Hellzapoppin Circus Side Show

Named after the most successful Broadway musical and movie from the late ’30’s and ’40s, Hellzapoppin is the world’s largest international touring rock-n-roll circus sideshow. The vaudeville freak show of wonder features legendary and world-breaking live stunts such as fire eating and fire breathing, magic and illusions, acrobatic stunts, hand balancing, foot archery, sword swallowing, juggling, unicycling and more. You’ll see human curiosities such as a real live half-man that is cut in half at the waist and walks bare-handed on razor sharp broken shards of glass…while on fire!

“Our fans are about to meet a cavalcade of human Curiosities, the likes of which they’ve never seen before,” said Hellzapoppin’s Ringleader and Producer Bryce “the Govna” Graves. “I will be their shepherd and guide on a journey of miraculous discovery through the world of the strange, the odd, the bizarre, the macabre, and where the most unusual people entertain.”

Hellzapoppin’s performers have been featured on Ripley’s Believe It Or Not, Ellen, AMC’s Freakshow and in Guinness World Records. You’ve seen them in music videos with famous rock bands like Avatar, Texas Hippie Coalition, Jasmine Cain and on national TV commercials with Epiphone Guitars.

Hellzapoppin has been on the ride of their lives. This Super-Group has performed well over 3,000 shows and in 16 countries. They’ve toured the world over with rock bands such as Mudvayne, Static X, Black Label Society, In This Moment, John 5, and Mushroomhead. Hellzapoppin has performed in front of millions of people at some of the world’s biggest and most famous music festivals, such as Wacken Festival in Germany, Riot Fest in Chicago, Metal Town in Sweden, G-Fest in the Faroe Islands, Alcatraz Festival in Belgium, Blue Ridge Rock-Fest in Virginia along with many more.

Hellzapoppin’s first 2020 tour was supposed to take them to Russia and no thanks to the COVID-19 pandemic it was canceled just weeks before their 1st show. Following this sudden and life changing news, their European tour, a Canadian tour and two U.S. tours were also canceled. When a show is canceled, it can make things extremely difficult for these independent artists but when a tour is canceled, it is absolutely devastating. So you can imagine what it must have been like when Hellzapoppin lost an entire year of tours and over 150 shows. With many of the performers living paycheck to paycheck while traveling the world and doing what they do best, entertaining and making people happy, 2020 turned out to be a devastating, stressful, and life-threatening year for these circus Performers.

Countless people lost their jobs and loved ones during the pandemic, which seemed to drown out the stories of professional touring artists losing their livelihoods. Some musicians have been able to get by with hosting online concerts, but this was not the case for the hundreds of thousands of circus performers, comedians, dancers, magicians, theater performers, etc. These performers employ hundreds of thousands of touring road crews, bus and truck drivers, roadies and roustabouts, merchandisers, booking agents, managers and promoters, ticket takers/sellers, security personnel and more – all of which were taken away by the pandemic.

Hellzapoppin desperately wants to inspire the world not to live in fear. As performing artists, the group feels the burning desire to be on stage now more than ever, people need an opportunity to escape the pain and struggle they have endured over the past couple of years. Live entertainment  provides a platform for people to come together to forget and most importantly let go and have fun. Hellzapoppin’s performers have an obligation to try and bridge the gap and bring the people back together.

The definition of FEAR is False Evidence Appearing Real. The definition of Hellzapoppin is Chaos. It means anything can happen and it probably will. ” We had 2 fears”, said Graves. Can we get through a tour without getting sick and will people buy tickets during a pandemic.  It was time to face our fears! With Hellzapoppin stepping up and pioneering the nation’s 1st national tour since the Pandemic Global shut down, these performers lead by example and showed everyone that there is no need to be fearful anymore while remaining cautious to ensure the safety of everyone involved.

“The first forms of paid entertainment in America were traveling circuses and sideshows. The performers back then were, and still are honored as heroes because of their willingness to travel in the middle of the Great Depression and global pandemics to seek their happiness and solitude while uniting with others,” said Graves. Hellzapoppin is among the last of the touring circus sideshows in the world today. Its performers are committed to preserving the art, heritage, culture, past, and future that the art-form brings to the table, and they are determined to not let it die because of a pandemic. You too can help by simply purchasing a ticket to the show or by purchasing a Hellzapoppin T-shirt from their website or at the live shows.

“I hope to help re-open venues, help employ people, and bring fans back together again to reclaim our livelihood and inspire other touring artists to take the plunge and get back out there,” said Graves.  “Laughter and wonder can be the best medicines. I love seeing the excitement, the positive shock and awe on people’s faces. Most importantly, I like to connect with people and bring them into our world and share our stories with them. We aim to teach them how to look at the world differently. If people can escape their harsh realities, fears, and anxieties for just a few moments, then we have succeeded.”

I’ll feature many star-studded performers on Hellzapoppin this year such as Lucian Fuller. Lucian is a freshly unique, high energy and family friendly circus performer with world class juggling skills, dangerously funny stunts and clean fun comedy that is sure to entertain and create an enjoyable memory of a lifetime. In addition to Hellzapoppin, Lucian Fuller is also a performer on Cirque Du Soleil and has amazed audiences around the world performing in over 5,000 shows and 27 countries.

Fans will also get the chance to witness the world’s most amazing half-man, Mr. Short E. Dangerously. This tiny daredevil is a Ripley’s Star and has been featured in 2 of Ripley’s Believe It Or Not books! There are wax figures of Shorty in Ripley’s Believe It Or Not Museums all over the world, and he was featured on the Ripley’s international TV show. You may have also seen Short E. Dangerously on AMC’s Freakshow!

Also making an appearance this year is the mysterious, sultry, and spellbinding fabulous woman of enchantment – Ms. Willow Lauren. Beautiful beyond desire and cruel beyond words, Willow is a former motorcycle stunt-rider turned international touring sideshow stunt-woman and aspiring illusionist and aerialist. She’s known as the Ballerina of the Blades. Willow swallows swords and performs the contortion blade-box of death. She not only eats fire she also eats and regurgitates razor blades! Willow will swallow a lifesaver, using dental floss she’ll saw a hole into her throat and will miraculously grab hold of the lifesaver and will pull it out of her neck right before your very eye’s and with no blood and no pain.

You’ll see the pain-proof strong man Mr. Eric Ross! Eric is a world renown magician and sideshow stunt-man. He performs death defying stunts live on stage such as the ancient and deadly art-form known as Fakir. Much like a sewing pincushion, Eric takes long stainless steel skewers and pokes them right through his biceps, through the palm of his hands and even through the mandible which is located directly underneath his tongue as it pops out just under his jaw and next to his throat. This is a  demonstrations of mind over matter and again with no blood and no pain.

Last and definitely not least, with a playful curiosity and a sweet demure, Camille Zamboni revels in twisting her way into your little black hearts. Camille is an incredible contortionist, a hand-balancer and archer that hails from the Paris of Appalachia. With as  much grit as the city she comes from, she is self-taught in her acts. A background in artistic gymnastics left her bending and balancing. She picked up archery, and now sends arrows flying through the air using her feet as she balances upside down on her hands and bent over backwards. Camille Zamboni holds the official Guinness World Record for painting the world’s largest Ouija Board at the Grand Midway Hotel in Pennsylvania!