The Comedy/Varietè Artists

These are the acts which we're proud to present to Seattle at Moisture Festival 2009.

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	Aerialistas Visit website The original aerial girl gang! These inventive and skilled artists are dedicated to bringing glamour, excitement and flirty fun to aerial performance. Poppy Daze, Lillian Dish, Viola Sugarlump, Lucy Rose, Maxine Meringue, and Opal Divine, will indulge your senses with an act so vibrant it is reminiscent of the 1920 Zeigfeld Follies. Enjoy yourself, as The Aerialistas serve up a heaping slice of sweetness and delight. Powerful Sexy!
	Amanda Crockett Visit website Amanda Crockett started clowning alongside her father at age 9, learning the delicate art of making people laugh. Since then, her pursuit of the perfect blend of circus and physical theatre has taken her around the world. She is a gradutate of the Dell'Arte International School of Physical Theatre and has had the good fortune to train with some amazing circus and physical comedy teachers across the globe . She is a gifted comedian and internationally recognized artist, taking in the stage at venues including La Bauta in Venice, Italy, Shanghai's Oriental Arts Center, the Moscow International Circus, Cirque Voila, the Edinburgh Festival and the Tasmanian National Circus Festival. Amanda is incredibly inspired by the clownʼs brilliance and creating work that combines physical comedy with high-level acrobatic, object manipulation and aerial skills. She brings comedic performance to a new level, making movement into poetry and pulling laughter out of thin air.
	Amy Denio Visit website A pacifist, practitioner of non-violence, and proud member of the ACLU, Amy Denio (rhymes with ‘Ohio’ or ‘gennaio’) is a multi-instrumentalist composer and singer based in Seattle. She’s been creating & producing soundscores for dance, theater and film since 1983. Amy has received commissions to compose and produce scores for Berkeley Symphony, Italian National Radio, New York Festival of Song, Die Knodel, Victoria Marks, Pat Graney Dance Company, Relache Ensemble, Run/Remain Ensemble, Jeff Bickford, UMO Ensemble, veteran clown Lorenzo Pickle, and many other inspired artists. She has been a long-time collaborator with David Dorfman Dance, receiving a Bessie Award for Composition (NYC) in for her soundtrack to Dorfman’s piece 'Sky Down,' and premiering new music at Brooklyn Academy of Music ‘Next Wave’ series for Dorfman’s piece ‘To Lie Tenderly’. Her collaborative efforts have been seen and heard at Carnegie Hall, the Brooklyn Academy of Music, Seattle Opera House, Detroit Institute of Art, Venice Biennale, Roman Theater Trieste, and on top of 3 Metro Busses in Seattle. It’s impossible to include her many many other astounding credits here so let me just say that Amy Denio will participate in this year’s Moisture Festival by singing for Janet McAlpin’s Phoenix … we’re so pleased.
	Ashia Visit website blues, and pop/punk . "Pay to be Loved", her debut album, is described as "exuding a dark outlook that recalls Tom Waits and Edith Piaf...her probing lyrics on the underbelly of romance with delirious results", Brad Walseth, Jazz Chicago.com and "Ashia's unconventional sound is sometimes haunting, alternating among broad ranges of styles, volumes, and speeds at most unexpected moments...an album praiseworthy for its sincere originality and stunning musical range", Melanie Fried, Elmore Magazine. Her talents and hard work in classical cello training were noticed at the age of 21, as she was invited to play cello and sing at Cirque du Soleil's production of "O" in Las Vegas, NV for four months. She returned a year later, after traveling to Europe and studying, to join "O" full-time. Outside of working at"O", Ashia performed alongside band members of BlueManGroup and cast members of sister Cirque du Soleil shows, as well as completing a BA in music at Central Washington University. Her experience with circus performers infected her with a strong interest in theatrical and cabaret performance. Upon leaving "O", she co-formed a dynamic cabaret style duet act with aerial hoop artist, Fernanda Mas Monteiro, where she sings and plays a version of her CD title song "Pay to be Loved" . Scratching an itch to travel and squelching a hunger to perform to audiences abroad, she flew across the seas to her birth city Wroclaw, Poland. She recently performed to enthralled audiences in Berlin, DE and theaters in Wroclaw, PL, and currently performs with the Portland Cello Project. I love this release. Ashia combines the vocal sensibilites of Elenie Mandel and the avante-garde musical approach of The Dresden Dolls with the intensiveness of P.J. Harvey. How could this not be good? Standouts include the title track, "Pay to be Loved" as well as "Nomanmad" and "Ne me Quitte Pas". Mite Mutant, The ChickenFish Speaks
	Avner the Eccentric Visit website Avner Eisenberg was one a handful of 1970s street performers who took their acts into theaters and, along with the Flying Karamazov Brothers and others, gave birth to the New Vaudeville movement. Even in those early days, this Georgia-born clown was recognized by other performers as wise beyond his years. He helped them to consider what it was they were doing onstage and how they went about doing it. After obtaining a BA degree in theater at the University of Washington in 1971 he took further training with Jacques Lecoq in Paris and then with Carlo Mazzone Clementi in California. Avner acknowledges a debt to these two masters who helped to give him direction: “Lecoq, taught me everything I know and Carlo taught me the rest” and he repaid that debt by doing the same for many of us for many years. Along with top theater credits (his one-man show was a hit of the 1984-85 Broadway season and was followed by rave reviews as he toured America and European theaters), the big screen (he co-starred with Michael Douglas, Kathleen Turner, and Danny Divito in the film Jewel of the Nile) and small screen (many TV shows worldwide) Avner is often a featured performer at comedy, magic and theatre festivals including The Edinburgh Festival, the Israel Festival, the Montreal International Comedy Festival, the London International Mime Festival, the Festival of American Mime, the New York Clown Theatre Festival, the Fool’s Festival, the New York Magic Symposium, the Hudson Clearwater Revival, and the International Movement Theatre Festival, The International Festival du Cirque in Monte Carlo, Arosa International Humor Festival, Barcelona International Clown Festival, Leipzig Lach Messe, St Gervais International Theater Festival and, of course, the finest of these: Seattle’s Moisture Festival . Avner was recently inducted into the International Clown Hall of Fame …
	B.F. Day School Visit website The annual spring effort by the Fremont and greater Seattle community to support the arts-rich B.F. Day School is and has been our concern as well. Moisture Festival organizers and artists donate their time and skills each year because we can’t help but remember the power that is in the hands of those who encourage and assist or distract and discourage the creative energies of the girls and boys for whom imagination and art are as natural as breathing. Music and art shouldn’t be seen as luxuries for a school … they’re primary. They tell us that they use the donations from our shows to help fund busing and other aspects of their successful extended-hours tutoring programs. We encourage you to do what we've done and look for ways to help.
