The Steel City Clown Brigade

Sunday in the Park

2011-11-16T10:07:00.000-08:00

The nice folks at the CMU Juggle Club Invited us to join them. For what ever reason I did not take pictures of us juggling at CMU.

We did run into some folks working on slack lines over at the Carnegie Library in Oakland. To the left is Apprentice Brimage giving it a shot with one of the folks that were there. Leaning against the tree is his cousin and another Mr. Brimage. He is keeping an eye on the dinosaur statue.

As has become tradition while we are in Oakland we stop at the Chinese Buffet for lunch.

We also brought a set of stilts with us so that folks could get a try at those as well. Here is the group in front of the Stephen Foster statue. Left to right is Mr. Brimage, Miss Brimage and Mr Brimage on the stilts. We decided that Dippy was not much o a threat because he is after all a statue. Moments fter this picture was taken our bus showed up. It was great fun getting Mr Brimage out of the stilts in enough time to get on the bus.

Juggling on your knees

2011-04-10T21:15:00.000-07:00

Today someone asked me if juggling on your knees helps you learn how to juggle. A couple of months ago i would have thought that this was not very helpful. Well this is Sergeant Kisielnicki. He doe snot like juggling very much. From time to time when he is having trouble he juggles on his knees and it helps him. So I suppose it can help.

Hard at Work

2011-04-03T23:28:00.000-07:00

This is one of the Brigade's newest members who is hard at work helping usx with the script for our next stage show. You can see his working at the finest computer the 2004 has to offer. So welcome to the future of clowning Mr. Jefferson

2011-03-25T18:42:00.000-07:00

This ya gilr dthurmon on the blog.Join the clown briggade. It is fun. We mess around alot and we really do alot of clowning like juggling and balloons and alot of other fun stuff! Dont make fun either cause ill come for you!

Chicken Knitting

2010-12-25T12:11:00.000-08:00

In December our Knitting group has started meeting again. This is Sergeant Kisielnicki working on a scarf. Sergeants Thurman and Wilson were also at our first couple knitting meeting.

It has turned out to be a fun evening. We get to have some chicken and work on our knitting. We are meeting at the Chic Fil A in the Waterfront in Homestead PA. They have been really nice to us and it has been great fun.

Be safe out there and keep your stick on the ice.

Juggling Batons

2010-12-15T12:16:00.000-08:00

We have been working at making out own juggling batons. And when I say myself and Sergeant Kisielnicki. I am not going to go into the process because it is boring.

Needless to say it has been interesting to us. The Juggling Baton is also called a Flower Stick or Devil stick if any of our readers are into them. Pictured are four of the sticks that we have made recently.

As you can see they are different sizes. this is done to match the size of the person that is using them. This is the main reason that we have started making them outselves. When you buy them in the shop they basic come in one size. This is very hard for someone that is only four feet tall to deal with. If your stick it too long you ed up hitting yourself with it. And this is just no fun when youare juggling.

If I think about it I will get some video of people using their stick. Be safe out there and keep your stick on the ice.

Type 2010 Apparatus Bag

2010-06-16T13:26:00.001-07:00

This is Sergeant Thurman with her new Appatatus Bag. It is an ungraded version of the experimental bag that we made last year. This one has had all the kinks worked out and fits a shorted person better that last years bag.

Pasta and Magic

2010-06-08T00:32:00.000-07:00

The Clown Brigade went to the Spaghetti Warehouse in the Strip District last week. A very nice local Magician named TJ was performing. If I was paying more attention I might have got some picture of the magic show. Still here is a few of the Brigade members.

This is Cadet Miller. This is also the face of a young man that does not like to bothered while eating.

This Cadet Miller Patiently waits for his food.

On the left is Apprentice Brimage in the middle Sergeant Wilson and to the right another Apprentice Brimage. I am not sure they wanted me to put this picture up.

Sergeant Wilson, happy as always.

This is yet another Apprentice Brimage.

This is soon to be Junior Clown Brimage. And yes there are quite a lot of Brimages

And yes this is yet another meber of the Brimage Huston Clan.He is their youngest Brother. In the show we are currently working on he is the one we are sticking in a box. And apparently he is not happy about it.

