Back in April, the Copenhagen Phil orchestra surprised commuters with a classical concert on a Copenhagen metro train. Amazingly, the crisp audio in the video was actually recorded on the train. The surprise performance was produced in collaboration with Danish radio station RadioKlassik.

Thanks to Morten Legarth for the tip!

Now in its 13th year, the How Weird Street Faire returns with the theme of “Time” and brings live music and performances to the streets of San Francisco. The event takes place in downtown San Francisco (entrance at Howard & New Montgomery Streets) on Sunday May 13, 2012. The Faire is a project of, and fundraiser for, the local non-profit World Peace Through Technology Organization.

The 13th annual How Weird Street Faire will have 13 stages of world-class music and performances spread throughout 13 city blocks. This year’s theme is Time, in honor of 2012. Come join thousands of people in colorful costumes, as we celebrate peace and the 13 moons we’ve all been waiting for. All ages are welcome. Costumes are highly encouraged.

New this year is a performance stage hosted by members of Vau de Vire Society, a Beat Box Poetry stage on Natoma Street, and an entire alley of live and exhibited art on Minna Street.

poster art by Brad Olsen and digibob

The annual Lightning in a Bottle festival celebrates art, music, performance, sustainability and life. It takes place May 24-28, 2012 at the Oak Canyon Ranch in Silverado, California. The full 2012 music lineup features musical acts such as Bassnectar, The Glitch Mob and many more. Tickets are available now.

I happened to be in San Francisco last weekend which was fortunate, because there was Lost Horizon Night Market on Saturday, April 21st. It’s an event that first started in Brooklyn a few years ago and has since taken place a few times in the Bay Area. Lost Horizon Night Market is a secret, word-of-mouth participatory event featuring a series of box trucks parked along the street stretching for several of blocks, where each truck has a unique theme that is revealed once you part the curtains and enter the truck. Here are some photos I shot at Lost Horizon Night Market San Francisco.

One of my favorite trucks was The Lebowski Moving Company Bowling Alley Truck, a fully functional bowling alley inside of a semi-trailer truck. A person is at the end of the alley who resets the pins and returns the bowling ball.

Photo Gallery: Lost Horizon Night Market San Francisco

photos by Scott Beale

Little Girl Giant

French street theatre company Royal de Luxe brought three giant marionettes to participate in Liverpool’s Sea Odyssey Giant Spectacular. The show was performed in the streets of Liverpool on April 20-22, 2012 and was part of the city’s centenary commemoration of the Titanic disaster. In 2009, the same puppets performed collectively in “La Géante du Titanic et le Scaphandrier” in Nantes, France.

Sea Odyssey is a magical tale of love, loss and reunion played out on a gigantic scale. It will take place in key city spaces, moving across North Liverpool and the city centre, wowing the hundreds of thousands of people who are expected to descend on the city over the three days.

photos by Claire Trish and sw77

Canada-based student Chris aka Blimp01 has posted a video of himself doing random backflips in unexpected locations. He’s also posted an extras and outtakes video.

I got bored so i did some backflips to see how people would react. Many different locations including libraries, malls, outdoors, schools, and class rooms.

via Viral Viral Videos

The Steampunk World’s Fair 2012 is the world’s largest steampunk festival featuring live performances, absinthe tasting, merchant booths and more. It happens May 18 through May 20, 2012 in Piscataway, New Jersey at the Radisson and Embassy Suites hotels. Tickets are on sale now.

At The Steampunk World’s Fair you’ll find more performers and shows than ANYWHERE in the Steampunk nation… All in a friendly, welcoming festival atmosphere!

Whether you’re a curious new-comer or a time-travelling veteran of the Steampunk Nation, we invite you to experience this non-stop extravaganza – an incredible Steampunk event, unmatched in the United States!

Steampunk World’s Fair 2011 photos by ziv_kitaro

The Edwardian Ball is a “festival of art, music, dance, theatre, technology, fashion, libations, vending, oddities, and, of course, the art & stories of Edward Gorey.” The 2012 Edwardian Ball Los Angeles, themed “The Iron Tonic”, takes place at The Belasco Theater on Sunday February 19, 2012 from 7 PM to 2 AM. Tickets are now available. The event is co-hosted by Rosin Coven and the Vau de Vire Society.

Back by popular demand, we happily travel south for the winter once again for our third installation of The Edwardian Ball Los Angeles! We have found a new home, against many an odd, at the beautiful, historic Belasco Theater in Downtown LA. This jaw-droppingly beautiful venue has a myriad of rooms and environments, including a plush cabaret ballroom, two outdoor patios, and plenty of room to install artifacts from our Museum of Wonders and of course, our famous Vendor Bazaar and Gaming Parlour.