	Baby Gramps Visit website According to an article in the special issue City of Music in Seattle Metropolitan Magazine, Baby Gramps is acknowledged as one of the top 50 most influential musicians in the last 100 years along with Ray Charles, Jelly Roll Morton, Ernestine Anderson, John Cage, Bill Frisell, Jimi Hendrix, Quincy Jones, The Wailers, The Ventures, Sound Garden, and Pearl Jam. He is credited with making Seattle audiences aware of old blues and novelty songs that the rest of the world has mostly forgotten. Baby Gramps toured England and Ireland this past summer as part of the Rogues Gallery: Pirate Ballads, Sea Songs, and Chanteys CD Concert Tour with Tim Robbins (actor), Martha and Rufus Wainright, Jenny Muldaur (Maria and Geoff's daughter), Lou Reed, The Watersons, Martin Carthy and Eliza, Suzanne Vega, Ralph Steadman, and many other internationally known performers. The Rogues Gallery CD, produced by Johnny Depp and Hal Wilner in connection with The Pirates of the Caribbean film, landed Baby Gramps on the David Letterman Show. Baby Gramps is a high energy humorously entertaining performer with an endless repertoire. He plays an acoustic antique National Steel guitar and sings his own unique arrangements of rags, jazz, & blues songs from the 20's & 30's and many originals with wordplay, humor, and throat singing. And ... he's one of ours, ... always has been.
	Bellini Twins Visit website Their mother was a trapeze artist in The Bohemian National Circus. She was, as they say, a real swinger. Therefore this next act came to see the light of day as one of nature's most unusual experiments. These twins are from the same mother but have different fathers. Please welcome,,,, the Bellini Twins
	Bill Robison Visit website Bill Robison is a physical comedian.....His performances are a synthesis of outlandish comedy, an elastic face, a penchant for the absurd and a reckless sense of abandon. He has been touring internationally as a solo artist and with the highly acclaimed comedy duo "The Shneedles" with their show "Luggage" They have also performed in numerous comedy festivals and German Variety theaters. Bill has toured extensively as a solo act to fairs and festivals across the US and Canada for over 20 years, where he has been the warm-up act for over 150 concerts including Bill Cosby, Bob Hope, Frank Sinatra and many, many more. He is very happy to be back in Seattle and is delighted to be part of the Moisture Festival. Enjoy !
	Billy Oskay Visit website Producer and session player Billy Oskay was born and raised in Kingston, NY, where at age seven he first picked up the violin. Beginning in 1970 he studied under Eugen Prokop at the International Academy of Music located in Palma de Mallorca, Spain, and a year later earned his master's degree in music from Indiana's Ball State University. In the years following, Oskay headed the music department at Oregon's Mt. Angel College before joining the swing combo Everything's Jake; during the late 1980s, he also teamed with Irish guitarist Michael O'Domhnaill to form the Celtic-influenced Nightnoise, issuing a series of LPs on the Windham Hill label beginning with 1988's At the End of the Evening. In addition to a steady touring schedule, Oskay emerged as a prolific session musician, appearing on countless projects headlined by John Doan, Dan Crary and others; at his Oskay Recording studio in Portland, OR but now he’s moved up to his Big Red Studio on 26 acres outside of Portland. Billy plays violin, fiddle, viola and keys. He has 3 RIAA Gold Records and two "Indie" awards. He’s noted for being a guy who likes laughter in the studio and we’re happy to have his own laugh among our at this year’s Moisture Fest.
	Caela & The Dangerous Flares Visit website Caela Bailey’s sultry lead vocals with Katy Webber, Cathy Sutherland and Mari Finch’s smooth and seductive backup vocals are fire roasted. They’re coming back to the Moisture and they’ll make you want to move, feel something, and express yourself. Rhythm & blues meets Varietè as the boys have to wait for a while and watch as the girl band bumps.
	Canote Brothers Visit website The Canote Brothers from Seattle, WA, are as renowned for their affable attitudes and humor as they are for their music. Greg on fiddle, and Jere on guitar, and both on banjo ukes, perform zany concerts, play for dances, lead songs and promote a good time! You might know them from their thirteen year stint on NPR radio with Sandy Bradley's Potluck. But here's what a fan and blogger (www.nerdseyeview.com) Pam, said about the mood that the Canote Brothers evoke: ... "Can I tell you how much I adore those wacky Canote Brothers? Can I? In ties that are nearly as wide as their smiles, you head on back in time to an era of high waisted trousers and crank start automobiles and never mind that you're in the basement of a rather swanky and expensive music store, it's all back porch when those boys swing. Golly gee whiz, did they bring the wholesome tunes and the big smiley times."
	Cathy Sutherland Cathy is one of the original Daring Deviante Sisters, a skilled acrobatic duo with an odd sense of humor who brought a new element to the blossoming New Vaudeville scene in the 1980s. Active in several areas of Seattle’s performing arts community, she contributes by singing, dancing, teaching, acting, and performing aerial and land-based acrobatics. Cathy’s acting and comedy skills have enhanced shows she’s performed in with the Flying Karamazov Brothers, Theatre Schmeatre, the UMO ensemble, Printers Devil Theatre and the Royalle Famille DuCaniveaux. She’s also worked with local film makers Greg Lachow and Rob DeVor. Cathy has taught elite – level gymnastics in the Northwest for over 25 years. This Daring Devianté's stunning résumé and curriculum vitaé suggest that she’s an artisté in the fields of Varieté, comedé, dancé, and aerialé as well as a backup singer for one of the sexiest singing ensemblés to ever get their enjoys on a stagé. Add to all of that the fact that Cathy is one of the central organizers of this festival and ... well, if you’ve noticed a spark of bright energy that seems to illuminate and hold together the disparate variety of Varieté shows that make up the Moisture Festival you now know one of the important lighthearted reasons.
	Chantall Visit website Born into a show biz family on the other side of the Berlin wall, Chantall formed her own sense of style as she trained to be a contortionist. When the wall came down she brought her act into the exploding European Varietè scene. Chantall's stage sparkle called for something more and she developed several acts that allowed her to show her several talents. Comedy magic, cabaret singer, show MC, producer ... she's come a long way to get wet with the rest of us at this year's Seattle Moisture Festival. Chantall!
	Charlie Brown Visit website If you catch Charlie Brown off stage and you and he have the time, try to get him to tell you a story of his travels. Some of the experiences themselves would be of interest with anyone's telling but hearing Charlie tell it would add a comic edge that'll transform it into a jewel. Recognized among jugglers as one of the finest cigar box jugglers in the world, whether it's blazing torches, balls, top hats, broadswords or machetes on his double high teeter-board, Charlie delivers the goods! He has many skills to wrap his stage presentation around but it's the man himself who entertains us most.
	Cinderella Seattle's own Fremont Players present Cinderella in a the British Panto style that is familiar to every grownup who was ever a child in the British Isles or many other parts of the English speaking world. A fun stylized musical theater produced for the family but with special sauce for the adults who come to join in the raucous fun.
	Daniel Forlano Visit website Daniel was born in the Virgo Supercluster at the outer limits of the Milky Way Galaxy near a star known locally as the Sun on a planet where the food is quite good. When his college advisor offered to write him a recommendation to Harvard University he decided comedy was the smarter option. He is an enchanting, charming clown, quirky in the extreme, whose desire to perform simple tasks is met with great struggle. The ordinary becomes absurd and the absurd becomes ordinary when one step is his journey of 1,000 miles.
