Robert Zucker: Publishing: Traveling Show
The Traveling ShowThe roving Traveling Shows of the 13th Century is the modern equivalent of the television set. Dozens, perhaps thousands of Traveling Shows performed throughout medieval Europe with groups of minstrels. They would entertain with song, dance and theatrics. The minstrel bards would sing and tell tales of faraway or imaginary places, events and legends. They were the storytellers who knew how to entertain. The minstrels would compose the lyrics, or use anothers tune, and spin a story that would captivate the crowd with their words and voice. The minstrel was a performer who would amuse his lord with music and song. This is where the roaming Traveling Shows of the 15th Century still live on. Buy "Traveling Show" on Amazon
In the 1400s, thousands of minstrels performed throughout medieval Europe. These roaming groups of entertainers would sing, dance and perform theatrics as they journeyed from town to town in a Traveling Show. They sang embellished tales of faraway or imaginary places, events and legends. They were the storytellers of days gone by. The minstrels composed the lyrics to spin a story that captivated the crowd with their words and tunes. Depending on its size, the Traveling Show would have several actors or could be just a single performer who wanders between towns - the one-man show. The streets of Renaissance Europe would be filled with these street musicians and entertainers both day and night. By 1700, minstrels and Traveling Shows became extinct. Today, the Traveling Show is embodied in the entertainment circuit of traveling celebrities- roaming from club to venue. That spirit can be also found in today’s street musicians who entertain on the sidewalk or street corner. The Traveling Show is also played out in the scenes and people that pass through one’s life. Through the eyes and words of a minstrel, the traveler’s story is told. The stories in this book are from a collection of minstrel stories of the 20th Century. At age 16, I started writing poetry and drawing people and places. Over several decades, and more than 600 poems later, they became my lifeline to the past. Now, they are beacons to the future. When composed, they weren’t meant to be a continuous story. It just happened. I wrote about growing up and the lives of the people who passed by as I transitioned through high school, college and the real world. These same words followed me for decades. Unknowing at the time, the poems would develop an unwitting theme, or string of themes, that seem to bind the decades together into a story of more than just myself. Follow the words that weave around those themes as people come in and out of my life and see the reflections of your life. Everyone has his or her own Traveling Show. As we interact with the people we meet, their influences on our lives shape the way we grow and how we perform. Some of those entertainers are just fancy dancers and those in search of rainbows. But, they may have the most profound effect on our lives. The people in these poems actually lived, and died, with their own Traveling Shows as they tried to reach for rainbows. Some never did finish that journey. Through their eyes, I wrote about their travels through life. Through my eyes, I wrote about my own travels. Each poem is a slice of life and chapter on it own. Most of the poems were shared with the people who they were written about. The poems also foretold my story as it unfolded. My comments at the end of each poem are written decades later when I decided to compile this volume. The handwritten copies are scanned from the original writings. The typed poems are dictated through speech recognition software. The signed artwork and photographs are my originals. Renaissance images, where noted, are clip art. The poems are placed mostly in date order to reveal the entire story. These pages are dedicated to all of the angels and fancy dancers who helped to write this, and especially, to those who got lost along the way. Now, I am able to tell my own minstrel story. These are the songs waiting to be sung. I’m only a poem. I’m the story of me. Read Poems from The Traveling ShowTraveling Show Copyright © 2013 BZB Publishing, Inc. 10-2-2013 ISBN-10: 1939050030 First print edition, 2013 ISBN-13: 1-939050-03-8 First print edition, 2013 ISBN-10: 1-939050-00-6 Electronic book edition ISBN-13: 978-1-939050-00-7 Electronic book edition Published by BZB Publishing Inc. Internet: http://robert-zucker.com Copyright © 2013 BZB Publishing, Inc. All rights reserved. No part of the material protected by this copyright may be reproduced or utilized in any means, electronic or mechanical, without written permission from the copyright owner and author. |
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