Ravi The Scorpion Mystic
This past weekend, I was
down at the
Siren Festival at Coney
Island.
I've wanted to go for the past few years, but I've never been able to get out there and the one day event always came and went as one of those great "things I wish I'd gotten to do."Finally, I was able to find my way out to the far southern reaches of Brooklyn this year for the event, and I was to meet friends a few hours into the event.
The morning started out rather ominously, and rather than heed the warning in the sky, I simply packed my umbrella and started out on the 2 hour journey. Along the way, I finished reading Just a Geek, and started to pour over the latest issue of Linux Journal, and still found time to be bored during the 2 hours of stop and go on the subway.
While in transit, I'd found out that a few of my friends were already on their way back out of Brooklyn. Apparently, beer and coasters don't mix (a lesson I'd learned at 10 years old with chili-dogs and the Gravitron, but not everyone gets to grow up a few miles from Great Escape.) I'd also never tried the experiment with an intoxicant, and apparently, it works quite the same way as funnel cakes and fried meats on a stick.
After meeting up with a few other friends and trying to see a band or two, we all agreed that it was too hot, stressful, and crowded to stick around for the rest of the bands and they decided to head home. I was now stuck with a dilemma, as I didn't live anywhere near as close as the rest of them did to Coney Island. I'd spent two hours getting there, and I was going to get my travel's worth, dammit!
I'd been very good about spending money so far, and I continued being frugal, catching free bands and letting my stomach slowly digest the wonderful and huge sausage hero I'd had around 2:00 over the course of the 6 or 7 hours I was there.
I tried very hard to like Blond-Redhead and They Will Know Us by the Trail Of The Dead, but both bands were fairly weak, and Trail of the Dead's "rockstar" on-stage drunkenness made for a crappy show on top of what would have only been mediocre music.
At some point during the night I realized I'd covered the boardwalk and the whole of Coney Island a total of 5 times, and I was beginning to recognize people as I passed them. Afraid that one particular group would think I was stalking them after the 10th time I walked by, I decided to take a detour into the famous Coney Island Circus Sideshow.
The show itself was interesting not so much for the amazing acts, but for the traditional showmanship of the event. Between the Barker standing outside, the comedic Penn and Teller pairings of mute "act" with vivacious announcer, and the brilliant ways they got you to "see inside the box for just a donation of 1 dollar more," I felt like I was in a very different decade, and was amazed to see how well the show still ran even in our culture of cable re-runs of fear factor and Ripley's Believe It Or Not. As for myself, I had a great time watching them put on the show even though I could figure out most of the tricks.
Many of the acts were shim-sham, such as "electro-girl" who, although differently dressed, also happened to be the pretty young 'contortionist' in the box you had to pay to see inside. She sat on what was obviously a low-voltage static electricity generator, and then passed that electricity over her skin to light up a fluorescent light bulb, and ignite flaming sticks with her tongue. She squirmed convincingly to make you feel as though she was really taking a good dose of electricity to perform the feats, but you got the sense that you could simply sit in the chair and do the act yourself. Fun, but not amazing.
The one act that really stood
out for me was the real contortionist,
Ravi
"The Scorpion Mystic".
For all the showmanship and trickery of the other acts, there's no substitute for the real thing. Ravi is the real life equivalent of a character from X-Men. He can bend, twist, and compress his body in ways that hurt if you even attempt, and the only showmanship involved in his act is making it look like it's not the easiest thing in the world for him.
Strangely, I caught him again late last night at the "Disgraceland Family Freak Show" at Korova Milk Bar, and he performed his Coney Island act with a few added twists and props. I was floored again by his performance, and he made the others acts (some of which were more of the extreme nature than Coney Island's) again pale by comparison as he did things with his body that shouldn't be possible.
After his act, I shook his hand to congratulate him on his show both in Coney Island and at Disgraceland that night, and his skin felt like rubber; like if i squeezed his hand hard enough, his fingers would simply swell and squeeze out the front of my grip. It was a strange sensation, and it made me acutely aware of the fact that he's the real deal.
I'm dying to know more about how he got into the business, if he trained his body or was born that way, and how he got picked up by Coney Island. It's such a different life than many of us lead, like a twisted Olympics where you have to be the best to succeed. Fascinating.
