Last month, Gallery 5 hosted the Fifth Annual Carnival Of 5 Fires multi-event extravaganza. The flagship event for the month, the three-ring burlesque circus known as Gyspies! Tramps! Thieves! took place on Friday, October 19. This multimedia performance, presented by Deanna Danger Productions and Vaudeville Galore, drew all sorts of local citizens of various ages and from different walks of life, all of whom crammed into Gallery 5’s multi-story exhibition space to see what the many performers on the bill had in store for them.
Last month, Gallery 5 hosted the Fifth Annual Carnival Of 5 Fires multi-event extravaganza. The flagship event for the month, the three-ring burlesque circus known as Gyspies! Tramps! Thieves! took place on Friday, October 19. This multimedia performance, presented by Deanna Danger Productions and Vaudeville Galore, drew all sorts of local citizens of various ages and from different walks of life, all of whom crammed into Gallery 5’s multi-story exhibition space to see what the many performers on the bill had in store for them. RVA Magazine’s eternally-reliable photographer, Todd Raviotta, was in the house–and so was I. It was my first time attending a burlesque performance of any sort, and with the added attractions of multiple stages featuring performers of many different kinds, it was even more of a sensory overload than I’d expected my first burlesque performance to be.
As the sort of person who typically attends loud rock shows at which interactions with performers are kept to a minimum, the free intermingling of performer and audience, a situation that was exaggerated by the movement of the crowd over the course of the evening back and forth between different stages within the venue, was kind of overwhelming. My high school wallflower days were brought back to the forefront of my mind in a flash, and I spent most of the evening hanging back, watching everything go down and trying not to attract any undue attention.
As may be predictable, the musical performances were my favorite parts of the evening. During the mid-show “hooch tent” segment, I was a little too shy to cram my way up to the front and get a good view of the goings-on in a small blacklight-decorated area of the upstairs exhibition space (though you can get a decent glimpse of that segment of the show in Todd’s video), but was instead quite entertained in another room by an instrumental performance by Brett Zwerdling of Maharal, who strung out some lengthy instrumental jams on a traditional Turkish instrument called a saz, overtop of pre-taped backing tracks and with visual accompaniment provided by the psychedelic projections of Lord Candy Dish. The room was a bit too well-lit for Lord Candy Dish’s portion of the performance to have the full effect, which was a shame, but nonetheless this was a cool interlude, with Zwerdling’s songs reminding me of the post-rock band Grails (who Pitchfork says have a significant Middle Eastern influence, so that makes sense).
Even cooler were performances by duos The Name Of The Rose and Professor Bless And The Dancing Madwoman. Name Of The Rose, featuring Deanna Danger and the mysterious masked and costumed musician Mister S, were the first act of the evening that I caught, and had some technical difficulties at first that briefly made me think they were a noise act. Once things were straightened out and they got their set going, though, I understood what they were really doing, and it was quite interesting–a mix of medieval storytelling and European folk music that seemed to trace its roots right back to the 17th century or thereabouts. Professor Bless And The Dancing Madwoman made the connection more explicit with their accordion-powered performance, which included a Hungarian folk song as well as some similar originals. A duo made up of Barry Bless, formerly of the legendary Ululating Mummies, and Khalima, a local bellydancer, this group was a lot of fun–though I can’t deny that part of my entertainment value was derived from my memories of knowing Khalima 15 years ago, when she was a punk rocker who played bass in a crust-core band. It’s fun to see where everyone from those days ended up–especially when people surprise you.
I must admit that I didn’t last all the way through the evening–being in a new environment where you don’t know anybody can be intimidating, and I fled for the more familiar lands of a hardcore show at Strange Matter before all was said and done. But I saw some cool things–and missed out on some more–so believe me, the next chance I get to check out one of Deanna Danger’s burlesque shows, I’m gonna overcome all my wallflower angst and go check it out (Byrlesque At The Byrd, coming up in a couple of weeks, presents an excellent opportunity for myself and like-minded folks, in fact–but don’t worry, you’ll be reading plenty more about that particular event in these pages before it actually comes to pass). For a great audio-visual mash-up look at what else went down at Gyspies! Tramps! Thieves!, though, be sure to watch this video, put together by Todd Raviotta and incorporating audio and video clips of various performances throughout the evening, as well as an amazing photo-animated presentation of the event as a whole.
Gypsies Tramps and Theives from Todd Raviotta on Vimeo.
Words by Andrew Necci
Still Photography by Rebekah Brunson
Video by Todd Raviotta
Special thanks to Deanna Danger for bearing with us.
