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“The smartest thing I ever did was run away and join the circus”
The artist/author Dave Letterfly Knoderer is not only the guru of living an interesting life but is also an inspirational speaker ready to take you behind the scenes of the fascinating places discovered along the road of his life.
Unending frustration as a boy fueled by a perfectionistic father ultimately forced the decision to run away. Starting as a drummer with the circus as a teen, he satisfied creative tendency by painting huge signs, wild animal depictions and festive artwork on the fleet. During the 1970’s he also found an affinity with animals under the big top, becoming a liberty horse trainer and later an Haute E’cole or high school horseman on the old time three-ring circus.
As an apprentice in the Sign and Design trade, he sought sensational challenges that led to many amazing projects. A skilled painter, Dave designed and painted large wall graphics and theater sets, themed interior and exterior murals in amusement parks and restaurants, crafted delicate Gold Leaf window treatments and the gilding and decoration on Antique Fire Trucks.
Hitting bottom as an alcoholic brought everything to a screeching halt. While dazed, fate introduced a new purpose for his life -- a practical relationship with God.
Writing began as newsletter content thirty years ago. Dave accumulated enough material for several memoires that chronical the surprise turbulent chaos and confusing detours of a tumultuous life that ultimately led to love.
Reviewed by Romuald Dzemo for Readers' Favorite
The Galloping Snapper Confesses Everything: Tales of a Traveling Airbrush, Book 3, is Dave Letterfly Knoderer’s breathtaking memoir of life on the American circus and carnival circuits. When we meet Knoderer, he is grieving; he sells his six-pony liberty act and hits the road in a VW bus. The highway becomes an escape and a livelihood for him, a nomadic airbrush artist and sign painter, who decorates everything from fun-house facades for midway showmen to antique calliope trucks. The road before him is like a ribbon of endless possibility. While painting, Knoderer continues to chase his true passion: training dancing horses, especially the clever Saddlebred, Class n Sass, but his life on the road takes a toll on him, which leads to alcoholism. He hits rock bottom after the devastating loss of his mare to laminitis. Is there a way forward?
Dave Letterfly Knoderer’s voice is quirky and honest, and the writing is infused with a diesel-and-sawdust vernacular that mirrors carnival life and the world the author navigates. He speaks about his emotional wounds with courage and a tinge of humor. What I enjoyed most about this memoir is the road, depicted as an allegory. I read more into it than a mere setting; it is the image of the author’s quest for identity as he deals with restlessness and an insatiable hunger for redemption. The Galloping Snapper Confesses Everything pulses with adventure, such as the fifty-foot swing-stage paint job, compressed-air explosions on the Tip Top, and a showdown at the Speedball game. This story is infused with humanity, examining the author’s path to redemption, his relationship with his son, the bond between animal and artist, and a story of home. It delivers a showman’s travelogue with intriguing detail and strong emotional currents.