	David Engel Visit website David Engel, a New York actor, physical comedian and sailor has entertained with his off-beat characters for twenty years now at festivals, corporate events, libraries, schools, and camps along with his regular visits to pediatric hospitals with Big Apple Circus’ renowned Clown Care Program and work with Bindlestiff Cirkus and other premier New York companies. Back in Chicago, David was a founding member of the remarkable 500 Clowns and a co-creator of their widely praised production “500 Clown Macbeth” (“… the paradox is that the performers expertly execute actions meant to display their characters' incompetence” Chicago Reader said of the Steppenwolf Theatre production). As a ‘legit’ actor, David’s past roles include Hamlet, Macbeth, Titus Andronicus, Tybalt, Mercutio and Valere in La Bete as well as over 30 commercial, television and film credits but his signature piece is that of Billy Bones, the generally good pirate! As the lead character of Pirate School!, Billy was named in New York Magazine among “BEST OF NY: KIDS” and his exploits have been praised in performances from the Bahamas to the British Isles. With the possibility of a television series in the works you’d be wise to surrender now to the lure and lore of piracy as presented by Billy Bones … and David Engel. We’re pleased to have him here in that role and joining with Hilary Chaplain as their madcap magic show characters known as Los Magnificos.
	Dr. Calamari & Acrophelia Visit website The good but creepy doctor and his cool-skinned lover are remarkably nimble for those who teeter on the brink of life and death. Dr. Loligo Calamari and Acrophelia (A.K.A Jason Williams and Evelyn Bittner),.members of Circus Contraption, project a surrealist dream as they perform effortless and stylish acrobalancing and macabre dance movement.
	du Caniveaux Dancing Bears The bears have been doing their sweet dance number now for almost twenty years and they still don’t have it down. No matter, they’ll have you bending over backwards as the four bears simply bend over. This year for the festival they’re adding a new acrobatic number. What could possible be more pleasing?
	Dusty Rhodes and her Handsome Cowboys Do you crave the authentic Western cowpoke experience? The point of view of those who ride the real range and actually work among the herds? Yeah? Why'd you come to a Comedy/ Varietè Festival then? Dusty was inspired by the same cowfolk that you and I saw on TV growing up. Her's is a sweet sound, witty Western interplay, and adventure yodeling ... her cowboys are invariably handsome.
	Eric Apoe Visit website Seattle songwriter Eric Apoe started in the music business as a drummer for Cajun fiddler Doug Kershaw, with whom he toured the U.S., Canada, and Europe. Later signed as a staff writer for Warner-Chappell, his music was championed by Tom Dowd and John Hammond Sr. In Seattle, Apoe has released four albums with his band, They. The third, “Radioation,” is culled from live radio appearances on KEXP and NPR’s KUOW. His previous release, “Dream Asylum,” includes four songs co-produced by Soundgarden/Pearl Jam drummer Matt Cameron. A solo version of his song, “The Bag” was released on a compilation to benefit Northwest Harvest. The fourth and latest CD “Book Of Puzzles” features some of the band members finest recorded performances as well as several guest performers. Irish piper Tom Creegan on “Times of Trouble, and Mickey Raphael playing hamonica and echo harp on “Old Part Of Town”. Noted violist Joanna Hood, arranged strings for the jazz ballad,“Brokenhearted Blackbird”, and celebrated songwriter and lifetime friend, Ron Davies sings a duet co-write on the last track, “Stranger in Your Own Hometown”. Currently the subject of a documentary-in-progress by film makers Stanford Wilson and James Buchanan, Apoe is readying material for his fourth release. A staple of Seattle’s underground, his music encompasses rock, jazz, folk, classical, and world traditions. With poetic force and humorous paradox, Apoe is a Leonard Cohen for the Age of Unreality.
	Eric Newton Visit website Eric Newton is an accomplished performer, actor & acrobat, making his second appearance at the Moisture Festival. Based in Los Angeles, Eric performs solo, duo and group aerials, ground acrobatics and character driven comic acts as a free-lance artist and with Eye of Newt Circus, which he founded in 2002. Eric is currently performing in the Cirque du Soleil collaboration with magician Criss Angel, Believe at the Luxor in Las Vegas. He has performed across America and internationally with Cirque du Soleil (Quidam); Cirque Eloize (Cirque Orchestre); Neil Goldberg's Cirque Dreams; and Teatro ZinZanni (most recently as the bumbling Ringmaster and high flying trapeze soloist at Pacific Place). Last year, Eric choreographed and performed as young Canio in the circus interlude in an acclaimed production of Pagliacci at the Seattle Opera, which the Seattle Times declared, “spectacular”! In film, he had a principle role in Ron Howard's The Grinch Who Stole Christmas and he, along with the entire Eye of Newt Circus, did acrobatic stunts for The Polar Express. Recent television credits include the Taurus World Stunt Awards, choreographed by Jacques Hiems (Diavolo, KA) and CBS’ Secret Talents of the Stars. He trained trapeze, rope and hand balancing with Chinese master Lu Yi at the San Francisco Circus Center, Cirque du Soleil and Cirque Eloize (with Jacinthe Trembley and Kristof Sorojenski) in Montreal. In acting, clowning and dance, Eric trained with American Conservatory Theatre, SF Mime Troupe, Ringling Bros. Clown College and SFSU. His innovative shows in Los Angeles and beyond have earned him acclaim (Dramalogue Award) and recent profiles in the LA Weekly, on news shows on KNBC in Los Angeles and KOMO in Seattle.
	Ernesto Cellini Visit website Ernesto Cellini (known to his mother as Colin Ernst) is a juggler, trombonist, welder, contraption engineer, composer, cone man, master whistler with the darkly magical Circus Contraption troupe. Hailing from New York by way of Prague, he plays a monk when he's not a Kohlrabi or a caveman. His solo show, "The Adventures of the Merry Monk and Frog Prince Freddy," debuted at the 1999 Seattle Fringe Festival. When he's living, he fabricates metal sculpture for to make that living.
	Esther Edelman Visit website Esther has over 20 years of choreographing, directing, and performance experience that spans international stages and events. She is an Artistic Director and Co-founder of the groundbreaking UMO Ensemble. Esther's passion is aerial arts and some of her choreographic and performance highlights include Ringulon alien acrobats atop the Space Needle, Silkfire fabric piece in the Hotbox at the Museum of Glass, bungee finale for UMO's Millennium Circus, Rapunzel: A Radical Aerial Telling featuring the aerial fabric, and dangling from a crane at the Point Defiance Zoo. Esther strives to create a "fluid mix of circus and aerial arts" that is "elegant and expressive" (Seattle PI). Committed to transcending the limitations of individual forms, Esther has made her mark in combining disciplines such as aerial circus and theatrical narrative to produce truly innovative work.