Well I would like to thank TJ and the Spaghetti Warehouse for a memorable evening.

Wigs and Other Stuff - A Report by Apprentice Brimage

2010-05-27T00:07:00.000-07:00

This is Apprentice Brimage. She took most of the pictures in this post. She did not take this picture because her arms are not that long and I have not figured out how to use the timer on the camera. She probably knows how to use the times but I did not think of that at the time. Her great uncle was Albert Einstein.

We have some wigs given to us by a couple of the clowns from the local COIA Alley. I am not sure they want to be publically linked with this crew so I will not share their names. I imagine they have carears to think about. from left to right is Sergeant Thurman, Apprentice Brimage and Sergeant Wilson. The two Brimages are related. The blue shirt are Junior Clowns the rank above Apprentice. We just figured out at the meeting the second Apprentice Brimage should have been promoted to Junior Clown six months ago.
This is the Apprentice Brimage that should have been promoted. So imagine that she has a blue shirt. She is very patient. By the way the patient is an inside joke thing.

This is me in the purple shirt saying something terribly important. You can tell it is terribly important because no one is paying attention. Cadet Miller is to the right and Sergeant Thurman is explaining something about balloons to someone off camera.

Well goodnight from the Steel City Clown Brigade. Thank you to the COAI folks and Apprentice Brimage for taking these pictures.

New Cadets

2010-05-18T11:18:00.000-07:00

We do have a couple new Cadet in the Brigade. For those that are just tuning in Cadet is the probationary rank within the Steel City Clown Brigade. The first is Cadet Jankins. This is her working on a Giraffe. Also in he picture is Sergeant Thurman who taught he how to make the giraffe.

Our next Cadet is Cadet Miller. He is a young man that we do not have a photographic release on. So I will not put his picture until we have one.

Good Practice

2010-01-27T01:12:00.001-08:00

We had a very good practice today. Not only did we cover balloons and juggling we also got to some dancing. One of the adults in the group is going back to school. This will leave a bit of a void in the leadership of the group. Even so two of the young Sergeants ran the dance practice today with only a little bit of outside direction. This is a feat to say the least.

Eleven years of age is an interesting age. It is an age with so much promise if things go the right way. The sergeant in charge of the Dance group is now eleven. She had been with the Brigade for more than a year now. Today was the first day that she ran something without the direct supervision of an adult. It was a bit rough at moments. Still they go through several thing without someone giving them a plan. This is the first step to a young person becoming a leader. If she sticks around long enough I think she has a fairly good shot at becoming a Master Clown before she is eighteen.

By the way in the clowning world becoming a Master Clown is a bit like becoming an Eagle Scout.

In addition to this first we also had our first guest from another Clown Troupe. Two member of the local Clowns of America International Branch attended the meeting. They were very nice and appeared to enjoy themselves. There are not many clowns left. So it is truly important that those that are left band together to preserve the craft.

Be safe out there and keep your stick on the ice.

Second Tuesday Meeting

2009-11-17T20:22:00.000-08:00

We had a really great Brigade Meeting this evening. We have two new candidates. So that is always a really nice thing. Tonight we did some Christmas carols and had a bit of a sing song in addition to the stuff we normally do. We also got a chance for some of our folks to work on a dance routine. I have never really thought of clowns as dancers. So this is a new thing for me. Still a hundred years ago clowns did not really do balloon animals. So it is something that is always evolving. So maybe some day clowns will be dancing. That is something that is a bit odd to me still. I also have a young person that wants to do skate boarding. So things are changing.

I also had a chance to visit the local Clown of America International meeting yesterday. This was a really neat little meeting. They were very friendly and even invited us to their Christmas Party. I have never been invited to a Christmas Party at my first meeting with a group.

On the up side moving the meeting to Tuesday appears to have gotten a couple of people that have not been to Wednesdays for a while to the meeting. So that was a bonus as well. So just a note for any of the Brigade members reading this. The Brigade Practice will be on Tuesday from 5:30 to 8:00 PM at Second Baptist The Knitting and Production Practice will be on Wednesday at the same time at the Barnes and Nobles at the Waterfront. Church is still at Second Baptist at 11:00 AM.

