Guadalupe Canyon, Mexico - New Years Eve, '06. There was no light, hence sucking the flashlight. In the wilds, on mushrooms, but there was an old-school typer, and things that needed to be written...

Ringmasters Note: 5/1/08 - The Birth of Big Top Magazine!

Three months ago I didn’t know the first thing about creating a website. Literally, absolutely nothing. Now, there's this. I guess that just goes to show what anyone can do with a vision...
It has seen countless changes as I learned how to do something new on the site, endless hours in my small strange Circus Wagon, gallons of coffee & the death of my computer.
Though it is still not completely done & probably looks quite choppy - like some guy creating his first site did it, maybe, it is closer than it ever has been, and I needed to get it out there into the world. I'd like to think that some people have been waiting for it since I first posted the idea of the site many months ago.

Over the next couple of weeks there will be some small additions and possibly big changes to the appearance as I continue to create my vision, but this is pretty close – keep checking back for updates, new links, & proper acknowledgements to the photographers that have made it so purty at the end of the articles and a bunch of other stuff. (For now, find many of the main photographers in the links section.)

I’m going to do my best to keep this site free of internet ads, but I need you to do that, so please – if you have something to advertise, do – this site will be worldwide in a matter of minutes from the initial launch. (I gots connections, honk.) If you just dig the idea of the only friggin’ site of its kind out on the interweb and want to help out, then please support it! I need to support the site, compensate the contributors when I can to make it better and bring more content in, and eventually have it professionally re-done by someone who knows what they're doing. Also, Big Top schwag is now available!

This issue will be up for two months as it gets filled in and changes are made, then I hope to go monthly after that – and eventually into print if it can generate the necessary capitol for the most eco-friendly full color magazine to ever exist! Everything is possible.

If you have suggestions for the Big Top site, or literally any comments, submissions, events you want posted – anything at all, please email bigtopmag@gmail.com with a subject concerning what it is you gots to say. I hope you enjoy the site - now go play around in it!

Lovin’s on ya, and thank you all for the inspiration to do this.
~ kSea flux

5/21/08

In the past twenty days, this site has had 822 hits from 22 countries - thank you! It makes the incessant work that I put into it seem worthwhile, and I hope you enjoy it. If you do or don't. please - let me know!

As much love as it has recieved in words, the future of this site is hanging on a weak precipice. So far it has been funded by a dear friend, Ty, but that needs to change - so tomorrow I am opening a bank account and transfering the server costs to it. It is nothing less than do or die, as the site needs to provide for itself. If it is not supported by you, it will cease to exist.I give every free second to it, and as a result have no money or time for a normal job. BIG TOP is my job, & BIG TOP NEEDS YOUR SUPPORT! If you like this site, help it continue to exist. Donate or buy some merchandise, like - now. It takes money to keep the site up, and when it is tranfered to my account, it will be on a dangerous ledge of non-existence, as I only have enough scratch to simply open a bank account. Please, please donate or buy some Big Top merchandise. I need you. This site needs you. It is incredibly close to being shut down, and I don't want that to happen. Do you?

6.26.08

The July issue is coming up, and it's going to be beautiful!

I've decided to produce a show, REVOLUTION, which you can find the details about on the Events page of this site. Whatever it takes, I am in this for the long haul, and through it the dreams create a form that I can't ignore - or they don't which leaves me sleepless as well, searching... this site will always change, hopefully for the better.

Very soon I will transfer the somewhat hidden "thanks" page off of Links to a real page - the people have spported me in this deserve that, at least. Hells, I wrote the first hand-written letter in years to someone who lelped me eat recently, sent me a check that helped me turn my phone back on and get some food. Woohoo!

but I don't have much I can say without going into far too much than Ihave the energy for right now, so I will leave it at this.

I love you...

7.9.08

Wow, has this issue been a learning experience. So much beauty, so many incredible people doing amazing things - and so much that I need to chill the fuck out and start taking things a bit less seriously, get more sleep, eat better, stress less - and just let this happen without getting all consumed by it. Close the computer and open a book.

I took this past weekend almost completely off, slept, read, slept some more - and that's all it took to make things lovely again. Things are still incredibly tight, but it will work out.

Life is good. I'm back.

9-11-08

YOU can own a piece of Big Top history!

That's right, friends - this is truly a piece of history, and has served as my home/office/sanctuary/pain in the butt for the past 9 months - but now, alas, it's time for it to go. My friend wants his driveway back, and I can't wait to oblige.

Really. I can't wait. The Beast (as it is affectionately called) needs to go to some other lucky person by early October.

What exactly *is* The Beast, you ask? Well, no one really knows, and believe me, I've asked. Everywhere. It's without question one of a kind, but has no identifying marks anywhere. It's kinda like an old bread truck, and the current thinking is that someone with gobs of money converted it to an RV about 30 years ago, for some reason.

It has a very distinct charm to it if you close one eye and squint, and if you have a great imagination, you can probably even keep both open and see the potential for it to be... something.

It doesn't leak oil (assuming it has any in it) nor gasoline (as the gas tank is leaning up against my friends house) and if you have a large living room, would make an incredible conversation piece - one that lets you know who your friends *really* are.

If you have children, I can guarantee that this is phenomenally better than ANY cardboard box in existence, and may very well have even once been a time machine. Actually, it still could be, but perhaps I just can't find the proper dials to turn so it can't go backwards in time, only forward - at normal speed.

I rescued it from being sold for scrap with the grandiose intentions of getting it running and making it into an odd circus wagon type thing, but that just didn't happen - however I did replace both front tires. It comes with a motor though, and when hooked up to a battery, the motor *does* turn over! (I have no idea when it ran last.) It has a place to plug in an extension cord, so you can have 12v power inside, which is how I've survived in it for so long. Even has CFL bulbs to economically light up the inside.

Now I'll bet your asking, "Where does the 'piece of history' part come in? Well - I'll tell ya! In this very vehicle/home/office/sanctuary/time machine/ pain in the butt, one of the worlds best magazines was created, and continues to thrive - but now the worlds best magazine must move on to a home that actually rolls under its own power.

The inside looks phenomenally better than when I first got it, and man, does it have character! The outside, well... squint.

This is not exactly for sale, (unless someone would be willing to offer $3500 for it, of course) but it's more of a raffle thing. I need to get a home/office/sanctuary that rolls by its own means, and so I am offering this as something of a contest - the contest being whoever has donated the largest amount to www.bigtopmagazine.com by the time I am able to get something more fitting for my 6'2 frame, gets it - and also gets your name at the top of the list on a page I will create specifically to thank people who have helped Big Top - MUCH better than any brass plaque on a random wall somewhere - your name will be seen and loved by people from 65 countries/territories!

(On that note, please don't flag this, okay? Please?)

So yes, YOU can own a piece of history, and almost even live in it! If you find the right dials for that time machine thing though, I would love to occasionally borrow it at times.

Thanks for reading, and supporting Big Top! I'll keep in touch with all of those who donate, and let you know who the oh-so-lucky winner of The Beast is when it's all said & done... if you have any questions, don't hesitate to ask!