original article: sundaygazettemail.com/Entertainment/201002240740

 

Hellzapoppin: A Sideshow Revue

WHERE: The Empty Glass, 410 Elizabeth St., and The V-Club, Huntington

WHEN: 5 p.m. Friday at Empty Glass; 8 p.m. Saturday at V-Club

TICKETS: $10

INFO: www.myspace.com/theemptyglass and www.vclublive.com

CHARLESTON, W.Va. -- The World Famous Penguin Boy sends his regrets, but he won't be appearing this weekend when "Hellzapoppin: A Sideshow Revue" finds its way to West Virginia for shows at The Empty Glass in Charleston and The V-Club in Huntington.

The World Famous Penguin Boy, also known as Jason Bratt, is in the hospital.

"He had a kidney transplant a couple of years back," said Hellzapoppin creator and stage director Bryce Graves. "There were some complications."

His absence is a nagging problem for the sideshow, and Graves is in a bit of quandary about it. Penguin Boy, a man born with hands but not arms and who waddles around on stage like a penguin, is one of Hellzapoppin's regular performers.

The sideshow has had a spate of bad luck. Aside from Penguin Boy, the show also recently lost a 27-inch tall midget to injury.

"She got injured falling off the back of the stage," Graves said ruefully. "I brought in Jackie the Tripod Girl, but her last show was yesterday."

Now, he's got to bring in replacements as quickly as he can while the group continues to make their tour dates. He's got them. The show draws from a group of about 30 performers, but it's a logistical headache.

Two of the performers at the West Virginia shows will be Lady Diabla and Zamora the Torture King. Diabla is a stunt performer and one of approximately eight female sword swallowers in the world. Zamora does everything from the classic fire and glass eating to shoving skewers through his biceps muscle and bending red-hot metal with his bare hands. Graves, who's known onstage as Bryce "The Govna" Graves, emcees the show.

Hellzapoppin isn't your typical club show. Graves promises a wild spectacle, mixing music with incredible feats and strange human oddities.

It takes its name from an odd 1941 film that featured bizarre costumes, music and seemingly random acts of comedy, but very little plot. Graves' production is an offshoot of the Brothers Grimm Sideshow.

Graves helped found Brothers Grimm, which like Hellzapoppin was a touring company of carnival performers and attractions. The group toured with rockers like Korn and Mudvayne and performed as part of major rock festivals, including Ozzfest and The West Coast Riot Festival, but Graves wasn't happy with it.

"Brothers Grimm was the greatest sideshow in the world. Hands down. Period," Graves said, "but I got out of that. Grimm was an older style. I wanted to make a sideshow that was more rock n' roll -- something the kids could 'get' a lot better."

Graves described Hellzapoppin as "Tom Waits meets Iron Maiden." During the summer, the group attaches itself to rock concerts and festivals. In the winter, it performs a scaled-down club show, showcasing five or six performers.

"Even with just four or five of us, the show goes an hour and a half. Once you get more than five or six, it really starts pushing things."

The group changes frequently, with some members traveling with the show for several weeks before rotating out. They're always adding to the roster, although not everybody is right for the show.

"We find performers everywhere," he said.

Some of them they find through other shows or because they appear on television or the Internet. A few, like Penguin Boy, come to see the show and wind up getting recruited.

"He's been with us for about 3 1/2 years," Graves said. "He went from being a young man living on disability and playing video games all day, to a performer who has traveled the world and has been on stage with dozens of great bands."

Penguin Boy, he says, came in as an amateur with no stage experience, but through the show, came up with an act that worked with his particular oddity. The group's done the same thing with others.

Some might consider sideshows exploitation, Graves acknowledges, but he sees it as using what you have. Speaking over the phone, he never refers to his players as disabled and seems awkward about the term "freak."

"Back in the old days, people paid a dime to come see someone with a deformity," Graves said. "We don't do that. Every one of our people is a performer."

Touring with Hellzapoppin is the life of a touring performer. It's late nights and fitful sleep on a bunk in the back of a bus. It's close quarters and always one more show.

"Our nights off, we usually sleep in Wal-Mart parking lots and at truck stops," he said. "Wal-Mart will let you park overnight for free."

Bill Lynch