	Fabulous Footlights Visit website The Fabulous Footlights (Toes Tiranoff and Megan Haungs) well-known New York performers were in two successful runs of the highly acclaimed Off- Broadway Show “Vaudeville 2000” at La MaMa E.T.C. They were featured in “The Story of Tap” at Dixon Place and have collaborated on five original shows with the veteran Broadway entertainer, Harold “Stumpy” Cromer at Cobi’s Place in mid-town Manhattan. Other credits include Lincoln Center’s Damrosch Park, the Bindlestiff Family Cirkus, the Fearless Theater Company, the New Old Time Chautauqua starring the Flying Karamazov Brothers, and regular appearances at Buster Brown’s Tap Jam during it’s five year run at Swing 46 in New York. Recently, they performed in “A Brief Look at Everything and Nothing” at La MaMa E.T.C. and at the Clemente Soto Velez Cultural Center in “The Black Tie” Blues and Jazz Concert. While in San Francisco, they perform at the Church of St. John Coltrane.
	Flaming Idiots Visit website A legend is reborn! The Flaming Idiots rode their 1980s Renaissance Faire success to television, theater festivals and to the New York Off-Broadway stage where their show was a roaring success: the New York Times described it this way: “Good natured, high spirited silly fun...a theatrical experience bubbling with constant humor. Footloose, Fanciful, Free-Spirited.” When they quit performing as a troupe they took their interests in different directions and their early exploits have grown into backstage stories to tell. If you’re lucky, an online search might help you to locate a copy of their DVD titled The Flaming Idiots' Very Very Very Very Last Show Ever but if you’re luckier, you’ll see a reunited version at this year’s Moisture Festival. You’ll be in good company, many of the performers in town for the festival will be gathering out front to catch a glimpse of this post-historic event.
	Flying Caribe Sisters Visit website Esther Edelman and Martha Enson have been working together for longer than either of them will admit. They are founding members of the award winning UMO Ensemble, have dangled together 520 feet off the Space Needle and have flown together on Trapeze, hoop, rope and bungee, as well as soloing on tissue and web. Between the two of them they: Produce and perform in Special events, teach aerial classes and pilates, dance, live on Vashon Island, and are Moms to 2 fabulous girls. We dedicate this show to our loving husbands.
	Foolz Visit website Two performers: one outwardly calm, the other wound tighter than a spring. If there is a dim-witted innocence about them, it's because their childlike charm permeates their world, placing them in situations where something almost always goes wrong. Veterans of film, television, radio and the stage, Dapper Dane & Woodhead have performed for audiences on six continents. Their new show, "FOOLZ", is a character-driven amalgam of theater, music, comedy and juggling that visually demonstrates the power of cooperation between performers with vastly different dispositions.
Photo by John Cornicello	Frank Olivier Visit website When he was a kid growing up in Berkeley, California a performance troupe set up on a lot not far from his home. This group had the whiff of counterculture about them and Frank and his friends rode their bikes to their show every single day and ... well, frankly, he caught something. The group was headed up by Major Chumleigh and included an act called The Flaming Zucchini. The boys were thrilled when they came to the realization that those two characters were, in fact, being portrayed by the same mad man, Michael Mielnik (later known to the world as the legendary Reverend Chumleigh). Chumleigh (to his personal shame) had inspired a young boy to turn to a life of juggling. While the straight world lost whatever contribution that young man might have made (we'll never know, but some are nonetheless relieved) the performance world gained one of the funniest juggling acts to ever play a flaming guitar on top of a tall unicycle. Frank developed his unique offbeat brand of humor in San Francisco's comedy clubs. He was soon sharing the bill with Dana Carvey, Robin Williams, Whoopi Goldberg, and others. New York producers spotted his talents, and quickly signed him. He performed his act for the next three years in the Broadway hit show 'Sugar Babies'. Olivier has a growing number of television appearances including The Tonight Show, Comic Strip Live, and shows for PBS, HBO, BBC, Disney and more. He also headlines Las Vegas, comedy and theater festivals, and performs countless corporate shows.
	Fyodor Karamazov He spent 20-odd years (some of them very odd) touring the world as a professional juggler with the Flying Karamazov Brothers, then retired to his home in Seattle, his other home in Santa Cruz, and his other home in Hawaii. Of course he doesn't stay home all the time, he has occasion to travel as well. Fyodor (AKA Tim Furst) is also an organizer and performer with the Moisture Festival, New Old Time Chautauqua and Cirque de Flambè. No longer juggling for a living, he can be found illuminating the Moisture Festival stage either from the tech booth in back or onstage with his Light and Object manipulation.
	God's Favorite Beefcake Visit website Okay ... I'll tell you what, click on that link above that will take you to their MySpace page where you can hear the music for this strange Circus Contraption connected band and then YOU try to write words about them.
	Godfrey Daniels Visit website Last year Godfrey was invited to Paris where he (and his close and equally silent partner Randy Minkler) were invited to present their act on the world's premier Varietè television show, Le Plus Grand Cabaret du Mond with Patrick Sèbastien. A remarkable sign of recognition and respect for a Seattleite whose most spectacular skill seems to be catching the big red balloon that he tosses. Does none of this make sense to you? Have you never seen Godfrey do his thing? OOoouuuu I wish I was you. He delights us over and over but what a joy to be seeing him for the first time.
	Harlequin Hipsters Visit website The Harlequin Hipsters is a collaborative performance collective whose aim is to honor, celebrate, and continue to evolve the rich heritage of American social dance. Through the synthesis and reimagining of social and contemporary dance, clown, circus and Vaudeville disciplines, we craft experiences that invoke in our audiences a spirit of dance, play, and wonder. The members of our group come from a wide range of backgrounds and disciplines; from ballet and musical theater to stilt walking and figure skating, swing and hip-hop. Organizations performed and trained with include ACT Theater, Michael Franti and Spearhead, the Moisture Festival, Pacific Northwest Ballet, Northwest Folklife, Teatro Zinzanni, University of Washington, Cornish College of the Arts, the Oregon Shakespeare Festival, Actors Theater of Louisville, Veronica Mendonca and VAM, SANCA, Potion Dance Company, The Erotic Ball, Dream Science Circus, Circus Contraption and the Oregon Country Fair.
	Hilary Chaplain Visit website Hilary is one of the founding members of the New York Goofs. They performed together in New York's Carnegie Hall, Lincoln Center, and Symphony Space. She has gone on to be recognized as one of America's foremost professional physical comediennes performing throughout North and South America and Europe. Revealing the humor in everyday life she has been called "ferociously talented". Consider the words of Bill Irwin (a comic genius regarded by some as a clown god in our pantheon) "Hilary Did a 5-minute solo turn which stole the show. She looked fantastic and brought down the house with veteran clowns hooting from the wings."
	Hokum W Jeebs Visit website Vaudeville was a familiar sight across America until the Great Depression. These traveling troupers have mostly been forgotten and little evidence of their passing can be found. But the tradition lives on in the unlikely and delightful form of Professor Hokum W. Jeebs, a vaudevillian reincarnated. Hokum W. Jeebs is a one-man musical theater. Out of his trunk emerge such eccentric instruments as toy piano, saw, tuba muffler and snorkel. He sings and plays from an amazingly eclectic repertoire that ranges from classical warhorses to obscure popular songs and good old American ragtime. Hokum’s perspective on music is stylish and witty. His wild comic imagination, deadpan delivery and broad knowledge of the vaudeville period, has delighted audiences across the continent and around the world. Wherever he has performed, he has left in his wake a steady stream of giggles, grins and guffaws.
