Hollie Stevens on the road again - with her clown army!

The Transworld HCP (Halloween, Costume & Party) Show

Followed By The Odditoriuam's Shockstar Spectacular

Las Vegas, Nevada March 18th and 19th The Transworld HCP (Halloween, Costume & Party) Show Followed By The Odditoriuam's Shockstar Spectacular Photos by Mark K Hollinger Photography

I woke up at 6am to get ready for my flight to Vegas. I have no idea what I was thinking to choose that early of a flight and why I would even consider myself that responsible of a person to be waking up that early but somehow, I did. The only problem, I didn’t set my alarm early enough so I missed my flight anyway. I had several hours till the next flight out to Vegas so I took the subway back home and slept for another couple of hours before I was off to the airport again. I was dead tired. The constant interruptions during my short naps were wearing me down. As soon as I got on the plane I ordered a cocktail. The only thing that may make me feel somewhat human again. The plane I flew on would only allow anyone who wanted to by alcohol was required charge it off of their fancy computer system located on the back of every flight chair. Mine was broken so my vodka was free. A sign that my day would only get better from there? Of course not.

I get off the plane and head for the ATM for some cash for the cab only to find out that my account was frozen. Luckily the carnies were close enough to the airport when I called for them to be nice enough to pick me up.

We go from there to some warehouse to pick up gear for Kelvikta's (aka Kelvikta "the blade") hook suspension act for the next evening’s sideshow performance. Sleaz0 The Clown and I stood around in the warehouse parking lot smoking cigarettes and catching up for about forty minutes while my phone was blowing up. It was Robert Rhine the Editor and Chief of Girls and Corpses Magazine. Every ten minutes. He was as the convention and was loosing patience walking around by himself. We finally leave the warehouse and head over to the Sands Convention Center where he was waiting. We get to the parking lot and I’m handed a bunch of flyers for tomorrow nights event while watching Andrew S. and Sleaz0, outside of the car, change into their sideshow attire to hand out the flyers. I hate handing out flyers. Just holding the stack that they gave me made me feel uneasy. We walked through the Venetion while my phone continued to go off. I told the boys that I’d meet them out side of the convention center after I got my press badge, met up with Robert and flyered the inside of the convention center. We split up and somehow, between the tourists, food courts, and gondola rides, I got lost. After fifteen minutes of asking to be put in the appropriate direction of the convention center, I finally made it with half an hour of the show left to spare.

Robert began dragging me around to what he thought were the best booths. The convention was huge. He thought he was taking a short cut to get to the good animatronic booths but somehow ended up in the costume section that was full of mannequins and models who shared the same characteristics. I have a serious phobia when it comes to mannequins. Robert was not aware of this up until this point and of course, began trying to drag me though the costume isles. I did not take to kindly to this. His deceitful tricks didn’t work to well on me either. I looked like a little kid throwing a temper tantrum in the middle of a department store.

We finally get to the animatronic section and my head is pounding. I’ve hardly had any sleep and things keep shrieking and jumping out at me. It was awkward and Robert kept pressing all of the buttons so the creepy robots would continue screaming and jumping around at every booth. We handed out flyers and I stumbled across a posse of familiar clown folk. “Hey, It’s my girlfriend!!” one of the clowns shouts and before I knew it, I was attacked for photos. It looked like some psycho carnival gangbang. I felt like I was drowning in neon hair, paint and squeaky toys. I needed way more sleep than what I had to be able to deal with this degree of chaos. I apologized to them for my lack of sleep and enthusiasm and quickly split the scene.

Robert and I met up with the carnies who were still flyering outside of the convention center. We quickly packed up and headed out for a relaxing dinner which consisted of Thai and beer. After dinner we went to a tattoo shop to say hello to some people that the carnies were friends with. Once we finished checking out that scene, we got back in the car and noticed that a cop car was tailing us. They eventually found something to pull us over with (the back license plate light was broken) and grabbed all of our ID’s. This made me nervous because I have warrants and really didn’t want to go to jail in Vegas. By some miracle we all checked out and that’s when Robert and I made the decision to head to the hotel so I could finally drop off my luggage, shower off the filth from the entire day and do some gambling!! The gambling part wasn’t too exciting though. We ended up a little over even and I was chugging as many free rum and cokes as possible before we finally decided to head to the rooms and get some sleep for day two.

Next day, we grabbed some lunch and headed back to the convention center. I still didn’t feel too well rested but I was a lot better off than the day before. We walked around for several hours, passing out more flyers and looking at all of the insane Halloween prosthetics and animatronics. The best thing about the convention was a large dark room dedicated to all of the insane props. It really felt like you were walking through a haunted house. Well, with the exception of everyone one in badges commenting on how amazing some of the pieces were. It was fun though; everything in the room was jumping out and screaming or barking at the convention goers.

