Yard Dogs Road Show

Born from the saloon vaudeville that toured the Wild West in the late 1800’s, Yard Dogs Road Show combines elements of vaudeville with noir burlesque—creating a timeless space for the union of ancient theatrical alchemy and modern pop culture. Sword swallowers, fire eaters, electrified jug band music, burlesque, rambling poetry and sideshow oddities are just a taste of the thrills and cultural obscurities that you will experience behind the canvas flap of the fabulous Yard Dogs Road Show coming to an obscure and not so obscure place near you. Did we mention the dancing girls, dancing girls, dancing girls???!!

“See you on down the road.”

EDDY JOE COTTON, author, tramp, barker and founding member of YARD DOGS ROAD SHOW

Prior to founding Yard Dogs Road Show, you were the best-selling author of the autobiographical HOBO - A Young Man's Thoughts on Trains and Tramping in America. Do you have plans to pen another book?

There are many stories in the works. Notebooks here and there. I run a business now. The poets are laughing at me, but I don’t care. I want to run away...do careless things again. But I know irresponsibility rather well. The complications that come with it are not worth the romance. I will write again. I will ride a train. I will pick papayas from the trees. I will get involved in complicated relationships. The things that made up HOBO. Now, I’m looking at the music business and seeing a strange and beautiful machine that runs on fast talk and fragile expectations, and wondering if you can change the world with a song, and if slammed tour schedules and one-nighters make for a life worth living.

Describe the inspiration for the varied content of your performances and how it comes together.

Think of fifteen furry animals placed in a small space for a long period of time. Some of them have big heads, others have big hearts, others have big feet, and some even have big mouths. Some are hard workers. others are hard thinkers. At times they lay in a big circle, protecting each other from the cold. Other times they simply thrash about in complete confusion. On the perfect night they become one and deliver each other from the confines of humanity.

Needless to say, the Yard Dogs Road Show is a collaboration.

What’s your favorite part of the show?

I am not allowed to say. The question is far too complicated. Some would say there are no favorite parts. I have my own. Anything that tells a story about real life - placed in a fairy tale - allowed to grow at it’s own pace. Then radically transformed into a living representation - the life of a troubadour - traveling through the charcoal remains of American culture. Our society is comprised of honey and bread - prosperity and ingenuity, colliding. We need to pay witness. We all need to travel through it - laugh a little - express ourselves. But never deny, or have apathy for, the terrain.

Tobias, the sword-swallowing member of Yard Dogs Road Show, does a magic trick in which he makes a chicken appear. What’s it like taking a domestic fowl on the road?

Her name is Josephine Baker. She has been with us since she was a chick. She lives most of her life out in the country in Northern California. We take her on trips and she basically lives like one of us. She likes the stage. She’s a chicken and chickens do funny things.

Some elements of Yard Dog performances seem to have been inspired by America’s seedy underbelly. Are there ever strong reactions to your performances from people who just don’t get it and how do you deal with them?

Those who don’t get it in this way or who may be offended by it are usually thrill seekers who have not found their thrill. They seem disoriented, almost drunk from their own assumption of what they think life should be. They have crawled into the cannon without lighting the fuse. And have been sitting there for far too long. Funny thing is, they want to join the circus. But the circus is "dumb" - it’s no way to live. So they make trouble instead, sit on the sidelines having sex with magazines and drinking far too many energy drinks.

Where do you see Yard Dogs Road Show five years from now and what will your role be?

Traveling the world in a hot air balloon. All the cities in America will be exactly what New Orleans used to be. We will be living in a modern world that is sustainable, smells good and is filled with one eyed cats. The Yard Dogs will be part of larger network of NEW Vaudeville. The theaters will support it. The promoters will support it. People will be driving spaceships. There will be enough water backstage. No one will be mad at me. I will have another book done. Everyone I work with will be content at having reached their goals and the people we perform for will benefit from this sense of well being.