Today's comments.

Hi Buckles, Sorry this is a few days late, we had our 25th annual "Sugarfest" forRBBB-Red this past Sat. then Diane got real sick and we're just nowapproaching "normal". This is in response to "no name given's" comments about the RBBB flatsin NJ earlier this month. We did not see the flats this year so can'tagree/disagreewith those comments but we did cover the unloading of stock and subsequent"animal walk". There were four stock cars, beautifully clean, logoed, andnicely painted.The unloading of stock was moved a mile or two North of the usual site asthe old site was under renovation . The new site was a rather busy sidestreet, lots of semisand large delivery trucks. The actual unloading, scheduled for 10:30didn't actually happen until after 2:30. We got there between 9:30 and10:00 and waited until thebulls were almost out of sight before we left to take photos of the herdarriving behind the arena. While we waited at the siding our carthermometer registered 12-13 degrees and I would guess the prevalent wind gusts were 30-40 mph whichcould, I imagine, create a windchill factor of -8. There were I believe, ten bulls all together, but they only walked eight, two were trucked in unmarked vehicles. Once again, only bulls &horses walked. One last curious note, for some reason, unknown to us, the showwagons from the flats were taken over to the arena by leased or rented fiveton wreckers,not the usual vehicles. Did want to mention to you too, as I wrote to Linda Cimini andMark Gebel & family...it's just not the same anymore, over the years whenthe train was unloadedwe had many friends on the show now those friends have dwindled down tovery few. Years ago there was Axel Gautier and sons...now there's justgood ol" Sonny Ridley. There was, of course, Gunther, Mark and Pete Cimini and PapaLouie, etc now there's no one. Alex Vargas and I know each other by sightandalways say hello, but that's about it. Very sad, very sad. Lastly....yes I think this is really lastly...we did discover thatKarin Houcke is still on the show and nicely presenting a liberty zebraact. We believe she marriedthe shows head electrician. Hope all is well with all of you and, at the risk of beingrepetitious....we are sooo looking forward to seeing you and the Col inHershey; we'll be chilling the seltzerbefore you know it. All best from Diane and me, Paul From Eric: I’ve always wondered if Kenneth Feld ever really wanted to run the Greatest Show on Earth. His father certainly wanted to run it, and apparently expected Kenneth to follow in his footsteps. But is that the career field that Kenneth would have chosen for himself? Having reached the top spot by the process of succession, he’s now in a rather unenviable position. His editions are always going to be compared to the best of those produced by his father (who had the benefit of Mattel’s financial backing plus the expertise of a lot of experienced circus people who were with the show back then.) If Kenneth sells the show to someone else, there is always the possibility that the new owner will restore the performance back to its former glory and be acknowledged as the person who “saved the Greatest Show on Earth.” For all his millions, it is possible that Kenneth looks back upon the day he found himself in the circus business as the worst thing that ever happened to him. Hmmmm. From Bob Cline An newspaper article that was distributed through Circusvern last night interviewed a RBBB Red Unit member as saying that many people were disappointed with last years show missing the tigers, flying acts, and the rings. Well, folks, they're back and you won't be disappointed this year. That's pretty sad when one unit is apologizing for the lack of show the other unit displayed the year before. Of course the flip side is if the management doesn't really care, what difference does it make if they apologize or not? Bob Barney McDermott, Administrator of Records for Apologies has left a new comment on your post "RBBB Blue Unit 1979 #7": Yes, Mr. Cline, I noticed the "apology" too. What a shame, the FORMERLY Greatest Show on Earth offering an alibi for last year's show and IN THE PRESS. If I was that cast member I wouldn't send out my laundry because I might be long gone before my laundry returns.