New Brigade Member - Neal

Neal is a rescue dog that turn out to be the perfect therapy dog. He is really friendly and loves everyone.  

 

He is an American Bulldog mixed with some other stuff. He is smiling most of the time and is always ready to make anew friend. 

Neal is named in memory of Buddy who's real name was Neal. Buddy refused to respond to it.

The New 24 Hour Team

There is a tradition in the circus called the 24 Hour Men. They were the ones that went ahead of the circus and do the PR and secure the venues. With the expansion project we needed to give the committee a name. It was only right to use this old name for what we are doing now. 

The new 24 Hour Team will go ahead and start new Brigades for the new Order. Thus far we have identified Southern Maryland and Harrisburg, PA as places where new Brigades should be founded. Chieftain Gailey has already visited both places and is laying the groundwork for new Brigades. Over the next year a team with the goal of starting new Brigades will be formed. 

The new patch will go under one's Purple Lodge Patch if they have one.

 

Herman Makes Progress

 Herman continues his training even though he is a tiny terror. Here he is sitting as a table trying to be nice. 

Stay tuned for further developments.

New Puppy in Training

 We had really hoped to train Buddy's successor with him. Buddy had proven to us that a dog could be a valuable member of the team.

Shortly after we lost Buddy we got a call about a potential successor. We picked him and was cute and furry and everything a puppy is supposed to be.

My wife had that idea to name him after one of the Master Clowns that helped form the Brigade. So we have a mostly bull dog named Herman. As an extra layer of fun he is named after someone who did not really like dogs. 

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As a fun aside animals have their own rank system that resembles the one for clowns. So at this point Herman would be a Cadet and honorary members of the group. He will become an apprentice when he gets his Therapy Animal Certification. Until then he will come to our practices and we will be trying to teach him not chew on people's show laces. 

So when you are at Juggling on Sunday say Hello to Herman and scratch him behind the ears. I am sure he would appreciate it. 

SR Gailey

We Lost of a Friend

  Buddy passed away this December due to complications from his Cushing’s Disease. He       was not just a good dog and a therapy animal, he was a good soul.

   He spent most of his life locked in a box in a subpar puppy mill. Our best guess was that he spent 8 to 10 years there. He broke out by forcing his way through a cage causing himself terrible injuries. He showed up at the Brigade’s House thirty pounds underweight, and barely able to walk. I called animal control, and they told me he was so injured that they would have to put him down.

    We took him to our vet, and he mostly recovered from his injuries. His presence did alert the police to the terrible conditions of the puppy mill. His former owner claimed Buddy was not his dog, to avoid additional charges, nor did he want to pay the vet bills. Thus, we got to keep him.

    We tried naming him Neal, but the only thing he would respond to was Buddy. He didn’t bark, he didn’t bite. If ever there was a dog that should be mad at Humans, it was him. For reasons I do not understand, he loved everyone he met. He was the best example of unconditional love I have ever personally known.

    He really enjoyed attending the MACA Conventions. I am personally greatful for him being allowed to attend. He was so happy to come to the hotel because he knew a bunch would love him there. After we let him go, my wife and I sat and went through our last pictures of him. They were all of him being happy at the convention.    

    I have worked with elephants, parrots, horses, and cats from tigers to house cats. Buddy was the best. Buddy loved being around people more than any of the others. I only wish he had more time to do the work that he loved.
 

The New Old Order

 

The Brigade Council has come up with the first draft of the criteria for where a new Brigade should go.

1. Children's Hospital or Ward to perform in.

2. Ethnically Diverse Community.

3. Not in a city with a MACA Troupe.

4. Easy to travel to via mass transit.

 

We have come to the conclusion that there are many cities that we might start a Brigade in. With the slow demise of clowning in the United States someone should start training new clowns. 

The list so far is....

 Akron, Ohio

Albany, New York

Boston, Massachusetts

Buffalo, New York

Cincinnati, Ohio

Cleveland, Ohio

Columbus, Ohio

Detroit, Michigan

Dover, Delaware

Flint, Michigan

Harrisburg, Pennsylvania

London, Ontario

Newark, New Jersey

Philadelphia, Pennsylvania

Richmond, Virginia

Roanoke, Virginia

Toledo, Ohio

Toronto, Ontario

Virginia Beech, Virginia

We will put out feelers and see where the Third Brigade will be founded.

A New Order

 

The Steel City Clown Brigade was once part of a larger group that no longer exists. That organization maintained the curriculum we use to train new clown, bought insurance, made equipment and those sorts of things. 

Without them we have been doing that sort of thing ourselves. With possibility of forming a couple new Brigades over the next couple years we have decided to try and restart some bit of that glory. 

It was Bayley Brown from SCCB that came up with the new name for what will one day be our parent organization. We are still working on the logo. The current logo was created by Rosetta McBride. It recalls the roots of where our order was started.