler let me crash on her couch for a time in Harlem and provided contacts. She is a true believer in the power of the stories.

Chicago author/broadcaster/journalist Rick Kogan was an early backer when American OZ was just a blog with videos being posted from fast food joints and carnival bunkhouses across North America. Rick has a genius for seeing the best in people.

Introduction

Sometimes out on the road, life is gorgeous.

I was a ride jockey, jointee, and a hitchhiker for a year. I was slinging iron and pushing plush across the USA. Thousands of miles of sleeping, eating, and working with carnies, showmen, and sideshow freaks. The year ended in a way that made sense of the journey. The world runs on untold stories.

The year began with an omen, a Chicago blizzard that said, Get back fool. I was nearly flat broke when I jumped on a westbound train named the California Zephyr. I didnt have money to get back. I was living on a thread, and had to make the year work.

The Zephyr blew across the Mississippi, Colorado, Humboldt, Wasatch, and Truckee rivers. We passed through the Glenwood and Ruby canyons and across the Rocky, Pequop, and Sierra Nevada mountains. We beat a path across the Bonneville Salt Flats and the Forty Mile Desert on the way to the San Francisco Bay.

My plans to spend the season with one carnival fell apart early. I thought my year was finished until I began hitchhiking between carnivals. I saw the drivers as part of the greater story.

Drivers were the Americans carnivals served. And carnies in Alaska are different from carnies in Mexico. People are products of their place in this world. Geography became context.

I could empathize with carnival people making their home on the road. Im the oldest of four kids in a family that moved ten times before settling in the Chicago area. In my young mind, I linked moving to a new home with a life of discovery. Sights unseen. Amazing people. Wonder.

I bicycled three times cross-country. I rode freight trains and herded cattle out West. And I hitchhiked around the U.S., Europe, the Middle East, and North Africa. As a journalist, I worked in Chicago, New York, and in the so-called Wild East after the fall of communism in Hungary and Russia. I toured almost a hundred countries, stopping to study at a Tibetan Buddhist monastery in the Himalayas. Ive interviewed homeless people, immigrants, CEOs, and billionaires.

Millions of people every year go to state fairs, street festivals, and church parking-lot fundraisers. Even more have childhood memories of the smell of cotton candy and running amok with friends on and off rides. People remember the rides, games, and the overpoweringly unhealthy food. They want that again this year and next.

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