Mark Day made this short film about the 2012 Edwardian Ball in San Francisco:

2011 Edwardian Ball photos by Curious Josh

The newly released Improv Everywhere, Volume 4 DVD includes every prank, flash mob, and work of street theater by Improv Everywhere from 2009 to 2011.

Improv Everywhere Volume 4 features all of the missions from the last three years. See all of our new videos in DVD quality, along with commentary tracks, and special features. Hours of footage!

Last December Al Jaffee, the 90 year old creator of the Mad Magazine fold-in, performed his first-ever live reading from “Snappy Answers to Stupid Questions,” another long-running Mad feature (video). The reading occurred at HEEB Storytelling: Lives Comics Edition at Joe’s Pub in New York City, hosted by HEEB Magazine.

This year Jaffee released a compendium of 410 Mad Magazine fold-ins, and was interviewed by Upright Citizens Brigade.

Thanks to Jeff Newelt for the tip!

photo by Seth Kushner

Aung Zaw-Oo (AKO) is back with his 2011 showreel featuring him performing incredible stunts and tricks.

See Previously: AZO Showreel 2010, Amazing Stunts and Tricks by Aung Zaw Oo

via The Awesomer

“The Narrative of Victor Karloch” by special effects artist Kevin McTurk is a combined film and puppet theater live performance about a Victorian ghost hunter (trailer). The production features 30 inch tall banraku-style rod puppets, a variety of digital, analog, and live special effects, and music by Zoë Keating. The production will appear at the 2012 Heather Henson Presents: Handmade Puppet Dreams.

images via Kevin McTurk/Spirit Cabinet Productions

Japanese performance artist Kenichi Kanazawa taps a rubber mallet on a steel table to make sound vibrations that create beautiful transforming sand patterns. Using a scientific sound-visualizing process called Cymatics, he is able to manipulate the complex sand shapes by making frequencies visible through these vibrations: the higher the frequency, the more complex the design.

via The Awesomer and Gakken

In July 2011, aerialist Seanna Sharpe performed on a “double-silk cloud swing” 285 feet above New York City’s Williamsburg Bridge during rush hour train traffic. Filmmaker Ronen Verbit captured her high-flying act along with her subsequent arrest and created a video merging the crowd’s footage with his own.

Romanian-born Ioan Veniamin Oprea created a very unique one-person act in the shape of a rainbow Human Slinky costume. The costume, and a five-year contract to perform in it, is currently for sale on Ebay for $1 million dollars with the tagline: “The stuff that nightmares are made of”.

The most unusual, astonishing, unique and creative act of its kind in the world to have graced these pages…Almost beyond description. People ask….what is it? What are we watching?….Absolutely fascinating to say the least… People everywhere are completely astonished and baffled at the act… Veniamin’s his name…comes from Romania and live in Orlando Florida. With appearances on TV Shows all over the World and mystifying audiences everywhere you just have to see him perform….

via Doobybrain.com

image via Veniamin Shows

Mark Day shot video of Sterling Johnson, The Bubblesmith performing on the Dark Kabaret at Masquerotica last Saturday in San Francisco.

Beatboxer Darren Foreman aka Beardyman performing at this year’s Just For Laughs Festival Festival in Montreal.

Here’s a series of Beardyman “Unshaved” performances at Udderbelly.

In May Beardyman made his US television debut on Conan.

Beardyman recently released his latest album I Done A Album.

Being Elmo: A Puppeteer’s Journey is an inspiring documentary film that follows master puppeteer Kevin Clash, the man behind beloved Sesame Street red monster character Elmo. The film was directed and produced by independent documentary filmmaker Constance Marks and has started playing in theatres.

Beloved by children of all ages around the world, Elmo is an international icon. Few people know his creator, Kevin Clash, who dreamed of working with his idol, master puppeteer Jim Henson. Displaying his creativity and talent at a young age, Kevin ultimately found a home on Sesame Street. Narrated by Whoopi Goldberg, this documentary includes rare archival footage, interviews with Frank Oz, Rosie O’Donnell, Cheryl Henson, Joan Ganz Cooney and others and offers a behind-the-scenes look at Sesame Street and the Jim Henson Workshop.

David Bowie Enters the Andromeda Galaxy, the latest video by the San Francisco sketch comedy group Killing My Lobster, who by the way are looking for help raising money for a new home in San Francisco.

