MW: Tell us about the rest of the show. I understand it was all pretty bizarre. What was the cast of characters?

MF: Let's start with Jim and his wife, Bebe. Jim ate razor blades, did a straight jacket escape, stapled a dollar bill to his forehead, put his face in broken glass and let a member of the audience stand on the back of his head, and stuck a spoon up his nose. Bebe walked up a ladder of swords and laid on a bed of nails, and was the target in my knife throwing act.

 

The Enigma composed our music, but he also swallowed swords, ate bugs and appeared in a blue speedo to expose his full body tatoo. He's got blue puzzle pieces tatooed all over him, hence the name "The Enigma." His latest was to have two teflon marbles sewed under his scalp to simulate horns.

 

Ufto hung things from many body piercings. He has climbing gear in his ears, a septum pierce in his nose, a tongue piercing, two nipple piercings and a ring "down below." He lifts things with these, such as suitcases, jackets on coat hangers through his tongue, irons from nipples. They all appear heavy, but are not necessarily as heavy as they appear. But then again, hanging anything off a piercing looks very dramatic to the audience. That's entertainment, my friend!

 

Rubber Man's act revolved around a double-jointed shoulder that he moved around, and he fit through a 1970s model tennis racket.

 

The whole thing was presented in a 30­minute first half, 45-minute second half with a 15-minute intermission. A lot of times there was an opening band or other kind of opening act. It's was not always associated with a rock band, but it always had a loud, rock and roll, "in your face" feel. That's why we always called it a "Rock and Roll Circus."

 

MW: How in the world do people do all those stunts?

MF: Jim wrote book "Freak Like Me" that explains a lot of things like the human pin cushion and Ufto (and it also mentions me briefly!).

 

MW: As a juggler, how was it to work with these kind of folks? How did they look at you since you had a relatively normal body, just some extraordinary skill?

MF: I think they respected me for my talent because of the things I was doing. A lot or the things I do other people don't do so. I guess it can be impressive when you see the tricks.

 

MW: Did you do anything else with the show?

MF: I had to do lights and sound. We were all roadies... everyone except the big man. He'd do the radio and then we would go in, set up and make sure the lights and sound were right. I would get up at maybe 1 p.m., go to the venue, have a bite to eat while I'm working, focus lights, get sound on, ring out the clusters, set up the stage, go eat, not even warm up, adon the rubber and get out there.

 

MW: Putting on the rubber. .. That was your costume, right?

MF: Yeah, I wore rubber. The act changed from me wearing all black to me wearing a prison outfit to the rubber stuff. When we got to the Nine Inch Nails tour they had rubber shirts for the people in the show and sold them every once in a while. So the circus got a bunch of these rubber shirts and I wore them. They'd rip and I'd sew them up and, Oh Man! What a bitch rubber is to sew!

 

MW: Was it also uncomfortable or hot?

MF: Actually, once I got on stage I didn't really think about it. But there were times I had to soak the rubber in water to get it on, so it was slippery. And a lot of times I'd soak it in hot water so it was warm going on, because the show was outdoors and cold.