Snake Oil Peddler

Medicine shows traveled around small-town America throughout the 1800s and even into the early 1900s. These were often elaborate affairs with several different musical acts, perhaps a juggler or magician or comedian, and culminating in the presentation of a miracle elixir which became know as "Snake Oil" - for sale for a limited time only, said to cure everything from baldness to death of less than two weeks! What a subject for a piece! Tortuous transformations take the heavy, road weary caravan to the fever pitch and excitement of the Snake Oil Peddler's weaving of malicious spells. Exciting, infectious, a great entertainment for both band and audience alike.