	Iman Lizarazu Visit website Iman Lizarazu is a world-class entertainer, juggler and physical commedian. People who have seen Lizarazu on Bay Area and International stages already know the Santa Cruz resident is a unique performer. As a classically trained ballet dancer, mime and circus clown, she is a jester and a fool, in the best old-world sense of the words. Her background includes a wide range of comic disciplines from circus arts to commedia dell'arte. Also a talented, extremely creative, fine artist, Iman's artwork has been displayed at many local galleries and museums.
	Jane Osborn Visit website Jane Osborn became a professional dancer when she was 18 and she worked in that profession with several companies before auditioning for a dancing job with a Swiss circus. It was while in Switzerland that she fell in love with aerial performance. The balletic nature of the work appealed to her and when she returned home to England she enrolled at Circus Maniacs in Bristol to begin her training in this new and related art. After learning the basics of trapeze, tightrope and other skills, she worked as a member of a four-girl act with Zippos Circus in the UK where she continued to learn on the job but then set out to develop her own routines. She moved on to be a founding member of Viva Aerial Dance noted in the UK and elsewhere for their quality group aerial acts. Jane has performed solo and in groups for hundreds of live events, galas, TV, Movies and spectacular events world wide. It’s an honor to welcome her to Seattle as a member of this year’s Moisture Festival.
	Janet McAlpin Visit website Janet McAlpin trained for two years at the School of Jacques LeCoq (Paris, France), co-founded UMO Ensemble and has been teaching, directing and performing physical theater for over 20 years. Janet has taught clown theater at Freehold studio, Naropa Institute (Boulder, Co) and in private workshops. She has directed UMO and Circus Contraption and has performed various characters on different apparatus (Hoops, balls and stilts) at Teatro Zinzani, Cirque du Flambe, the Moisture Festival and with UMO Ensemble. Her most recent creative endeavors have ranged from writing and performing Zen Tales, a piece of clown theater embodying eastern teaching tales (with UMO), to creating an aerial act with a tomato and developing a large warehouse into space for art and community on Vashon Island. Janet loves water, gravity and her son Kai who is her new clown instructor.
	Jeffrey Daymont Visit website As a teen, Jeffrey Daymont quickly rose to become a world champion Cigar Box juggler. Learning from the best and studying at Chicago’s Second City he performs clean original comedy and award winning routines to upbeat music. Juggling golf clubs, spinning balls, rolling hoops and performing an original hat and cane routine are just a few of the unusual skills that make his show unique. Having performed thousands of shows worldwide, Jeffrey has developed a playful way of engaging a crowd. Now he’s joined by his wife, the Lovely Miss Amber, who performs a hysterical audience participation routine that will make your belly hurt with laughter. From start to finish, Jeffrey and Amber create a fun experience for everyone. This show you have to see to believe.
	Jim Hinde Visit website Jim won't be performing with us this year. He isn't available. That's too bad because these are his times. Do yourself a favor and follow the link next to his name to get an idea about his music.
	Jim Page Visit website The great Utah Phillips once said: "Jim Page's songs get right to the point. He looks at the world clearly and reports what he sees with compassion, humor and a biting sense of irony. And boy! can he sing and play. If you're ever going to get the message, this is the messenger to get it from." The fact that this dynamic, sometimes angry political folk singer somehow seems like a natural fit for a Comedy/ Varietè Festival suggests something odd is at work here ... and it is. Whether here at our Festival or at many of Jim's other venues you won't have to pay much to hear him but you'll be cheating yourself if you fail to pay attention.
	John Gilkey Visit website John Gilkey was the lead clown character in three different Cirque du Soleil productions: Dralion, Varekai and Quidam. The originality of John's characters and routines is legendary and his shows with Cirque, Le Reve in Las Vegas, Wintergarten in Berlin, and theaters and television shows around the world have impressed and delighted millions (literally millions). If you've seen John perform before you might have an idea of what to expect but he'll surprise you nonetheless. If you've never seen his work (play) you're in for a treat. One of the masters of our art is coming to Seattle. We couldn’t be more thrilled … John Gilkey at Moisture Festival … a perfect fit.
	Jonathan Rose Visit website Jonathan Rose’s interest in circus arts began in Mexico, where he was a roustabout in a small, family-owned circus. For several months he served as caretaker of the many exotic animals, including Maurice, the elephant and Pepe, the hippopotamus. When he tired of pounding stakes and shoveling animal dung, Jonathan returned to Seattle and began studying aerial acrobatics at the School of Acrobatics and New Circus Arts (SANCA). He dreams of running away with the circus again, only this time as an aerial artist.
	Kazüm Visit website Kazüm's mission is to push the boundaries of perceived limitations, inspire ourselves and others to actualize dreams and to create more joy and beauty in the world through the medium of acrobalance, adagio, stunts and imagination. Kazüm has been Portland's premiere acrobalance dance troupe since 2005. Since their inception they have collaborated with many of the most loved and creative groups in Portland's eclectic and dynamic avant-garde music and performing arts scene. Kazüm has established themselves as an integral part of Portland's art community, and continues to define the role of local circus in Portland's future.
	Kevin Joyce Visit website Kevin is Creator and Host of the Seattle Channel’s Big Night Out, now in its second season. With his wife Martha Enson he runs EnJoy Productions, which produces live entertainment for corporate and special events, as well as music, videos and leadership training, He was a Co-Founder of UMO Ensemble, and from 2000-06 Kevin was a principal performer and Director of Teatro Zinzanni, in San Francisco and Seattle. An avid singer/songwriter, Kevin’s CD Say It is available on CD Baby.
	Leapin’ Louie Lichtenstein Visit website Leapin’ Louie Lichtenstein has performed his unique cowboy comedy show in 21 different countries around the world. You will see slapdash physical comedy and spoken comedy channeled through Louie’s modern western clown character. Plus world-class trick roping, whip cracking, and other odd stunts. No wonder they call him the most explosive Lithuanian Jewish Cowboy Comedian to ever come out of the Pacific Northwest.
	Lelavision Visit website The name Lela is more than a play on the names of the founders; derived from two Sanskrit terms meaning "creation" and "creative spark", with references to "play," it denotes the spirit of the performance group. The company combines modern and aerial dance, music, theater, and large interactive musical sculptures to create innovative works of awe and whimsy. Their work is about the transfer of energy, the emanations of the soul, and the common denominators of the human experience. Mann and Lamblin work with a synthesis of form, space, movement, and music in a collaboration that draws on the unique contribution of each. Ela Lamblin is a sculptor/musician who is known in Seattle for his past collaborations with the UMO Ensemble. Lamblin's musical instrument/sculptures represent a harmony of sound, form, and movement meant not solely to be looked at and walked around but to be sounded and intimately experimented with. They appeal both to the ear and to the eye and, because they are thematically indicative, to the soul and to the consciousness.
	Los Magnificos! Visit website Los Magnificos - David Engel and Hilary Chaplain You’ve heard of Houdini, Copperfield and Siegfried and Roy…well, so have they! Last seen on Long Island at the Garden City Motel and Smorgasbord, the spellbinding duo of EL MAGNIFICO! and his sultry assistant have left audiences stunned, mute and begging the world over. Be amazed by feats of prestidigitation, magical daring and the longest pregnant pause in theatrical history (this act has been banned by the ASPCA in 27 states. (Apply now to have your state put on the list).
