NOVEMBER 9, 2004

10 Greatest

Jamie McGuigan Reporter

After thé gigantic following of the infinitely popular Greatest Canadian TV series that is current- ly airing on CBC, we at the Cadre felt it would be appropriate to rep- resent the greatest Prince Edward Islander. The results are in, and you may find some a little shock- ing. Check out the top 10 greatest Islanders.

10. Anne Shirley - How can a fic- tional character make a list of greatest Islanders. C'mon people, Shirley you know she's not real.

9. ‘Boomer' Gallant - He reads the weather, and made it appropriate to wear shorts out of season. Extremely important asset to Island society and a true visionary.

8. Brian Mulroney - Sure he gave us the GST, but what about the tax centre? On PEI the guy is a Saint. There are even rumours his birth- day will soon be an Island-wide holiday.

7. Jonathan Torrens - You now know him as J-Roc, but he'll always be in our hearts as Jonovision and that guy from Street Cents.

6. Richard Wood - Plays the fiddle and owns a local pub. Eat your

heart out Lennie Gallant.

5. The Entrepreneur Who Invented the PEI Dirt Shirt - The Island fashion scene hasn't been the same since the PEI Dirt Shirt revolution- ized the way clothes are worn, by

adding dirt to shirt. Tourists were never so easy to spot.

4. Stompin’ Tom Connors - His music uplifted an entire nation of Canadians. His deep-lyrics have covered the once taboo subjects of hockey, personified potatoes, and even the Sasquatch. Keep break- ing down those walls Stompin’.

3. Brad Richards - He won a Stanley Cup and drives a Hummer through the rugged off-road terrain of PEI. What more could you want?

1. Slick and Gordie - Who these people are, or where they can be found we don't know but the nick- names "Slick" and "Gordie" appeared at the top of all the bal- lots. Something to do with Sundays, holidays, and 10:01 PM

perhaps.

Has anyone seen my career?

| given the opportu-

THE CADRE ° 9

The Freaks are coming! Hide the kids!

It was a dark and stormy October 28. Well, at least it was dark.

In the W.A. Murphy Student Centre, students slowly fil- tered into the courtyard, perhaps a little unsure of what they were about to see. The room was dark as midnight, save for the comforting glow from the lights of The Wave's liquor counter. At the front of the room was a set-up stage, and even with the deep shadows one could see the large variety of torture instruments against a backdrop of a painted Victorian setting. Finally, mist began to emit from smoke machines carefully positioned around the stage. A dark figure, who would introduce himself as Host Nikolai Diablo, took to the stage and it was then that the show began.

Over the next two hours people were treated to a wonder- fully bizarre display of everything from cricket-eating and sword- swallowing, to iron-bar bending and an attempted beheading. At the end, after a long session of memo- rabilia purchasing and autograph signing, I was

nity to sit down with the sideshow troupe behind the evening's events. The strange group consisted of Nikolai, the host who ended up playing Russian Roulette with a 9-inch construction spike, Countess Vanessa, with her taste bug-eating and sword-swallowing, Lascivious Lu Lu, with a passion

| for industrial grinders and chastity

belts, and Leviticus, a strongman who doesn't mind having darts

Jon Smith Contributor

thrown into his back. | talked to them about how they got into this line of work, why they would even bother in the first place, and why they thought audiences came to see them.

As for an answer as to why the crowds were drawn in, Diablo simply stated that "Everyone likes a car crash”. Due to the fact that the majority of the stunts such as sword-swallowing, being a human dart board, and playing roulette with spikes are real, the Carnival Diablo troupe suspects that deep inside, most audience members are secretly hoping they'll be witness to a major mistake and subsequent accident on stage. And accidents have happened, such as during the first of multiple Edmonton shows in which Nikolai Diablo ended up putting a knife through his palm. The response to the incident was so great that the group was actually asked if the accident could be repeated for pub- licity's sake.

In its most modern incarna- tion, Carnival Diablo started , about 12 years ago during the grunge period. Depending on where they are _ performing, the troupe is as small as four people, as it was at UPEI, and as large as four complete groups all travelling together. But the beginnings of the show go back much further, beginning with Nicholas Paul Lewchuk and his starting troupe performing their first show in 1920. It was also when the foundation credo would

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