Ringling Bros

NOW OR NEVER Check out the third annual "Word Guitar" benefit Saturday night at 8 at the Creative Alliance. The event, which benefits the creative journal Link, features performances by musicians who also write -- this year, that includes Glenn Moomau, a blues musician who wrote the book Ted Nugent Condominium. The event also features a silent auction of artworks created by grade-school kids through senior citizens, a group encompassing such artists as Ruth Channing, Raoul Middleman and Ruth Pettus.

Mayor Stephanie Rawlings-Blakewants to teach Jada Pinkett Smith a lesson in that old, scratch my back, I'll scratch yours thing. Earlier this week the actress sent the mayor a letter, asking her to make sure the elephants are well treated when the Ringling Bros. circus comes to town later this month. She feared the circus would be jabbing the animals with pointy sticks. But the mayor is something less than moved to act. Particularly after the actress didn't exactly help her out. “We've reached out about homelessness, about school issues,” Rawlings-Blake told WJZ. “I would have loved to gotten some feedback, support or concern about those issues that are very pressing to the city.” And that's not all. The mayor, a known fan of the circus, who's accepted free tickets to the show and even a ceremonial role in the event, said she's still looking forward to it this year.

Step right up. "The Greatest Show on Earth" has come to town. The Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey Circus has officially taken over the 1st Mariner Arena, now through March 21. This year's show, the 133rd edition of P.T. Barnum's spectacle, features the usual cast of circus characters - elephants, tigers, clowns, jugglers, acrobats, aerialists and stilt-walkers - as well as some other familiar faces, new stars and new death-defying acts. "It's probably the most thrilling show that Feld Entertainment has put together," says Melinda Rosser, spokeswoman for Ringling Bros.

Keeping the Greatest Show on Earth worthy of its name is a 24/7 obsession for Nicole Feld, whose latest incarnation of the Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey Circus – a magic-centric version of the Big Top called "Zing Zang Zoom" -- will be looking to wow children of all ages throughout its two-week run at Baltimore's 1 s t Mariner Arena. "That's what keeps me up at night," says Feld, whose family has been putting together the circus and other traveling entertainment extravaganzas (Disney On Ice, Disney Live!

The acrobats are lining up at Camden Yards. The elephants will gather at 1st Mariner Arena. Clowns can be found at the Baltimore Museum of Art. Baltimore will become one big circus this winter and spring, with an unprecedented number of events celebrating life in, around and under The Big Top. The list includes a circus-themed exhibit at the Baltimore Museum of Art, a "perverse" circus show at Theatre Project, and touring productions from both the Cirque...

Close your eyes and try to imagine a circus clown.More than likely, the image that comes to mind has a pointy egg-shaped head, with protruding red hair at the sides and a tiny hat atop its bald peak, a giant grease-painted smile and huge black-striped eyebrows plunging into a bulbous red nose.The baggy-pants clown in that image is Lou Jacobs, who made a world of circus fans laugh for six decades before his death Sunday, at age 89, in Sarasota, Fla.While a circus spokesman reported the cause of death was heart failure, it's hard to imagine that a clown's heart can fail just like any other.

The Greatest Show on Earth returned to Baltimore for the first time in five years yesterday, subtly letting residents know that the circus was back in town by parading elephants down Pratt Street.The train carrying animals and performers in the 121st edition of the Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey Circus arrived behind the 1100 block of W. Pratt St. about noon, and once the evening rush hour had passed, the beasts of Barnum began their march to the Baltimore Arena.One man jumped up from his dinner table to chase the elephants and zebras as they did a slow stroll past the B&O Railroad Museum.

The Greatest Show on Earth returned to Baltimore for the first time in five years yesterday, subtly letting residents know that the circus was back in town by parading elephants down Pratt Street.The train carrying animals and performers in the 121st edition of the Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey Circus arrived behind the 1100 block of W. Pratt St. about noon, and once the evening rush hour had passed, the beasts of Barnum began their march to the Baltimore Arena.One man jumped up from his dinner table to chase the elephants and zebras as they did a slow stroll past the B&O Railroad Museum.

For Casey Carle, soap bubbles are more than a backyard diversion. They're a never-ending wonder, a visually arresting natural occurrence. They're an art, things of beauty that lie at the intersection of creative expression and scientific principles. They're also his career. A self-described "comic bubbleologist," Carle has spent 16 years traveling to science centers, museums and schools throughout the country and occasionally abroad with his one-man show, "BubbleMania!" This weekend, he is scheduled to perform three shows daily in the atrium of the Maryland Science Center.

When Robert Dorfman was cast as Feste, the clown in Cente Stage's production of Shakespeare's "Twelfth Night," the director asked if he could walk on a 4-foot rubber ball.To any other actor, this might have seemed an unlikely request. But Mr. Dorfman, 40, spent the early part of his career as a clown with the Ringling Bros. Barnum and Bailey Circus.When other aspiring actors were study- ing in conservatories or struggling through auditions, he was wearing a patched tuxedo and performing a flea circus act.So, walk on a ball?