Expert talks sideshow banners at Coney
SBy Chandler Kidd tep right up folks, and see the
artwork!
An expert on the history of
sideshow banners will discuss the
colorful cloth advertisements that
showcased the freaks, oddities, and
eccentric acts of the midway. The
author of “Painters of the Peculiar,”
who will read from his book at the
Coney Island Museum on July 27,
said that the over-the-top banners were
designed to draw people in, and rarely
reflected the reality of the sideshow.
“With sideshow banner art, they
typically never depicted a real person,
instead just depicting a generic sword
swallower or fire breather or whatever.
You really have no idea who these
banners are depicting unless they are
named, which is rare,” said Michael
Papa. “They weren’t depicting
whatever you were going to see — it
was all a lie.”
Papa’s obsession with the banners
began with his father’s collection of
circus art created by painter Snap
Wyatt. As a boy, Papa said he was
mystified by the sideshow acts
advertised on the banners.
“The banners that stand out from
this line are ‘the Guillotine’ and
‘Levitation.’ Those banners were
always very mysterious to me and I
really enjoyed looking at them when
I was little. They created an ambiance
in the room where they are displayed
that is not replicated any other way,”
Papa said.
Papa wrote his book with Johnny
Meah, a respected sideshow banner
painter whose work is showcased
in the Smithsonian and the Barnum
museums. The book discusses the
history of the art form, and it provides
biographies of some of the most prolific
banner painters.
During his talk, which is part of the
Museum’s “Ask the Experts” series,
Papa will walk visitors through the
birth of a sideshow banner, from its
inspiration to the moment that it is
presented to the public. He will also
cover the history of banner artists,
COURIER L 44 IFE, JULY 19-25, 2019 24-7
and the characteristics that mark their
work, he said.
“I wanted the book to be a guide
for collectors because there is a lot of
misinformation out there about who
painted what and when,” Papa said. “I
didn’t want banner artists’ legacies to
be mixed in with each other. They all
have their own individual styles.”
“Painters of the Peculiar” at the
Coney Island Museum (1208 Surf
Ave. at W. 12th Street, second floor,
in Coney Island, www.coneyisland.
com). July 27 at 5 p.m. $5 ($3 seniors
and kids).
By Rose Adams Let the games begin!
Dumbo will become a giant
playground this weekend, when
street games take over the Archway
under the Manhattan Bridge and
surrounding areas on July 20.
The “Come Out and Play”
festival, in Dumbo for its third year,
will recruit passersby to face off in
brief, free competitions that use cell
phones, virtual reality goggles, and
other props. The event encourages
people to connect with the public
space and to work together, said one
of the festival’s co-hosts.
“It is kind of a community
event,” said Nicholas Fortugno,
the co-founder of a game company
Playmatics. “Games encourage
strangers to interact with each
other.”
The day-long festival,
co-sponsored by the Dumbo Business
Improvement District, Playmatics,
and Gigantic Mechanic game studio,
will feature games for children during
the event’s “Family Day,” from 1
p.m. to 5 p.m.; players age 18 and
older will face off in more cutthroat
competitions from 6 p.m. to 10 p.m.
Previous events have drawn crowds
of up to 3,000 people over the course
of the day, according to Fortugno.
This year event will feature about
25 activities, including sports-like
competitions, like a “Capture the
Flag” variant that uses bean bags;
activities that build on traditional
board games like chess; and games
that employ new technology.
For example, in the game “Mad
Mixologist,” which owes more to mad
science than bartending, two players
wear virtual reality goggles as they
try to pour, mix, and garnish drinks,
but they can only see themselves —
literally — through their partner’s
eyes. The heart of all the games is a
love of goofiness that can be shared
with others, said Fortugno.
“We make games silly, funny,
likable, approachable,” he said. “We
like to reward activities that cause
people to do interesting things in
public.”
“Come Out and Play” at Dumbo
Archway Water Street between Pearl
and Adams streets in Dumbo, (646)
807–8131, www.comeoutandplay.
org. July 20; 1–5 p.m. and 6–10
p.m. Free.
By Kevin Duggan They’re coming for ya!
A Mardi Gras
Indian band will
transport lunchtime
listeners from Downtown’s
MetroTech Commons to
the pulsing streets of the
French Quarter on July 25,
by blasting the sounds of
New Orleans streets at a free
afternoon concert hosted
by the Brooklyn Academy
of Music. The eight-piece
band Cha Wa will perform
its upbeat blend of funk
and brass-filled jazz, while
its two singers draw the
eye with feathered Native
American outfits that
honor their home city’s rich
heritage, according to one of
the group’s founders.
“It’s a lot of pageantry
along with a deep musical
tradition,” said drummer Joe
Gelini.
The group, whose
name is Indian vernacular
for “we’re comin’ for ya,”
formed around Gelini, along
with lead singer J’Wan
Boudreaux and his uncle
Joseph Boudreaux, Jr., who
are the grandson and son,
respectively, of “Monk”
Boudreaux, the Big Chief
of the Golden Eagles Mardi
Gras Indian tribe.
The tribe is one of dozens
that trace their origins to
the intermingling of escaped
African slaves and Native
Americans in the New
Orleans region.
J’Wan is second-incommand
of the Golden
Eagles tribe, known as a
“Spyboy” — also the name
of Cha Wa’s Grammynominated
2018 album. He
and Joseph Jr., who both
have black, Choctaw, and
Cherokee heritage, spend
most of the year crafting
traditional outfits out of
canvas, beads, and feathers,
which they debut each
year during Mardi Gras,
according to Gelini.
“It’s a very personal and
detailed piece of artwork,”
he said.
The group was inspired
by Monk Boudreaux’s
performances with the
Wild Magnolias, a Mardi
Gras Indian tribe that also
performed as a funk band
in the early 1970s. Cha Wa
honors that tradition by
including musical elements
like call-and-response
rhythms, while its horn
section adds in brass sounds
in the vein of New Orleans
jazz.
The band’s music is
infectiously upbeat, but
the lyrics often highlight
the Crescent City’s issues
with racism. The track
“Visible Means of Support”
references a Jim Crow-era
vagrancy law that allowed
police to fine black men for
loitering if they could not
prove they had “a visible
means of support,” or were
looking for a job.
“It was like a modern day
stop-and-frisk,” Gelini said.
The band is set to release
a new single this summer,
followed by a full-length
record next spring.
Cha Wa at MetroTech
Commons Myrtle Avenue
between Lawrence and
Bridge streets Downtown,
(718) 636–4100, www.bam.
org. July 25 at noon. Free.
’Maid in Brooklyn: This banner of Tanagra the live mermaid was painted by Fred
Johnson, the most prolific of the known sideshow artists. Michael Papa
Take it Big Easy: New Orleans outfit Cha Wa will bring its Mardi Gras
funk and brass sounds to MetroTech Commons on July 25.
Erika Goldring
Playground: Many of the day-long
festival’s activities are never-before-seen
inventions by game developers, giving
attendees an advance taste of games that
have yet to hit the market.
Come Out and Play
Bayou bash
FREAK ART!
Playing Dumb-o
Mardi Gras Indian band
blasts sounds of N’awlins
/www.coneyisland
/www.comeoutandplay
/www.bam
/www.coneyisland
/www.comeoutandplay
/www.bam