The Dead Man's Carnival is coming to town from Wisconsin.
"There's a deep cultural history of circuses and vaudeville in Wisconsin," member Sir Pinkerton Xyloma said. "The Circus World Museum is in Baraboo, Wisc. There's also the International Clown Museum. It was in Milwaukee for a while. I grew up with an interest in old film and music. I studied jazz and blues history and teach a course on it.. Some of my first idols as a youth were Charlie Chaplin and Harry Houdini or Bojangles Robinson - charismatic comedy figures."
The six-person circus will perform at the Blackbird Buvette (509 Central Ave. N.W.) on Tuesday at 9:30 p.m. with live music, magic tricks, juggling, comedy, burlesque, boylesque and acrobatics.
There's also a sideshow, lead by Eric Bang.
"At this point in the nation, if not the world, he's a very well-recognized sideshow performer," Xyloma said. "He's been in history books. He performed with a lot of circuses. He's the experience in the troupe. And I'm the circus Nazi - the jerk that makes sure everything gets done."
Xyloma dresses as the devil and combines break dancing with acrobatic balancing alongside Geoff "Gypsy Geoff" Marsh, who also uses physical comedy in his juggling and magic trick bits.
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"My devil character is nonreligiously inspired," Xyloma said. "It's more like old cartoons and folk legends like blues mythology, and it has less to do with theological perspectives. I would describe my devil character as sort of a charismatic pool shark or failed Casanova."
He said everyone in the troupe except Marsh subscribes to anarchist theory in some way.
"It's a somewhat notable attribute," he said. "It's a major part of how we run our circus. We need to make money on tour, but I'm more on tour to have interactions with people and do cultural pollination."
Xyloma said the show goes through as much of a spectrum of emotions as possible for the audience's benefit.
"Even if you see a talented songwriter or a movie, you can't experience the same depths of emotion," he said. "Each act is like a new chapter, a collection of short stories. I focus primarily on card magic, and I have a good reputation for my rubber-band magic."
Marsh is self-taught in the circus arts. While attending culinary school, he practiced acrobatics and juggling with limes in the kitchen for five years.
"I was living in New Orleans, and on the weekends, I'd leave the five-star restaurant and perform in the streets and pretend I was homeless," he said. "But, really, I would jump on the Greyhound Sunday night and work at a five-star restaurant."
While juggling in Jackson Square, Marsh got a surprise visitor who helped develop his act.
"Harry Anderson from 'Night Court' said, 'Kid, you've got talent, but you need an act,'" he said. "Then he took me to a secret magic shop in the French Quarter disguised as a laundromat. He walked me there, and he opened it up and gave me a couple magic tricks to work on. He taught me a bunch of stuff."
Dead Man's Carnival
Tuesday, 9:30 p.m.
Blackbird Buvette
509 Central Avenue N.W.
21 and over
Free
