For those of you unfamiliar with the cult of “carnival cabaret,” it is literally sweeping the nation, and in the realm of alternative circus acts, the Yard Dogs Road Show is definitely the thing to see. YDRS is the brainchild of Eddie Joe Cotton, author of the cult lit-hit Hobo: A Young Man’s Thoughts on Trains and Tramping in America (Three Rivers Press, 2002). Cotton started the “troupe” in 1998 and has since built the show’s reputation by maintaining a dedicated touring circuit through underground and alternative clubs and venues. The Road Show, a kind of indoor wild west extravaganza, confounds, astounds, and delights with the vaudevillean-burlesque rock-and-roll teases and skits that are interspersed throughout the boisterous presentation. The first incarnation of the Yard Dogs was just a three-man jug band, making the rounds on the acoustic-folk circuit and rubbing shoulders with other members of the avant-guard (like Ken Kesey and the Merry Pranksters). As legend has it, on one particular evening all three members of the original Yard Dogs reported strange “visions”—of dancing girls, feathers, fire eaters, sword swallowers and the like—and these apparitions, having become solid flesh, joined the Yard Dogs to form a magical, motley, traveling cabaret. With the publication of Hobo, Cotton and his merry band of freaks began to garner mainstream media attention, collaborating with Cirque du Soleil and Teatro Zinzanni, among others. This success hasn’t tamed the irreverent spirit of the show, though: It is still brazen and bawdy, and may or may not be appropriate for children and elders, depending on the threshold for exposed nipples and surreal weirdness.

If you’re looking for a prime example of a band making real, original, homegrown Buffalo music, you need look no further than the Outlyers. Steeped in a variety of musical influences and comprised of some of the best songwriters and players in town, the band has crafted its latest release, Hits & Myths (Red Jacket Recordings), like a master distiller working in the Bourbon-soaked counties of Kentucky—slow and easy (if you want cheap moonshine, go down in the holler and get it from the guy filling jars out of an old radiator). This is a great disc. Four years in the making, the result is an intoxicating, 13-song mix with enough genuine quality, both lyrically and musically, to stand beside anything in that catch-all genre known as Americana. Core members of the band include the husband-wife team of Dave Meinzer and Cathy Carfagna, Adam Gearing, Tom Fischer and Jim Celeste, who were joined by an impressive array of players including Jim Whitford, Gretchen Schulz, Jim Bohm, Eric Wozniak, Mike Miskuly, George Olmsted, Kevin McCue and Bob Chapman for the recording. The show will include appearances by most of those folks, along with John Brady III of the Steam Donkeys on drums and special appearances by former members of the Riddlers and Pine Dogs.

Author Ray Bradbury reportedly attributes his lifelong daily writing habit to the day in 1932 when a carnival entertainer, Mr. Electrico, touched him with an electrified sword, made his hair stand on end and shouted, “Live forever!” Reportedly. Whether that’s true or not, the 85-year-old Bradbury certainly seems destined to live on forever through his expansive body of work, which includes more than 500 published novels, short stories, plays, screenplays and essays. Just Buffalo has chosen Bradbury’s Fahrenheit 451, a timeless work valued as much for its literary merit as for its penetrating criticisms of censorship, as the focus for its month-long Big Read event. That series reaches its apex this Friday with “Fahrenheit All Night” at the Albright-Knox, part of its Gusto at the Gallery series.

Julliard graduate and NYC-based choreographer Jessica Lang debuts a new creation in Buffalo, showcasing the area’s talents as well as her own. Her world premiere will be featured by Pick of the Crop Dance Company in a true collaboration of artistic talents. Jessica Lang’s illustrious career includes work with Twyla Tharp before graduating and performing abroad in such premiere locations as Japan and South Africa, as well as achieving prominence with the New York City Ballet and the ever popular Cirque du Soleil. Her talent and skills earned her the Choo San Goh choreography award in 2003. Sunday, she will utilize the talents of Pick of the Crop music director Curt Steinzor and Buffalo visual artist Julie Silver in a performance comissioned with support from the New York State Council on the Arts Dance Program. The performers include Elaine Gardner, Elizabeth Elkins and Leslie Wuebben. Besides this new piece, Elaine Gardner, Pick of the Crop’s artistic director, will get a chance to display her choreography entitled Yield to the Currents of Song, featuring Melanie Aceto, Elkins and Wuebben. With such amazing talent being showcased behind the backdrop of area artists, this performance is sure to be just the pick for a Sunday evening.