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Tentacled Sawfish at The Can Can

Tentacled Sawfish at The Can Can
by E. Joyce Glasgow - SGN A& E Writer I have been very interested in the increasing number of local venues which have been cropping up lately, which feature new vaudeville variety shows, burlesque and circus acts. Over the last few years in Seattle (and elsewhere), performers have been able to let there imaginations run wild, creating all kinds of unique entertainment, successfully, to an enthusiastic public. The Moisture Festival, Circus Contraption, The Flying Karamazov Brothers and many performers at the Oregon Country Fair have fueled public interest in these genres. (Even David Letterman has started giving these kinds of acts mainstream national exposure and recognition by inviting beloved Seattle musical icon, Baby Gramps and Tom Noddy, "The Bubble Man", to be on his show within the past year). Now, with actual designated performance spaces, audiences can enjoy these kinds of shows through regular performances throughout the year. Tamara the Trapeze Lady produces changing burlesque/variety/cabaret shows every Friday night at the Columbia City Theater, at 4916 Rainier Ave. S. and the theater also produces other regular vaudeville shows. The Can Can is a fun new cabaret, which opened last year in the old Patti Summers jazz club at 94 Pike St. in the Pike Place Market. They, too, have variety/burlesque/musical shows on a regular basis most nights, with late night weekend performances. For my first time at the Can Can, I decided to attend Tentacled Sawfish's "The Passion of the Sawfish", a mixture of music and burlesque. The place was completely packed for the 10:00 pm late night Saturday show. Tentacled Sawfish is a four member band made up of members of Circus Contraption's Orchestra and sound like a wild cross between Tom Waits, country, rock and circus music, with singing, bass, piano, accordion, drums, mandolin, guitar and provocative lyrics. They were joined on the bill by Baby Gramps, who performed two uproarious solo sets and two burlesque dancers, Ann Atomic and Foxy Kaboom, who danced strip- tease. The interesting thing is that all the strip-dances I've seen by burlesque acts around town have been innocent, liberating, campy, funny and tasteful and not at all lascivious. My only reservation about the burlesque acts is that, however innocent, why is it that, in these modern times, that it is always still women taking off their clothes and wearing skimpy garments? Let's get over the blatant sexism, finally, and get some men to start stripping as well, to give some balanced variety and make all things equal! I'm sure the audiences would find male burlesque dancers as funny and entertaining. The evening was a partial benefit for the Pike Place Market Medical Clinic and money was raised by a "Jesus Kissing Booth", where patrons could donate $2 to be kissed by you-know-who. I hope that these venues and others continue to flourish. Not only is it great for audiences to be entertained by and exposed to alternative, grassroots, non-commercial artists but it also gives artists a chance to explore performance material with freedom, bringing something fresh, new, different and uniquely their own into being.