Clown Associations

2009-11-09T04:02:00.000-08:00

Now that the Brigade is off on it's own we are going to have to form partnerships with other organization. This is one thing that we were not supposed to do when we were within The Salvation Army. We were never told that we were not allowed to. It was simply never done. And when we asked if we could it was always we will get back to you. And then we never heard from anyone.

Well now we are off on our own. So we make our own decisions. Well there are three choices to choose from as far as clown association go. Actually there are many more. There are just the three that cover our area.

Well the three that cover this area have the own virtues and strengths. From what I recall no organization is perfect. The local clown ally is a member of all three if I recall correctly. I suppose that is one way to deal with the strength and weaknesses of the three.

The first is the oldest of the three. The Clown of America International. I do believe they are also the largest. I was a member of this group once upon a time. It is a nice little group. They have a fairly decent conference. Their only draw back is that they minimum membership age it to high for some of the Brigade's members.

The Second Group is the World Clown Association. They appear more interested in humor therapy than the COAI. So this might be a plus for us. It also appear that Dr. Richard Snowberg is their current President. From what I know of Humor Therapy within clown he is doing a great deal.

The third group is the Mid-Atlantic Clown Association. They are a regional group that covers the region around us. I was never a member of this group. Still I have heard only good things about them. I do not know where they stand on Humor Therapy. Still, they have the advantage of being local. So we would be able to attend their conference more easily than the others.

Well I know that out board will vote on all of this so it is not entirely my decision. Still it is interesting looking into their things.

Be safe out there and keep your stick on the ice.

First Church Service of SCCB Ministries

2009-10-25T17:35:00.000-07:00

Pastor Gailey has scheduled the first praise and worship service for November 20th at 6:00PM. This should give everyone enough time to get there and settle in. We are still working on where the service will be held. We are talking to a couple places that should be able to host us.

We may have a cake or something afterward to celebrate the new endeavor. We will keep you updated. If you would like to attend email us at steelcityclownbrigade@yahoo.com and we will be sure to send you an invite with full details.

This Saturday we have a show at the Ranking Christian Center. I will let you know how it goes. We might even have some pictures.

Getting Ready

2009-08-04T21:33:00.000-07:00

Today we spent some time getting ready for the Revival in Frick Park in Homestead. Pictured is Sergeant Kisielnicki sorting some costume items.

In the foreground is the sound system which is ready to go. Sergeants Prioleau and Thurman also helped put together the equipment.

In addition to the sound system we took four trunks of costumes and props.

On other fronts we have updated the calendar. We are also looking to revisit our newsletter and vid cast. We know that it has been a while since we have done either. Still, it has been a hectic summer for us all.

Thank for tuning in and God Bless.

Revival in the Park

2009-08-04T09:20:00.001-07:00

The Brigade will be performing at the Revival in Frick Park on the 5th and 7th from 6:00 PM to 7:00 PM. The event will run three days the 5 through the seventh. There will food and fun and of course for everyone.

The Brigade will be performing a couple new routine and an old stand by or two. On the 5th we will be concentrating on John 3:16.

For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.
John 3:16

On Friday we will be looking at the story of Noah with Balloon Animals. The story of Noah can be found in the book of Genesis.

We hope that if you are in the Homestead area and have the opportunity that you will drop by.

The Revival in the Park also will be the first event we use out new Sound System at. Our Senior Sergeant Kisielnicki co-ordinated the donation of the sound system from several sources. We now have two 14 inch speakers, a sound bard and amp as well as six microphones. This is a real blessing and answer to prayer. It is also an opportunity to take something off our wish list.

Thank you for tuning and God Bless.

Rain Warning

2009-07-29T12:41:00.002-07:00

Because of the rain today we will be meeting at the Barnes and Nobles in the Water Front. WE will be meeting at the regular time just another location. See everyone there.

New Practice Schedule

2009-07-08T09:14:00.000-07:00

The Steel City Clown Brigade has had a disagreement with The Salvation Army. We are currently faced with the option of disbanding or meeting on our own. Until further notice The Steel City Clown Brigade will meet on their own.