After that, it was time to head back to the hotel so I could change into my clown attire for the sideshow event. It was great leaving the casino considering we were staying at Circus Circus. I was walking around like, well, what would appear as the fem-clown version of Slash. A few kids cried while other starred. We get to the club and I began to set up my video mixing gear. Once that was finished, I was missing a few parts for my set and had to head to Fry’s to pick up the rest of the necessary parts. Miss Pirate gave me a ride and Robert tagged along. Between a crazy pirate and clown, it was difficult to get service in that place but we eventually got what we needed and headed back. The carnies were still setting up, mainly for Kelvikta’s suspension set and Sleaz0’s knife throwing set.

10:15pm rolled around and the show began. Swing Shift Sideshow was up first. Sleaz0 played the ever so talented MC as Andrew S. and Kelvikta swallowed swords. Miss Pirate was introduced for the first time by eating light bulbs and having her head smashed into broken glass. Andrew S. shoved skewers through his bicep and Kelvikta lit a cigarette off of sparks from a grinder. Chris Twist (aka Mr. Mantis) performed a brain bending set of acrobatic balancing, contorting, and convulsing. His act included some impressive one-hand balancing and was accompanied by a twitchy industrial soundtrack he composed himself. Sleaz0 was up next by hitting the bed of nails while Miss Pirate and I jumped on top of him. It was also the first time that Sleaz0 threw knives on stage. Miss Pirate was his assistant. I’m sure I’m leaving some other acts out right now so, my apologies. Either way, it was damn impressive.

Next up on the line up was the zombie vs. clown women’s slime wrestling. The beautiful Amazonian fire breathing goddess Jenn O. Cide refereed. I was the only clown against the zombies. I won the lightweight division but immediately had to go against the winner of the heavyweight division. Needless to say, I was tired by that point and couldn’t even put up a fight against the 200+ zombie.

Once that mess was cleaned up, the band Horror Business, a Misfits tribute, came out for a set. At this point I was in the dressing room showering up (Miss Pirate joined me) from the wrestling and throwing white paint all over my body for the grand finale of Kelvikta’s suspension set. Once painted, I made my way out where Robert had his Girls and Corpses booth set up. I immediately notice a very drunk girl running towards me and trying to give me hugs. I thought she may have been a friend of somebody’s who was sitting around the booth so I was trying to be polite. I went to sit down and this girl was right on top of me screaming like it was spring break. She bought me a few shots so I put up with it for a bit while Robert took photos in glee. When she finally left to pee after having me promise for ten minutes that I wouldn’t go anywhere, quickly investigated the situation and soon learned that everyone who was hanging out in that area had no idea who she was and told me that I should stop being so nice to her. I get up and make a run for the dressing room. I hid there during the rest of the Horror Businesses set. I told the fellow performers my tales of the extremely drunk woman and stories begin to exchange. Before I knew it, I hear a very drunk girl shouting my name coming closer and closer towards the dressing room. She suddenly appears “Where’s my Hollie!” She slurs. Miss Pirate then stands up “I’m Hollie. What the fuck are you doing back here?” Pirate gets her out and proceeds to say things to her that I cannot hear. I was just relieved that I didn’t have to deal with anymore of that insanity. A few minutes later, Miss Pirate comes back and I find out that the girl was placed next to the doorman with a glass of water and some tissues. She had began crying hysterically.

Time for the final act. Kelvikta gets hooked up to the suspension rig. Miss Pirate and I come on stage painted from head to toe in white with matching veils dancing around like crazed woman. Jenn O. Cide then appears on stage covered in black paint breathing fire next to Kelvikta, as she is suspended and twirling around with hooks deep in her flesh. It was quite the set. My sideshow friends never cease to amaze me as far as their limits and artistic abilities. Vegas was quite the hectic two-day trip but it was well worth it. Anytime I can see my friends and am able to be involved with whatever they’re working on is something that would be hard for me to turn down. Especially when a Halloween convention is going on! Hopefully the Sideshow gang will make a yearly event out of this. If you ever make it to Vegas, be sure to look them up. They’re not your typical Vegas Strip show. Fuck Danny Gans!!

For Info On: HCP Show http://www.hcpshow.com/

Swing Shift Sideshow http://www.swingshiftsideshow.com/

Girls And Corpses Magazine http://girlsandcorpses.com/

Sweet babes no doubt!