Fifth annual Moisture Festival off to a great start

Fifth annual Moisture Festival off to a great start

by E. Joyce Glasgow - SGN A&E Writer MOISTURE FESTIVAL THROUGH APRIL 13 HALE'S BREWERY, FREMONT THROUGH APRIL 6 ACT THEATRE, SEATTLE The fifth annual Moisture Festival got off to a great start on March 27 with very entertaining acts both old and new to this year's festival. A variety of vaudeville, burlesque and aerial acts, clowns, magicians, jugglers, musicians and performance artists will be cheering up and thrilling Seattle audiences of all ages at Hale's Brewery in Fremont for a total of 25 performances through April 13, and some of the sexier burlesque acts in six special shows at the ACT Theatre in downtown Seattle through April 6. The first weekend featured the terrific 26-year-old accapella vocal quartet The Bobs, who sang kooky, creative and funny versions of The Beatles' "Helter Skelter" and a metal style version of Leonard Cohen's "Bird on a Wire." German clown Hacki Ginda and his son Moeppi performed a sweet pantomime of going fishing and reeling in a special surprise fish; Hacki's adorable baby grandson, Diemo. The audience was charmed. Run For Your Life, from San Francisco, was hysterical with their ballet dance number. The Red Wine Sisters, a unique, operatic duo from the California wine country, drank their way through at least a half a bottle of red wine as they sang duets in an increasingly inebriated state, dressed in Mozart-era white wigs and shiny red choir robes. Dreamlike icon and universal favorite Godfrey Daniels performed his surreal, simple, minimalist act with his red balloon. Zip Code Man, from Boulder, Colorado, impressed the audience with his uncanny ability to be able to identify any zip code in the world and then describe the neighborhoods and even favorite restaurants located there. Popular New York-based vocal soundscape artist Zero Boy is back with his expansive repertoire of provocative, story-creating vocal effects. High-energy pop/rock vocalist/pianist/composer Bob Malone is adding a new musical dimension to this year's festival. Dapper New York tap dancer Rod Ferrone is back. Matt Hall is doing some fancy juggling. Tom Murphy is back with his daredevil-ish physical slapstick and bad "horse goes into a bar" jokes. Caela and the Dangerous Flares are changing up the energy with some nitty-gritty vocal rhythm and blues numbers. Performance artist Queen Shmooquan is confounding the audience with her non-sequitorial, spontaneous, acid-trip like presentation. The very funny Bellini Twins make a bowling ball appear out of a pair of underpants. One of my favorite acts at the Moisture Festival is the ever-adorable Du Caniveaux Dancing Bears. I can watch them over and over and always be in stitches! The imagination, absurdity and sense of humor that has gone into creating this short but striking act is priceless! They bring out the child in all of us. I love the aerial acts at the festival, which have developed beautifully through the years as acts have grown with time and experience. The Aerialistas have choreographed some beautiful new moves with their graceful partner-work on hoops. Their handmade costumes are always imaginative and colorful. In one of their acts this year, they are "cupcake girls," complete with platinum wigs, cupcake hats and cupcake colored costumes in yellow, green and pink. Ricochet, a new act this year from New Mexico, is a wonderful male and female duo who do physically powerful work on "Tissue" (floor-to-ceiling hanging strips of fabric used for climbing and creative aerial work). Poppy Day (Lara Paxton of the Aerialistas and Circus Contraption) has a new act. Dressed as a sailor, she does some aerial acrobatic work on a giant, hanging ship's anchor. The Velone Sisters, dressed in striking red velvet bodysuits with sparkling sequins, are performing new, sinewy, duet aerial hoop work together. I'm looking forward to seeing Seattle's male/female Duo Madrona (formerly named Curly Burly) this week at the festival. Their incredible aerial work led to them being recently invited to Paris to perform at the prestigious Festival Mondial Du Cirque de Demain (The Circus of Tomorrow). The Moisture Festival is blessed to have really fantastic musicians playing for the acts. As these bands play more and more together over the years, they just keep getting better and better. It's amazing to hear so many wonderful and different configurations of musicians and the quantity and quality of organic, community-developed great bands: The Fremont Philharmonic Orchestra, Du Caniveaux Zebra Kings, Doc Sprinsock and The SANCApators, Orkestar Zirkonium and The Fighting Instruments of Karma Marching Chamber Band/Orchestra. The emcees round out the evenings, setting an overall mood for the performances. Especially funny and entertaining this week were duo emcees; carnival barker-like Armitage Shanks (of Circus Contraption) and his "wife," flustery, sexy French Canadian and festival guest emcee Mme Zazou. For information, schedules and tickets for the remaining Moisture Festival performances of Comedy/Variete/Aerial at Hale's Brewery and the "Burlesque in the Round" performances at ACT, visit www.moisturefestival.com.