	Michael Clifton One the best show drummers on any circuit, ask any of the many vaudeville/ Varietè acts who've done their turn with his support from the band pit. Michael's coming in from Berlin for the Festival and, happily for us, he's bringing his solo rhythm act with him. An undisputed wild man ... with a beat.
	Miles and Karina Visit website One reviewer called their music "wonderful, ... irreverent, purposefully silly, very sophisticated ..." Another said "these stellar musicians have stepped up and into a musical circle where only a few elite reside." Miles and Karina ... The score that they provided for the 1926 animated classic "The Adventures of Prince Achmed" and the rave reviews it received after the spring 2008 premier have focused attention on this brilliant Seattle musical duo. We're proud to have them join the cast of the 2009 Moisture Festival.
	Mud Bay Jugglers Visit website Masters of levity is several senses of the term. Mudbay has brought their innovative approach to juggling for over 25 years now. They've passed some of their knowledge and experience on while passing clubs. They work to music or in silence but you won't miss the message. See what happens when drama, choreography and juggling create a flashpoint with the complex world of music. Still, as one member put it, "Even after 20 years, our best times are when the clubs just float in the air and we're not thinking about anything but the fun we're having with the people around us."
	Nanda Visit website The Nanda experience is a high-energy, unrelenting blast of action and excited humor. You will be enraptured by this dynamic show, a tidal wave of acrobatics, dance, juggling and crazy Kung Fu acro-fighting, which is tightly woven into an electrifying sonic soundscape. These four artists’ unique blend of skill acts and hilarious antics will reward again and again with their innovative approach to pure entertainment.
	Pinky d’Ambrosia Visit website Circus Contraption's vocalist, trumpet strumpet, dancer, Opera Diva, costumer and volunteer coordinator is described on that troupe's website as one who "makes men swoon" with her siren song and we've seen and heard her remarkable performance in their shows and can only heartily agree (she's also alleged on that site to make a mean fruit smoothie but we at Moisture Fest are reserving judgment on that matter until we sample some ourselves). Sari Breznau is Pinky d'Ambrosia and we can't wait to get a taste.
	Poppy Daze Visit website Poppy Daze (Lara Lee Rasberry) performs locally, nationally and internationally on a variety of aerial apparatus, including her signature anchor. She is the creator and director of the Aerialistas. She is also the founder and artistic director of Circus Contraption, Seattle's beloved traveling, one-ring troupe. Considered a pioneer in the rapidly-growing Seattle circus arts community, Lara has been teaching classes in trapeze, rope, fabric, hoop and invented apparatus for nine years at her "Aerial Academy of Love." She and her students formed an outreach group "The Aerial Army of Love" in 2006 with the mission of using circus arts to benefit those in extreme poverty.
	Quynbi Visit website On her MySpace page Quynbi lists her interests this way: .. aerial dance, SKYDIVING!!!, gogo dancing, collage, performance, costume making, glitter, feathers and shiny things, leather, chocolate, horses, vocabulary words, human anatomy, rock n roll, pinball, tattooing, high heels, makeup, painting, singing, weird poetry, cooking, drawing, dissonant classical music, rock climbing, doll making, modern dance, serial killers, figure skating, guitar playing, sewing, nintendo, things that can fly. What more can you say?
	Reggie Miles Visit website As Seattle's premiere sawplayer, Reggie's exploration into the eerie tones and subtle timbre of the musical saw, and his uncanny ability to flex the hand tool's razor sharp spring steel betwixt quivering knees to produce a prodigious palate of pleasing panache, is second to none. Bravely risking life, limb and future family hopes by bending 213 terribly treacherous teeth dangerously close to body parts both near and dear, he proudly provides a vicarious vaudevillian daredevil experience with each attempt to tame the unruly blade. See his knees quake with the torment of torturous trepidation! Thrill at his unrivaled skill! Chill at his critically acclaimed capability to coolly coax complex collections of cutting edge cornball curiosities and colorfully comical crackpot compositions via the confidently controlled contortions of his cruelly capricious and cantankerously caterwauling crosscut in a cantabile cadence!
	Reid Belstock Visit website Reid Belstock began juggling at the age of 15, as a way of overcoming gross and fine motor skill impairment. Following high school, Reid went off to study with Ringling Brothers, and Barnum and Bailey Circus Clown College, where he learned the fine art of Slapstick and Physical Comedy. From that time, Reid has performed across the United States, Canada, South America, Europe, China and Japan . He has performed in almost every venue that exists, from Theaters, Theme Parks, Cruise Ships, Casinos, Colleges, Conventions, Street Performing Festivals, Comedy Clubs, and Hotel Review Shows.
	Ricochet Visit website Ricochet, a contemporary circus duo that has toured their full length show STITCH across the United States and internationally, is the collaboration of Cohdi Harrell and Laura Stokes. Using their highly poetic and evocative movement style, Ricochet weaves delicate metaphor with jaw dropping spectacle. Combining aerial acrobatics, contortion, character and charm, Cohdi and Laura have forged their way to the forefront of innovative aerialism in America. Currently based in the bay area, Laura Stokes is a zealous movement researcher, educator and performer. Always fascinated by the notion of embodied experience, she was a child gymnast, a teenage ballerina, and at one point, a budding yogini. She now works with improvisation, contemporary circus and the most basic emotion to explore how we inhabit the physical space of our lives through our bodies. Cohdi Harrell is a New Mexico born artist currently residing in San Francisco. He has worked professionally as a circus artiste in venues ranging from the Santa Fe Opera to the Ford Theatre in Los Angeles to L’Olympia in Paris. His work has been recognized and featured on CNN, The New York Times, National Geographic, Spectacle Magazine, amongst others.
	Rob Williams No telling what he has planned this time but the last time we saw Rob at the Moisture Festival his act consisted of removing meat from packages, peeling plastic wrap off of cheese slices, putting mayonnaise and mustard onto bread and making a bologna sandwich!? ... Like abstract or dada art, there were many who, upon hearing that that was his plan, had said "my kid could do that." It's not like the guy is without talent. He was one of the famous Flaming Idiots who took their comedy show to theaters across the country and on to Broadway. The N. Y. Times gave them high praise: "They demonstrate what escapist entertainment is all about." (well, high praise to those of us who work in this field of the business). ... did I mention that he made those sandwiches with his bare feet? Yeah, they were clean feet (we watched him wash up first) and yeah, someone ate the sandwich (so did Jay Leno when he did it on his show). But again ... we don't know what he's bringing this time. We just know that Rob Williams will make you laugh at odd times ... and that's an art in itself.
