SNAKE OIL

Life’s Calculations, Misdirections,

and Manipulations
By Jim Rose
Bartleby Press
$12.95

Jim Rose first appeared on the radar of American pop culture in 1992, when he took his self-titled circus on the road with the first Lollapalooza tour. The act was, more or less, a carnival freak show with a grunge soundtrack. There was sword swallowing, fire and glass eating, magicians and, most impressively, weight lifting done with various pierced body parts. I still vividly remember someone next to me exclaiming, "He’s liftin’ a barbell with his nuts!" as I stood watching the show at the Orlando Fairgrounds all those many years ago. Then, as word of mouth spread and Lollapalooza 1 came to an end, Rose’s troupe transcended opening act status and began receiving many lucrative offers. In short order, Rose and his circus became an international sensation.

Since then, he has stayed busy by headlining several world tours, releasing videos, making guest shots on The X-Files and The Simpsons, and, most recently, writing books. His first book, a provocative autobiographical narrative titled FREAK LIKE ME, was released by Bantam Doubleday Dell and made it onto several best-seller lists. In it, he told of his education by hard knocks in the world of the traveling side-show. The movie rights to FREAK were recently purchased by a production company and shooting is set to begin at the end of the year.

Now Rose brings us SNAKE OIL, which is basically a slightly anecdotal book of magic tricks and bar gags that he has learned over the years. This isn’t to say that the book isn’t entertaining, but it’s no WAR AND PEACE. This is a fact that the author freely admits to in the introduction:

"The roots of all business and magic can be found in the rook of snake oil. But this is not a "How To" book intended to encourage anarchists, con men or entertainers. Its purpose is to help the brain think in terms of angle."

Whether this "angle" is meant for the con or the conned is not really made clear. The tricks, ruses, and scams are simply laid out for the reader. What they do with this knowledge is their business. The author makes the standard "Jackass" disclaimer, but I would hasten to add to this the warning that trying some off this stuff on people, especially drunk people, is likely to get you beaten up or worse.

That notwithstanding, this book lacks any real edge. The creepy cover portrait, which was painted by artist Gail Potocki, might lend one to think that the contents will be dark and sinister rather than humorous and/or seedy. The thing reads like an adult version of one of those old books of magic tricks that were put out by the Scholastic Company in the ‘70s. It’s a good bathroom companion, but I don’t think it will find much favor with the type of fans I have seen at his performances. It may, however, find in eager audience with those few who, like Rose, seek to have the carnival side-show remain a part of the American Experience.

In the end, SNAKE OIL does what it claims to do; put "new angles to old tricks". But those seeking any more than that might be somewhat disappointed.

by Will Bodo