Killing My Lobster has finally found the perfect location to build a premier theater space. A project which brings to an end 15 years of wandering from theater rental to theater rental. The space resides in the heart of San Francisco’s Mission district on 24th and Mission St.

The new venue would be a creative hub to hundreds of artists including actors, writers, choreographers, musicians, stand-up comedians and whoever else requires a theater for their production. Killing My Lobster also needs a versatile work space to allow them to expand the classes they make available to the community.

“Speakeasy Dollhouse” is an elaborate project by Cynthia von Buhler that tells the story of her grandfather’s unsolved Depression era murder in New York City, using dolls and dioramas to recreate the circumstances of his death. “Speakeasy Dollhouse” will be released in October as both a book and play. Von Buhler is raising funds for the project on Kickstarter.

SPEAKEASY DOLLHOUSE is a biographical tale of murder, mafia, and intrigue in New York City told with handmade dolls and sets, in conjunction with an immersive play.

via Gothamist

photos by Cynthia von Buhler

Here are a few photos from Wednesday’s 4chan Variety Show at Housing Works in SoHo. The event was in celebration of the release Epic Win for Anonymous: How 4chan’s Army Conquered the Web by Cole Stryker (see previous post).

Photo Gallery: 4chan Variety Show

The Conjuring Arts Research Center is a research library in New York City dedicated to performance magic in its many forms. In addition to its collection of 12,000 rare books on magic, the center teaches magic tricks to schoolchildren with its Hocus Pocus program. Cool Hunting recently visited the center and interviewed its founder, Bill Kalush (video).

Nestled in a hidden location in midtown Manhattan, the Counjuring Arts Research Center is ground zero for illusionists and historians alike. The Center provides a range of services, publishes scholarly journals, and teaches hospital-bound kids magic through its Hocus Pocus program. It is perhaps best known as home to one of the largest known collections of historic books, letters, and other media, which the center makes available online.

via Cool Hunting

Brooklyn Spaces is a wonderful online running compendium focusing on Brooklyn culture and creativity. Oriana Leckert started Brooklyn Spaces as a way to profile the “unique, weird and fascinating places” located in Brooklyn, New York. Some recent posts include interesting, in-depth profiles on small businesses and collectives like Breuckelen Distilling Company, the Metropolis Soap Company and The Schoolhouse.

photos by Maximus Comissar

poster by Molly Crabapple

Gemini and Scorpio present The Black & White & Red All Over Ball, a 4th birthday and fundraiser for Coilhouse Magazine, takes place August 21 at Red Lotus Room in Crown Heights, Brooklyn. Laughing Squid guest blogger SF Slim is the evening’s Master of Ceremonies who will be introducing an amazing selection of music and performances.

Inclusive and elegant, weird and sincere, Coilhouse Magazine is “A Love Letter to Alternative Culture.” For four full years –both as a high gloss print publication and a daily-updated website– Coilhouse has served as a vibrant international hub for DIY expression and outrageous bohemian creativity. This will be the first full-fledged Coilhouse party in three years, the first NYC event in Coilhouse history, and an official birthday celebration.

Enter into a secret lush cabaret room deep in the heart of Brooklyn, to revel in live music, dance and circus performances and dance to rollicking sets from DJ luminaries. Aerialists…fire…projections… dadaist spectacle…surprises galore. Bid on silent auction items donated by Diamanda Galas, Molly Crabapple, Jessica Joslin, Paul Komoda, Jason Levesque & Xeni Jardin, Century Guild, Disinfo, PUREVILE!, Kate O’Brien, Nicole Aptekar, and Asha Beta: a splendid array of autographed prints and books, and one-of-a-kind art objects, as well as a full set of the out-of-print, highly collectible back-issues of Coilhouse. Plus, the first glimpse of Coilhouse Issue Six, and an opportunity to pre-order it at a discount.

“Let Me Tell You About The Dream I Had” is an extensive exhibition by art collective Miss Rockaway Armada, currently nearing completion at the Philadelphia Art Alliance. The exhibition will feature a flotilla of floating sculptures on the Schuylkill River, two parades, musical and theatrical performances, a bicycle-powered ferris wheel by Paul the Plumber of Cyclecide, as well as art installations at the Art Alliance gallery. The Armada has a history of making nautical art pieces, starting with a convoy of raft sculptures that floated down the Mississippi in 2006.

“Let Me Tell You About The Dream I Had” premieres on August 20 with a flotilla and performance on the Schuylkill River, at the Walnut Street Dock in Philadelphia.

photo by Tod Seelie