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On Fakir Musafar, Piercing, and a Piece of Sideshow News
Born this day, Fakir Musafar (Roland Loomis, 1930-2018). Loomis was a lot of things over the course of his life: an advertising executive, an Arthur Murray Dance Instructor, a demolitions specialist with the U.S. Army. He had degrees in both electrical engineering and creative writing. But what he is best known for is being an influential pioneer of piercing and body modification. Obviously,…
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Dick Zigun's New Book o' Crazy Plays
I love this photo of the young Dick Zigun, for I love the moment it captures, the 1980s, around the time he was co-founding Coney Island USA and not long after he completed that vaunted Yale Drama School education. Many know Zigun as the founder of the Coney Island Mermaid Parade, midwife of Sideshows by the Seashore, Voyeur and Grand Vizier of Burlesque at the Beach, and such like, but far fewer…
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This Week Catch TWO Sideshows in Coney Island!
Back in the day it was a matter of course that you could see more than one sideshow presentation in Coney Island on the same day, and by that I mean different presentations by different organizations at different locales, not just catching the same ten-in-one twice in a row. That’s how it was during Coney’s heyday (up until the mid-20th century). Since the ’80s, only Coney Island USA has produced…
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The 2015 Mermaid Parade
Originally posted in 2015. Today is the first day of summer! Yesterday the Mad Marchioness and I launched the season in the best way possible: by being judges in the 33rd annual Coney Island Mermaid Parade, produced by Coney Island USA. I attended my first Mermaid Parade in 1989; the experience, which was fairly life changing, inspired my play Sea of Love and made me a lifelong fan of Coney…
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Catching Up with Coney
Originally published in 2022. July 5 is P.T. Barnum’s birthday and I couldn’t think of a better way to celebrate it then by spending a couple of hours with Dick Zigun, Coney Island’s unofficial unelected mayor, who just so happens to be from Barnum’s pet city of Bridgeport! Dick recently separated from the organization he founded, Coney Island USA as we reported here, but he now has an excellent…
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A Sit-Down With The Permanently Unelected Mayor of Coney Island
This week I was honored to be the first guest (but somehow also, seemingly, the host) on Dick Zigun’s new youtube show. Best known as the Founder of Coney Island USA, the Mermaid Parade, and much else, Zigun discussed his current and future plans in the historic amusement district, as well as in Manhattan’s downtown theatre scene. Though he’s no longer at CIUSA, his position as Permanently…
Dick Zigun's New Rock Opera Opens Tomorrow Night
Exciting news for fans of Coney Island USA founder Dick Zigun. His new rock opera Killin’ Republicans opens tomorrow night (Thursday, November 30) at Theater for the New City. Though best known as a sideshow impresario and creator of the Mermaid Parade, Zigun has been an experimental playwright since before the beginning. Some of his previous works have included Dead End Dummy, The Education of…
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The Savior of Coney Island Returns Tonight
Just a head’s up for New Yorkers that a great documentary short by Gary Beeber entitled The Savior of Coney Island will be showing tonight (July 28, 8pm) as part of the outdoor Art of Brooklyn Film Festival at Owl’s Head Park in Bay Ridge. You’d BETTER know who that savior is! It’s Coney Island USA founder Dick Zigun, whom we had occasion to mention here only yesterday (sometimes it seems like we…
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