We would still like to find a resolution with The Salvation Army. We as a Brigade have voted and a resolution must include The Salvation Army honoring the Brigade Corps Agreement and resumption of all Brigade activities. Until this is achieved or we find better accommodation the Brigade will meet at the following time.

Official Brigade Sunday Service will be at Second Baptist Church at 10:30

Sunday 12th of July the Brigade will be at Subway near the Homestead Gray's Bridge for Lunch. This will take place after church.

Monday Production for Knitting will take place at the Waterfront Barnes and Nobles at 5:30 PM.
Children wishing to attand should contact me so that you can be picked up.

Wednescday Brigade Practice will be at Frick Park in Homestead at 5:30 PM Weather Permitting.

If you have an question please ocntact me at 412 431-0579. Until a new office is set up this will also function as our main phone number. Thank you for your supporet and understanding.

Show at the Propel School

2009-06-13T07:24:00.000-07:00

Friday June 12 we had a very nice little show at the Propel School. Thr Propel School is a Charter School that is Physically next to The Salvation Army in Homestead. It is also a school that several o the Children from the Corps and Sergeant Proileau attends.

This is Popie and Apprentice Brimage outside the Propel School just before the show. As you can tell the both of them are adorable. And they took a moment for a picture just after we set up.

This was the first time that we ever did anything other than a stage show away from The Corps. We used four hundred and 98 Balloons. That is a crazy amount of Balloons to use in under five hours. It is not something one clown could do. It is also a testament to the skills of these young clowns and the training they have done.

This is a Picture of Alakazi working on a Snake for a young man during the show. I figure that she personally use around one hundred and fifty of the balloons. That mean that we was working at the rate that you would exspect a Jr. Clown from the Circus to work at.

She may not look like she is Happy but she is happy on the inside. It is sort of unfair to take picture of us while we are doing ballon with thrity kids waiting for their balloon. The reality is that we can look happy the majority of the time. And at that split second when the picture is take you have a frustrated look because of a balloon you are working on. Well nothing is perfect. Still we had fun at the show.

A Grant for Jr. Clowns

2009-06-11T22:56:00.000-07:00

The Brigade has just received a Grant from the Interboro College Cluib of The Pittsburgh Foundation for nine hundred dollars.

This will be used the purchase stilts, unicycles and makeup for four of our Jr. Clowns. This will allow us to further their training. We are very greatful for this opportunity. It will allow us to make a great deal of progress.

A Couple Projects

2009-06-02T21:07:00.000-07:00

We have been working on or Trophy wall for the last few weeks. The main part of this is a large version of our logo. This is it as it was a couple weeks ago. The Idea was Sergent Kisielnicki's to make a three dimensional shield out of wood.

This is Sergeant Thurman painting the center of the Red Shield that was missing in the previous picture.

Here is Sergeant Kisielnicki after he finished the White Shield. It was really a very special project.

This is Sergeant Wilson sanding some dowel rods that will be made into Devil Sticks. Devil Sticks are a juggling implement.

These are a set of the finished Devil Sticks. We painted them in the Brigades Colors.

Be safe out there and keep your stick on the ice.

Friday Knitting

2009-03-07T05:32:00.000-08:00

Sergeants Thurman, Prioleau and my wife and I headed out to the Friday night knitting group at South Hills Village yesterday.

Here is Sergeant Prioleau reading. I thinks she likes books more than knitting.

Sergeant Thurman is working on a Chemo Cap. She like knitting in the round more than knitting on strait needles.
This is Sergeant Thurman Modeling a hat that I finished the main part of while I have at the group. I forgot who I am making the hat for. That is probably a sign that I am making to many clown hats

And finally Sergeant Thuman is saying hello. So good by and God Bless

Promotions

2009-02-03T00:05:00.000-08:00

We had several promotions this week. Some of the pictures were so blurry you could not make out whe they were.

This is Cadet Grable she just joined the Brigade.

Not pictures is Cadet Bell and Cadets Brimage who was promoted. They were the truly blurry pictures.

Apprentice Stewart was promoted to Junior Clown.

This is Sergeant Thurman who has been promoted to Jr. Clown.

