I feel like it’s time for Swellco & Swellco to get back to it’s roots. All employee assets are required to make a vow to embrace the strange and defend the absurd. While Obama Condoms and anything involving crazed metal brat Weston Cage is always amusing, I kinda miss the early days (last year) when we were all porn stars and circus freaks. So with Zombie Boy I’m bringing us back to those roots.

I’m fascinated by self created sideshow freaks. Born with your oddity on the inside? Feel compelled to work inside that tent? Well then, FORCE yourself out of the norm’s world with body mods and tattoos. We’ve featured a few who were willing to truly lock the door behind them. Characters like Insectavora, Lizard Man and the last of the old guard, Jack Dracula.

But Zombie Boy is somewhat different. First of all, he really wasn’t aspiring to work in a sideshow. Or if he was, he just didn’t have the chance. While a few of the body mod freaks have gotten to dabble with celebrity & media attention, Zombie Boy was swooped up by Lady Gaga and has been doing Paris Fashion Runways instead of Oklahoma City Fair Five in One’s. His job thus far is simply to be.

The great shift in society is upon us. For better or for worse, the freaks are becoming the norm. or at the very least, they are not so freaky anymore.

- Jimi Jam
Swellco & Swellco #23234b

Photos courtesy of bizarremag.com

The impending gentrification of Coney Island loomed for years as developers salivated over the prospect of building condos in dirty heaven. The mecca for the strange and dispossessed was under-siege for what felt like years.. I remember when I went to the mermaid parade the year before Astroland went down, there were so many protest signs that it fell and it felt more like a solidarity march for freaks.

Now I hear so many people talk as if the whole board walk was nuked. But if you know anything about the history of Coney Island, you know that the whole place as been razed to the ground and rebuilt repeatedly.

The carny culture is still there. Coney Island is STILL a hub for burlesque, sideshow and art and there is ALWAYS something going on there. Most importantly Sideshow By the Seashore endures and it’s legacy continues to shine. The summer season is coming up.
The Cyclone-still there.
The Wonder Wheel-still there.
Nathans’s-still there.
Most importantly Sideshow By the Seashore endures and it’s legacy continues to shine. The summer season is coming up.  As far as I’m concerned, as long as they are, Coney island is still a magical place. Don’t forget to check them out.

-Marcus Abrey Swellco & Swellco 24534b

Check out their site

Photos courtesy of  coneyisland.com

I’m going out on a limb here, and I’m going to go on record and publicly disagree with the dreaded R.E. Brown’s blog entry about huge fake boobs. I think people have been disappeared for less with him, so cross your fingers for me.

I work as a pro dom, that’s common knowledge. I wear it on my sleeve pretty clearly. But my services are generally provided to people who desperately HIDE their freak side. People who live out their fantasy in secrecy.

What has attracted me to the blog aspect of the Circus, as  I’ve always understood it, is that the point of this is to celebrate those who choose to stand way, way out in the fringe of society. People who have whole heartedly rejected society and don’t hide the weirdo or freak in them.

I’m ok with the porn star entries, but it’s because I enjoy sex. Dirty filthy fucking and I like to watch people fuck. But I don’t really think there is any higher philosophical intentions by 99% of the girls involved. Some have a strong head on their shoulders, but lets face it, the motivation of most porn stars is purely economical mixed in with an overwhelming desire to be ACCEPTED. Yeah, it’s a fucked up world with fucked up people. Believe me, I know.

That doubly goes for the freak show breast implant women. These ladies aren’t stuffing thirty pounds of silicon in their chest because they want to be different, it’s because they want to be ACCEPTED. These are women are absolutely desperate for the attention and acceptance of men. They want to be what they think society wants them to be.  These are people who embody everything wrong with straight, normal society.

I think if you want to look at the true freak kings and lords of the underground, you always have to get back to the circus. Not drifting off as a metaphor, but the real circus. The sideshow is where people always proudly defy the norm. That being said, I humbly present Insectavora, now going by the name Angelica. If you live anywhere on the east coast, and know anything about sideshow, you know who she is. She is beautiful, sexy, edgy and she choose to cover herself from face to toe in amazing tattoos and makes a living eating bugs, swallowing fire and a hundred other awesome feats of amusingness. She chose to be UN-ACCEPTED. That to me is what the circus is all about, metaphor or literal, video or real.

Now hopefully Mr. Brown and Mr. Black won’t show up at my house with a giant nap sack at 3 in the morning.

It’s been a while since I’ve been up to Brooklyn. I’m not real positive where Insectavora is performing so hit her up on her facebook page to find out.

-Annette Garcia
Swellco & Swellco 54823a

Photos Courtesy of www.myspace.com/insectavora