I came up with the idea for The Carny Cage while I was on the road working a gig at the St Paul Rodeo in Oregon. On break, I had lunch at the carnival. People watching is always a good way to understand characters. Most carnies seem a little rough and a prison story made sense to me. I liked the idea of the spinning cage and the chaos inside Dirk’s head. When I was a teenager, I entertained the idea of running off with the carnival. I went so far as to talk to a owner of one