This is Senior Sergeant of the Brigade Kisielnicki. He is the first Standard Clown that has been trained from the ground up in the Brigade. This is an important promotion for the brigade I figures it would take five or six years to train our first standaard clown.He did it in a year. He is clowning machine.

Thanks for tuning in and God Bless.

Promotions

2009-01-15T12:04:00.001-08:00

This round of promotions has yeilded a couple folks this time around.

The first promotion is Senior Sergeant Kisielnicki. He is now a standard clown. As a matter of fact his is the first clown to join the troop with no previous experince who reached the rank of Standard Clown. This in particular is an important step. It is a sign that we are becoming a real clown troupe in the circus style.

Next up is Sergeant Thurman. She has achieved the rank of Jr. Clown. This is also an important step. She is part of the large group of kids that joined the Brigade last year. Of this group she is the first to achieve the rank of Jr. Clown. This rank is imporatnt because it shows thata clown is reaching a point where they can start teaching others. The entire time she has been with the Brigade she has been a leader within this group of kids. Now she is a leader within the entire Brigade.

Some Helpful hints for the Kettle

2008-12-22T21:37:00.000-08:00

Posting Again

2008-11-18T18:26:00.000-08:00

We have been working on some new projects at the Clown Brigade. First we have been working on knitting with the Apprentices in the Brigade. For the last couple years we have had a knitting group on the South Side.

With all of our young Apprentices who live in Homestead we have had the Knitting Group at the Corps the last couple weeks. This is Apprentice Brimage working on her first swatch.

An of course the every popular Salvation Army Holiday activity, Standing Kettle. This is Sergeant Thurman, Apprentice Brimage and Cadet Brimage at out Kettle Stand at Century Three Mall. All of the pictures of them standing in front of the Kettle turned out blurry.

We have been making balloons juggling and doing clown type stuff on Kettles. Sadly we cannot have a bell.. Everyone is terribly broken up that we don't have bell.

Well God Bless and be kind to the people with the red buckets.

A Very Busy Couple of Months

2008-10-04T14:29:00.000-07:00

Recently we have been working on several projects. First we have had several shows in the last month that have taken up our time. We have also doubled out training schedule this summer because we have many enthusiastic cadets most of which are now Apprentices.

We have started working on building stilts and training kittens to work with us as humor therapy animals. We have also been working on some infrastructure items namely; improving our set, storage areas and teaching materials. It is one of our hopes to have a sort of clown retreat at the Steel Valley Corps in the Spring. We would teach classes and it would give us the opportunity to jump ahead in our skills. In order to do this we have to get some things down in writing first.

There is not a clown hand book out there, let alone a hand book for christian clowns. There are so many areas of study that we use that we have a small library of books that we have to use. In balloons alone there are twenty six books that we use to teach balloon sculptures from. You get into Ledgermain or something more complicated and there is just too much to know.

In the last six months we have gone from having one child in the brigade to have the brigade half full of children. This has been a big adjustment for us. In the real circus there are families and children of all ages. So I suppose it is only fitting that the Corps children have joined us.

It is very interesting how we have been blessed the summer. Besides the opportunity to perform we have had lots of time to train. This has not only been useful for building skills but also the group. It has truly been an interesting ride.

We have also recently been given and office and computer here at the Steel Valley Corps. That has also been very helpful to get us more organised. Just the ability to leave something on a desk from one day to the next is a tremendous help. Also it will will give the new young people the opportunity to post to this blog.

Have a good day evening and thank you for checking in.

Army Clown Episode 3

2008-08-15T13:24:00.001-07:00

Army Clown 3 @ Yahoo! Video

Army Clowns Episode 2

2008-06-27T23:09:00.001-07:00

Cotton Candy Hats

2008-06-21T20:18:00.001-07:00

musik video

2008-06-12T15:21:00.000-07:00

Hats

2008-06-11T18:52:00.000-07:00

Cadet Thurman's Hat
Cadet Wilson's Hat with Apprentice Stewart wearing it.

