A middle-aged woman wrapped her arm around her wife as a blonde pinup performer stood above the two, spitting fire past her perch on stage Monday night.
The pinup, Tess LaCoil, took a shot of Smirnoff and daintily pointed a lit poker to her mouth. She exhaled.
“My blood boils every time she does that,” Master of Ceremonies Bryce “The Govna” Graves said through the microphone, “Welcome to the Hellzapoppin freak show, folks.”
The Market Street Pub and Cabaret in downtown Gainesville hosted the circus stunt show at 10 p.m. on Monday. The pub’s usual bartenders double as cabaret performers, so the metal swings installed on the ceiling made it a perfect venue for the traveling circus.
LaCoil and “The Govna” were joined on stage by a dreadlocked, sword-swallowing yogi called Dai and Short E. Dangerously, a man without legs and most of his lower torso.
Dai shot arrows at drunken audience members while Short E. used his muscular arms to stand in a barrel of broken glass.
Ouch.
Meanwhile, Tess LaCoil stepped barefoot (except fishnets) wrung-by-wrung up a ladder of face-up knives. She ascended without losing her balance or any of her blood.
“I don’t know about you,” Short E. said to the audience as she reached the top, “but my view from down here is spectacular.”
The circus stunt show was part action, part comedy and totally uncomfortable for the audience.
Hellzapoppin Circus Sideshow Revue and Stuntshow Extravaganza, a self-proclaimed underground rock ‘n’ roll circus has been featured the Travel Channel and the Discovery Channel. This was the first time Hellzapoppin stopped in Gainesville to perform. Usually, the show only performs in Tampa and Jacksonville.
“I felt great and tonight’s show really got my blood pumping,” said “The Govnah,” who orchestrates the show, “It makes sense to stop in Gainesville on tour from now on.”
Anthony Grezlik, retired police officer and current bar owner, dressed the part of rocker and circus performer hybrid in a black mesh tank top, black leather chaps and knee-high red biker boots.
Bryce “The Govna” Graves
He bought Market Street Pub after he retired from the Alachua County Police Department.
“I was just too afraid. Too many cops I knew were getting shot and ambushed,” Grezlik said, “I always said ‘I want to be able to go to burlesque shows for free’ so I bought this bar.”
On his nights off as a police officer, he frequented the bars in downtown Gainesville and enjoyed getting dinner, then drinks, then watching the cabaret shows.
Grezlik and his business partner, Jill Dumas, another blonde pinup type who plans the bar’s entertainment while he does the numbers, purchased the 110-year-old space to put on shows for Gainesville natives.
“The bar is created with the premise that people can come and be entertained,” he said, “I love to see the look on a customer’s face when the aerial performers reach down from the silk trapezes to give them the beer that they ordered.”
Photos courtesy of Hellzapoppin’s Facebook Page
