It shouldn't be a shock to hear that sometimes well-known performers or celebrities come from or live in Phoenix. Stephen Spielberg. Stevie Nicks. David Spade. But how can we explain the freakish behavior of Alice Cooper or Jim Rose? When Rose talked with Cooper, they both wondered, "What is it about us?"
Jim Rose is the ringmaster as well as performer in his own Jim Rose Circus. The circus found its way into American pop culture a decade ago and launched its current anniversary tour in early May.
The Circus originally toured with musical acts like Lollapalooza, Nine Inch Nails and other smaller tours, making a name for itself over the years. Rose and another performer called The Enigma, who has a Guinness World Record in sword-swallowing and is a walking jigsaw-puzzle tattoo, made appearances in an episode of "The X-Files." The act was also featured on "The Simpsons" when Homer ran away to join the circus.
Rose said a big change this year is the addition of a bowl filled with secret stunts from which each of the performers chose blindly during the show.
"We reach into the bowl and pull out stunts that we aren't good at, that hurt and that each of us have never done before," Rose said. "In one show, I was sprayed in the face with bear repellant." Rose explained he has also been hit with pepper spray before, which to him is the "premature little brother" of bear repellant.
"Anybody who has seen us before knows it is more a comedy than anything else now," Rose said. "There is a lot of comedy in the act."
One act to look forward to are the returning Mexican transvestite wrestlers, including Pickles Valdez, Trailer Trash Guerrero and several others, all wearing dildos. Bebe the Circus Queen, also Rose's wife, is the referee and will determine the winner after one of the wrestlers sticks their dildo into the other's mouth for a three-count.
"There are no chickens at this cock-fight. They have a bone to pick," Rose said, using his stock phrases of carnival speak. "Bebe also shoots fire from her vagina. Fire in the hole!"
Lifto is another Circus veteran who has joined the act for another round this year, who lifts weights of various shapes and sizes with piercings on his body. Rose said it almost didn't happen because of an accident Lifto had while trying to pull a shopping cart with members of the Circus in it, using only his "man hammer." The re-attachment was a success, and he is back on the road touted as one of Rose's favorite performers.
Rose went to Arcadia High School and ASU during his time in Arizona and worked at the State Fairgrounds in his youth.
"You want to know how there are so many weirdoes in Phoenix?" Rose asked and then gave the same response Alice Cooper did when they talked. "Wallace and Ladmo. It was all about teaching kids how to lie, cheat and steal."
The Jim Rose Circus will be performing on June 21 at the Cajun House in Scottsdale.
Reach the reporter at stinavee@asu.edu.