	Ron W. Bailey There are many people whose hard work and creativity makes the Moisture Festival happen but there is one without whom it wouldn't have been an option. Ron W. Bailey is an entertainer, band leader, singer, songwriter, and a Maker. He makes things happen. His visit to one of Berlin's two Comedy/Varietè festivals in the 1990s inspired this unique contribution to Seattle's musical and theatrical landscape. Ron's romance with Seattle began ... but wait ... let me allow Seattle songsmith Jim Page to tell it: "Anyway, in '74 along comes Rose and The Dirt Boys - they're out of Oklahoma and they just moved right in and made themselves at home. You could do that here in those days, it was that generous. Well, one of the brains of the dirt boys was Ron Bailey, or RB as they called him. A compact little Scotts Okie with a great voice and an unstoppable mind for invention. He began collecting talented friends. He became kind of a magnet around which a lot of interesting people revolved. When The Dirt Boys broke up RB went on to the Dynamic Logs - a band that was larger or smaller depending on the circumstances. And that's when things began to get real theatrical. Anyway, making long stories shorter ... The Royal Famille Du Caniveaux was born somewhere in there, involving strange shadowy figures in Spain and Paris and New York, and they all started going to the Oregon Country Fair. So did a lot of jugglers and magicians and dancers and singers and all the rest. The Flying Karamazov Brothers, Tom Noddy, Faith Petric. So It was a natural progression if you look at it that way. It just had to happen. And where else [but Seattle] could it have been?" Ron ... Seattle and the Varietè performers you've brought to this pretty city thank you.
	Sally Pepper Visit website Sally Pepper (known in more mundane capacities as Kari Podgorski) has been performing with Seattle’s Circus Contraption since 2001, displaying skills ranging from vocal solos, to variety skills such as hula hooping, tap dancing, tumbling, group acrobatics, and roller skating, to her signature static cloud swing solo. With Contraption, Sally has toured the nation from Las Vegas to Manhattan, and internationally from Victoria, B.C. to Portugal. She has also performed with the Aerialistas, UMO Ensemble, EnJoy Productions, and of course in all 6 years of Seattle’s own variety program, the Moisture Festival. Performance highlights include Seattle Opera’s production of “Pagliacci, ” Pike Place Market's centennial celebration, and numerous events for Microsoft Corporation, the Seattle Center, and Seattle Art Museum.
photo: Timothy Aguero	SANCA Visit website The School of Acrobatics and New Circus Arts (SANCA) is a non-profit organization dedicated to improving the mental and physical health of children of all ages, and is dedicated to serving students from all economic backgrounds by offering tuition scholarships. Seattle's premier circus school was founded by Executive Director Jo Montgomery and Program Director Chuck Johnson. By day Jo is a pediatric nurse practitioner, but at night moonlights as a circus arts instructor. Like many pediatric care providers, Jo noticed an alarming increase in the rates of childhood obesity and started the school as a creative and practical way to address the problem. Chuck's interest in circus began at age 10 when his grandparents took him to a circus show in Portland. Soon after that he taught himself to juggle and began gymnastics training. As an adult Chuck helped found the Cascade Youth Circus and has been involved professionally in circus, gymnastics coaching, stunt work and rigging. SANCA opened its doors in January 2004 with 5 students and a trampoline, but is now home to two trampolines, trapeze rigs, vertical ropes, a tumbl-trak, tight wires, unicycles, German Wheels, a million juggling balls, and lots of circus fun! The school offers classes in acrobatics, circus arts, aerial training, hoop, juggling and trampoline and even has a circus band for those more musically inclined. With over 500 students of ALL ages, and a satellite program on Vashon Island, SANCA proves that it's never too late to join the circus!
	Sandy Palmer
	Shayna Swanson Visit website Shayna Swanson has created and performed "truly heart-felt and creative" (Chicago Reader) aerial works for over 13 years. After attending Circus Maniacs (Bristol, England), intensively studing aerial hoop, trapeze and rope, Shayna returned to the States, to perform and teach with The Midnight Circus, Circus Smirkus, Cirque de la Mer, Zyngara, New Vision Cirque, Circesteem, The Lyric Opera, The Big Aerial Show, Cirque du Soleil, Cirque Voila and many corporate clients. In 2005 she received the Glenn P Davis Scholarship to the Aerial Dance Festival, rewarded every year for excellence in aerial choreography. That same year Shayna formed her own company "Aloft Aerial Dance" and, with a grant from the City of Chicago, produced the critically acclaimed full-length show "Rolling Blackouts". In 2006 her choreography was selected into the repertory of Thodos Dance Chicago and featured in the Best of Dance Chicago Showcase. That same year she was named a "Mover and Shaker" of the Chicago dance scene. Her work was also presented at the International Circus Performer's Gathering in Brattleboro, Vermont, and at many Chicago dance festivals. Shayna formed the Aloft Loft in April 2006 to provide a supportive and vibrant community training space for physical artists of all sorts. In the first year of its existence Shayna produced four full-length shows and interactive performance parties at the Aloft Loft. In the last year she was the aerial director for Willow Creek Church's massive "Imagine Christmas" production, performed in aerial hoop in Hong Kong and stilts in Shanghai, and thrilled thousands at events all over America!
	Shoehorn Visit website Shoehorn is an original performance artist who creates music with his feet and dances with his horn. Michael Shoehorn Conley has combined organic body rhythms and sophisticated jazz forms and concepts into an entertaining spectacle. While specializing in sax and tap dance, he is a multi-instrumentalist, arranger and composer, utilizing a variety of wind and percussion instruments, original poetry and songs and an ear for music from around the world.
	Simon Neale Visit website Simon cuts an elegant figure as he hosts Moisture Festival shows in his Utilikilt and East End, London accent (modified to allow Americans to understand). Simon's sense of comedy harkens back to Music Hall and to the British traditions of "Panto". Relax, you're someplace else now.
	Smerdyakov Karamazov The brilliant vaudevillian, Ed Wynn, once said "A comedian is not a man who says funny things. A comedian is one who says things funny." As, variously, a solo performer (Samwise, Juggler Intraordinaire,) a founding-partner in the hilarious Laughing Moon Theater, and then one of the quartets and quintet called The Flying Karamazov Brothers, Smerdyakov (a.k.a. Sam Williams) had nightly views of laughing faces as he gamboled across stages offering his oddly twisted but clearly friendly point of view on events around him. Sam still lives in his hometown of Seattle and, when persuaded now and again to act as presenter or performer, he reminds us anew of that core attribute of a comedian of which Ed Wynn spoke. It's not an act, he thinks that way.
	Stefan Haves Visit website Stefan Haves directed the world-renowned dinner/circus Teatro Zinzanni and is Cirque Du Soleil’s North American "Clown Scout," responsible for casting clowns, conducting workshops, and assistant directing the 2007 touring show in the areas of acting and clowns. He was also creative consultant for the Tony Award-winning Broadway hit "Fool Moon" starring the “Clown Prince” Bill Irwin and David Shiner, long a featured performer with Cirque Du Soleil. Haves’ education includes Dell'Arte’ School of Mime and Comedy and the “school of hard knocks” as a juggler and street clown in Paris. He credits Philippe Gaulier, for years master teacher at the Lecoq School of Movement, as “his true teacher.” A self-proclaimed “improvisational addict,” Haves has worked with improv ensembles Second City, the Groundlings, and studied with renowned instructors Dee Marcus, Keith Johnstone, Paul Sills and Del Close. As a writer, his hilarious shows are based on physical comedy and Commedia Dell'Arte’ techniques. Haves has performed in numerous television and stage shows, but he might be best known to audiences for his comedic one-man show “Journey Back.” Developed while Artist in Residence with the Music Center of Los Angeles, Haves toured this extraordinary show around the United States with the National Association of Campus Activities. A small portion of it, titled “Back Man,” achieved global acknowledgement on various television shows. His comedy contortion act “Back Man” won $10,000 on “America’s Funniest People” television show. As a film director, Haves wrote, produced, and directed the award-winning short film “Punch Drunk,” starring Sally Kellerman and Connie Selleca. Stefan is currently a Casting Partner with Cirque du Soleil and is conducting auditons for clowns and characters for all the Cirque shows worldwide.
