The Yard Dogs Traveling Road Show is rolling back into town, ready to prove that a Yard Dog can, indeed, learn new tricks. "Nail your hat to your head and hide the wine," says the carny's barker, Eddy Joe Cotton. "Did I mention the Œdancing girls, dancing girls, dancing girls'?"
Born as Zebu Recchia, Cotton spent much of his youth haunting Denver's seedier pool halls before hopping trains across America. Those experiences turned into his critically acclaimed book, Hobo, and led him to Tobias the Mystic Man at the Hall & Christ "World of Wonders." Tobias and Cotton quickly became friends and assembled a quirky crew of traveling tramps, each of whom honed a carnival skill and became part of a burlesque-inspired jug band and sideshow christened the Yard Dogs. "Seems the talent comes out of the hustle. For some of us, the hustle was there first," Cotton says. "Maybe we were just trying to get by, and this seemed like a good way to do it. It was like that when I worked for the carnival, too. Everyone had a hustle."
Fire-and-brimstone- swallowing Hell-vis, electrifying Guitar Boy and the stunning beauties of Black and Blue Burlesque will join Tobias and Cotton on stage, where a junk band will play, swords will be swallowed and trombones will howl. "We're vaudeville -- or a modern version of vaudeville," says the always dapper Cotton. "Historically, the closest thing we come to is a mix of old-time carnival girl show and real old-time medicine show. Throw in a well-dressed homeless man trying to sell you his shoes outside a bus depot so he can buy a Greyhound ticket to see his mom, and you'll get the Yard Dogs Road Show."
The Yard Dogs will amaze townies at 9 p.m. tonight and tomorrow at Bender's Tavern, 314 East 13th Avenue. Admission to tonight's show is $6, with Oakhurst opening; tomorrow's cover is $7, with Munly & the Lee Lewis Harlots warming things up. For more information, call 303-861-7070 or visit www.eddyjoecotton.com/yarddogs.html. -- Kity Ironton
Get Your Freak On
THURS, 3/31
You all remember that kid in junior high whose only schoolyard talent was a proclivity for self-abuse and grotesque theatrics -- especially if you were the shrewd hooligan who collected lunch money from spectators during recess. Dallas journalist J. Dee Hill has penned a book on these glue-eaters and amateur staple-ists, who've grown up and graduated to more extreme exhibitions of contortion, sword-swallowing and electrocution. Freaks & Fire: The Underground Reinvention of the Circus profiles a dozen alternative sideshow troupes, with photographs of their curious vaudeville by Phil Hollenbeck. Hill's is the first book to examine the rise of the alternative circus as an outsider-cult phenomenon, and it includes a section on the Yard Dogs Road Show, which is in town tonight and tomorrow at Bender's Tavern (see story, left). Copies will be on hand for signing by hometown hobo Eddy Joe Cotton after the Yard Dogs' performances. For event information, call 303-861-7070; for more on Hill and his book, visit www.softskull.com. -- Jared Jacang Maher
On the Wild Side
FRI, 4/1
When Bob Berkeley, an avid collector of mid-century design, retired his retail outlet, Wazee Deco, he was left with an empty gallery space to fill. So his son, Roy, stepped in and reshaped the room -- which is adjacent to the Berkeleys' photography studio at 383 Corona Street -- in his own slightly left-of-center vision. The result is The Other Side of Wazee Deco, a showcase for the kind of artwork that Roy calls "a little weird" -- not to mention fun and silly. We prefer to tag it "daring over-the-sofa art for folks with a sometimes dark sense of humor."
As an introduction to the gallery, Berkeley will host an April Fool's Day grand opening tonight from 6 to 9 p.m., featuring a sale of artist trading cards -- mini-masterpieces that are among the most affordable forms of art on the planet. Proceeds will benefit the Cystic Fibrosis Foundation; for more information, call 303-298-1188. -- Susan Froyd
Lip Shtick
Let's do the Time Warp again.
FRI, 4/1
Some of my fondest adolescent memories are of driving into the big city with my best friend to see The Rocky Horror Picture Show. For two tormented teens questioning their sexuality, the film, with its sexually ambiguous/adventurous characters and its liberating theme of "Don't dream it, be it" was a lifesaver. So I was thrilled to find out that the Colorado Elusive Ingredient found a new home for its shadow-cast Rocky show at the Oriental Theatre, 4335 West 44th Avenue. Starting tonight, the glorious playhouse will host the midnight delight, offering up an accommodating stage, shabby-but-elegant design and aging-starlet ambience. What better setting for virgin sacrifices? Tickets, $7, can be purchased at the door or in advance at www.orientaltheatre.net.
Meanwhile, across town -- way, way across town -- the Pinnacle Dinner Theatre, 9136 West Bowles Avenue, is staging its own Rocky Horror production. Now, I'm a hopeless nerd and a loyal fan after all these years, but even I am having trouble swallowing the idea of Dr. Frank-N-Furter at a dinner theater in the 'burbs. Still, Brad, Janet and everyone's favorite Transylvanians are stepping into the lights beginning this Wednesday, April 6, for a ten-week run. Denver's own Bat Boy, Nick Sugar, will play the good doctor -- and he may well be the production's saving grace. Might we assume Meat Loaf will be served?
For tickets, $29.95 to $42.95, or more information, call 720-214-5630 or visit www.pinnacledinnertheatre.com. -- Debra A. Meyers
Kickball Kickoff
Show your team spirit at the hi-dive.
SUN, 4/3
It's kickball season! Pull out your shortest shorts and Pumas and line up against the wall!
The eight Denver Kickball Coalition teams will draft players tonight at the hi-dive, 7 South Broadway. Notorious provocateur Sid Pink will oversee the proceedings, ensuring that all last-minute trades and negotiations are on the up-and-up. Except, of course, that some potential players have already scoped out the possibilities and will be cutting deals to get on the coolest teams with the best-looking uniforms.
Danny's Angels are playing in blue and white (although not all of the players will be ladies); The Hell Marys are in heavenly green and yellow; Hessian Nation -- led by the one and only DKBC commish, Joe Phillips -- are back in black; the Hot Links are rocking pink and black; Mohawk Iron Skulls are in blue and green; Natural Twenty will be protected by +3 yellow and blue robes (yeah, they're D&Ders coming out of the basement); the Nine-to-Fivers will be wearingsuits; and Team hi-dive won't divulge.
Get a jump on the competition and register at www.dkbc. org before 8 p.m., when the fun kicks off at the hi-dive. You don't want to be the last one picked again, do you? -- Amy Haimerl