Army Clowns - Episode 1

2008-06-05T10:05:00.000-07:00

June 4th Practice

2008-06-04T21:01:00.001-07:00

Chief Weekly Address

2008-05-28T22:43:00.000-07:00

May Slide Show

2008-05-23T08:56:00.000-07:00

May 17th at Practice

2008-05-20T20:39:00.000-07:00

I would like to welcome Yvonne Chasko as our newest Junior Clown. Cadet Thurman is nearly half way through her Balloon Animals. At this rate we are going to have to make her an Apprentice soon.
Apprentice K it a quarter or a third of the way through his ballons for the Ballon Proficiency as well. I think I might have to make that Proficiency harder. To many people are doing to well at it.

On other fronts we are starting to put insignia on our practice uniforms. This is great fun if you are into this sort of thing. JC Chasko suggested using an iron on thing to make the Shield for the Brigade. The first round of them have been put on Cadet Shirts. I am currently sewing the stars onto my shirt. Since I have been at this so long I have a bloody absurd amount of stars. I will have pictures of Uniform stuff after practice Wednesday. We will have some folks who are wearing the shirts and such.

I would like to take a moment to mention how blessed the Brigade we have been so far this year. Every year we set goals. The first couple years we have just barely made them. This year we have already met most of our goals. We wanted to have 12 to fifteen people in the Brigade and we have 11. We are just about finished with the set, That was next year's goal.

Good Times Good times.

mothers day

2008-05-11T07:07:00.000-07:00

i gave mom a vase of tullips for mothers day. Happy mothers day everyone .
kiddo

Weekly report on May 6th

2008-05-10T20:34:00.000-07:00

We have another busy day of building stuff with the Clown Brigade. Up first is my weekly report to you the clown interested viewing public.

Bellow is Apprentice Prealu and my self sanding set pieces before they get painted.

We set up the puppet stage and painted it with several coats of white paint today. We will be decorating the puppet stage to look like it is part of a river boat.

While we were sanding and paint Apprentice K was assembling the pillar that will make up part of the stage setting. If is working on the bracket that will attach the pillars to their weights. The pillars will give us the ability to make any stage no matter the size appear to be the SS Garabedian.

Sunday Brigade Practice.

2008-05-05T09:30:00.000-07:00

We had a sunday practice yesterday. This is some of usng the balloon section of the practice.

With our new session of three Cadets the Brigade is up to ten members. In aiddtion to balloon and makeup we also did a walk through of the up coming show. We added a couple thing and have changed a bit of the staging for some other stuff. All and all everyone is very happy with this show.

Pictured bellow are two of our new Cadet. Cadet Thurmon to the left and Cadet Wilson to the right. They have both chosen clown names and were working on their faces during the practice. Cadet Thurmon has taken the name Alakazi and Cadet Wilson took the name Silly Lilly.

Good times. God Bless and keep laughing

Weekly Address

2008-05-03T20:49:00.000-07:00

Brigade Practice April 30th

2008-05-01T12:12:00.001-07:00

walts clown scarf

2008-04-29T18:24:00.000-07:00

here is a picture of the almost complete clown scarf i designed for my funny scarf proficiency

what I did was the first row was 1 knit stitch and for the second row i added a knit stitch and for the 3rd row i added a knit stitch at the beginning of the row and so on till i got the triangle for the center i chose to make the triangle 28 stitches

after i had the triangle i picked 3 rib patterns 1 for each arm of the scarfafter completing the rib pattern i reduced to the triangle like at the beginning knitting 2 together at the beginning of each row untill i got down to 1 stitch

then i picked up 28 stitches on the second side of the triangle and proceeded with the second rib pattern following the same procedure as before just with the new rib

and the same for the 3rd side of the triangle.after the 3 arms were finished and knotted off i made 3 big pom poms for the ends

but a word of advice from my mistake make sure your choice of rib pattern isnt mostly stockinette as it will curl as my 1 arm is.

walt

aka kiddo

Chief's Weekly Address

2008-04-22T20:19:00.000-07:00

Clown Practice

2008-04-17T16:43:00.000-07:00

howdy doo to you

2008-04-17T16:00:00.000-07:00

Well I am Kiddo and i am verry happy to be along for the ride with my commander Brigadeer Blue Beard.

looking forward to many great adventures

L8r

First Post

2007-06-16T21:06:00.000-07:00

My name is Birgadier Blue Beard. I am told this is a computer thing.