	Terry Crane Visit website Circus artist and cordelisse specialist Terry Crane is a graduate of the national circus school of Montreal. Terry has been performing on vertical rope for 6 years. Recent experiences include a highly experimental contemporary circus show in Montreal, and a tour with Circus Starlight in Switzerland. In addition to his formation in circus arts, he is also a long time practitioner of contact improvisation, capoeira, and modern dance. He brings the variety of these perspectives to his performance and teaching. He is a leader in dynamic vertical rope acrobatics, and all of his work is infused with his fiercely individual, theatrical style.
	The Bobs Visit website The Bobs are a phenomenon in show business ... These Grammy nominated musical arrangers are four funny humans who take their music seriously. They're the world's only new wave a cappella singers but they don't shy away from using instruments if the mood strikes. Since they shared the Moisture stage with us they've put out a new CD: Get Your Monkey off my Dog and a DVD documentary archiving their 25 year history: Sign My Snarling Movie.
	The Cabiri Visit website In the words of Herotodus, "Those who have been initiated into the Mysteries of the Cabiri will understand my meaning..." The Cabiri, a Seattle-based performance troupe, specialize in 'performative mythology', theatrical depiction of tales from folklore and mythology. Utilizing modern and aerial dance, stilt walking, physical theatre, and puppetry, The Cabiri transcend the human form to depict fantastic tales. Members of the troupe teach ongoing aerial dance classes in West Seattle and perform regularly at The Pink Door restaurant. Don't miss their big 10-year anniversary show on May 1, 2009 at Cal Anderson Park on Capitol Hill.
Photo by Michelle Bates	The Peculiärs
	The Velone Sisters An aerial affair presented by Martha Enson of the UMO Ensemble and Cathy Sutherland of the Aerialistas and Du Caniveaux. They mix beauty, poetry, and strength in their stunning act on the vertical rope. Their debut at last year's festival was very powerful and revealed their ability to deliver "wow".
	Tom Murphy Visit website Knock 'em down, drag 'em out, laugh till you cry slapstick sketch comedy. Think: Buster Keaton meets Robin Williams. He co-founded two international touring comedy troupes: Mountain Mime and Klown Shoes. For the past 20 years he has performed and taught around the world. He was a winner at the Festival Mondial du Cirque de Demain in Paris and twice awarded "Artist of the Year Award" by Kuenstler Magazine in Germany. He has appeared on Broadway in his solo production called MetaMURPHosis. For the past 15 years he has been touring in Europe where he was dubbed "The Chaos Poet." He has been a mainstay in the Variete scene in Germany, chiefly the GOP Varietes in Hannover, Essen, Bad Oeyenhausen, Munster and Munich.
	Tom Noddy Visit website Tom has done something unique in show business ... he created a new kind of act. When Tom Noddy first took his performance of Bubble Magic onto the Tonight Show in the early 80s (the first of 3 such performances on that show) Johnny Carson was able to say "He's doing something unlike anything we've ever seen." He used the attention gained by those appearances to initiate a series of "Bubble Festivals" at science centers across America and now in several European cities (he says that he knows a good bit about the physics of soap films but admits and he's funnier than he is smart). This has resulted in work for him and now for several other entertainers who've followed in his footsteps. Tom has recently returned from events built around his act in Scandinavian countries and he's delighted to be gathering in Seattle with the collection of odd people who make up the peer group of a guy who blows bubbles for a living.
	Trio Manchego "Vaudeville audiences loved watching things spin." Greg Palmer
	Trixie Little & the Evil Hate Monkey Visit website Baltimore's Trixie Little and The Evil Hate Monkey are an award-winning, acrobatic burlesque superduo who have been making fun sexy and sexy fun since 2002. Described as "smart, funny and dumb in all the best ways", this talented twosome has flipped-n-stripped on "The Gong Show with Dave Attel," have opened for John Waters, are the winners of the 2006 Exotic World Best Burlesque Duo trophy and are regular late night fixtures in New York City, Baltimore and beyond.
	Tune Stranglers Visit website Recently referred to as "a circus that plays music", the Tune Stranglers have been entertaining audiences across the West since 2003. With a smorgasbord of stringed instruments, washboard and the occasional clarinet, they perform fabulous hot jazz and old-timey music of the 1920's and 30's. If good ole country and bluegrass is what you like, this band can kick up their heels and hoe down 'til the cows come home. If you prefer sophisticated hot jazz, they'll get slick and citified and swing you round the ballroom. The group plays everything from hot jazz to slow blues, country melodies and swingin' rhythms, cowgirl yodelin' to uptown croonin' so sweet you're libel to "want to take your pants off" as one fan put it.
	Ukulele Dick Visit website Ukulele Dick (Rick McKee) is one of the prime forces that “Keep Santa Cruz Weird”. Santa Cruz, California is noted for and revels in that reputation and so, Ukulele Dick thrives there in his hometown. He’s been described as having a singing voice like that of a latter-day Mills Brother with a sense of humor like that of a Marx Brother. Describing his influences and stage attributes has left music journalists struggling with names as disparate as Cole Porter, Spike Jones, Cliff Edwards (the real life voice of Jimney Cricket) and the noted vocalist Charlie Chaplain (um … that might have been a reference to something other than his singing). George Harrison, William H. Macy, and Kurt Vonnegut have praised his work but you’ll have a chance to judge for yourself if you’re fortunate enough to experience the musical stylings of a man who does and receives credit to and from an instrument that others think of as a toy. You’ll be amused and amazed.
	Zero Boy Visit website Zero Boy is a Vocal Cartoonist. From his New York base, Zero Boy has written, directed and performed numerous productions on both coasts and Europe, working in traditional theater, stand up comedy, television, street performance festivals, radio, film, comic books, a national magazine, and on the cutting edge of digital media/art. MTV’s M2 network has featured his unique work and he was recently featured on WNYC’s “The Next Big Thing”, VH1, “Fox and Friends” and “Good Day New York”. He has been on the radio all over America and the world doing Stump Zero Boy.
photo by John Cornicello	zoom ----- Moisture Festival Volunteer Staff Visit website This is a cropped photo of a small fraction of the many volunteers that worked together to staff the Moisture Festival a couple of years back. Some of these friends will be back this year, some can't and will be missed. Other new friends will join us and work for the pleasure of being a part of this joyous event and a contributor to the laughter that is the real engine that makes this thing move. It's not clear to us how many in the audience recognize the fact, and there may even be some backstage who don't know it, but the organizers and the experienced performers know that the applause is shared with these partners. Thank you.