Brothers and sisters, the once renowned Jim Rose Circus seemed to lack the stunning feats and performers that once made it a popular sideshow during Lollapalooza.”Secrets of the Strange,” the newly-revamped production of Jim Rose’s previous traveling freak show, took to the Newport stage Wednesday evening while a diverse audience waited and waited and waited some more for the “secrets” to be revealed.The infamous Rubberman was the first performer to take the stage. He got himself out of a straight jacket, manipulated his body through the head of a tennis racket and put himself back in the straight jacket. The Amazing Mr. Lifto was next. He strutted onto the stage with two huge carabeeners, clamps used for mountain climbing, hanging from his ears and wearing only boxer shorts. It was painfully obvious what feats he was about to perform. Without batting an eyelid, Mr. Lifto got on his knees and hooked two large irons on his carabeeners, rose from the stage and proceeded to swing the irons. He did the same with a car battery hanging from his tongue and two cinder blocks from his nipple rings. Mr. Lifto even chose to hang a replica of the Liberty Bell from his duct-taped penis later in the show. He proved to be the crowd’s favorite performer for the evening. After a short monologue off-stage, Jim Rose finally appeared. He ranted and raved at the audience about the secrets behind hypnotism, fortune telling, mind control and facing fears. Then he personally attacked the audience for daring to speak while he was performing. Hecklers are inevitable, but at a Jim Rose show they are intolerable. Rose personally walked off stage to embarrass any person who did not bow to his demand of silence. A Lantern photographer was singled out for doing his job and many audience members were faced with Rose’s ridicule for having a voice. One persistent heckler was even forced to leave the Newport by security. “When I was little, I walked by this pig every day and kicked it because I didn’t like it. Then someone told me that pig would came back to haunt me. I didn’t know it was going to be here in Columbus,” Rose said of the heckler he dismissed from his circus.Throughout the show, every performer and the audience were asked to face their fears. For freak show performers, however, their phobias seemed mild.Rubberman was frightened of having his body broke by a cinder block or the sledge hammer that might have missed on the way down in the age-old stunt. Imagine Mr. Lifto being scared of sticking his hand in a tiny raccoon trap or Jim Rose hesitating to lay his face on broken glass and have his head walked upon. Bebe, Rose’s wife and the highlight of the show for most of the men in the audience, due to her stratigically placed electrical tape, faced her fear of dry ice by placing a small amount in her mouth for 15 seconds.While the audience faced their fear of “Secrets of the Strange,” it didn’t seem to be getting any better. “It was not as disgusting as I thought it was going to be, but Rose’s sarcasm and attitude toward the audience was hilarious,” said Ohio State student Constance Cain.If nothing else, Rose, a self-proclaimed guru of the strange, taught the audience a funny trick; how to be a human blockhead. According to Rose it’s easy. Just find the nasal passage that is hollow and avoid the one that goes straight up. “I want to know that from now on there will be a human blockhead at every party in Columbus,” Rose said.By the end of the circus, the audience was perplexed by the lack of performers and feats.”They didn’t have enough freaks this time. The fat ladies, the Mexican transvestites, and the Enigma were all missing. I was disappointed,” said Jeremy Douglas, a student at Upper Arlington High School.A small portion of the audience must not have been paying attention during Rose’s mind control and power of suggestion speech, and actually shelled out $15 for his book, “Angles.” He made sure the crowd knew they would not be disappointed with the book of scams, and even if they were, a 70-year money back guarantee was offered by Rose. “If you can find my grave in 70 years then you can look at it and say ‘this guy owes me $15,'” Rose said.When the show was just getting started, it was over. The Jim Rose Circus proved it had freaks, but lacked talent, mystery and new stunts.”‘What in the hell just happened’ is the traditional response of a Jim Rose Circus audience,” Rose said.The audience agreed with Rose, and wondered what the hell just happened to the money they spent on a ticket.