Cirque Berzerk

In the last three years, RJ and I have been to quite a few circuses - there was the Genoa family circus, Barnum and Bailey's, and two Cirque de Soleil shows...the terrible Criss Angel Believe, and some other mediocre production here in Cali at the Colosseum.

Overall, I would say we've been exposed to the full gamut. From a small mom and pop affair, to the extravagance of a Cirque show.

We've not been overly impressed by any.

For our Fourth of July, we wanted to get out and see fireworks, but neither of us wanted to cope with traffic or crowds. As RJ's crazy night/weekend schedule starts tonight, we opted out of bbq's to spend some quality date time together.

While searching around for fireworks, we stumbled on reviews for Cirque Berzerk. Hunh. It looked intriguing, but more importantly, the downtown location would give us the perfect vantage to view the Pasadena Rose Bowl and the Colosseum fireworks.

We weren't expecting too much out of the actual performance. I mean it's a one tent circus, and definitely kind of rinky dink.

The old adage 'appearances are deceiving' applies here. I spent the whole night exclaiming 'Wow' and 'Holy crap' and 'How the fuck do they DO that.'

It was great. A combination of cabaret, modern and classic dance, trapeze, rings and acrobatics. All with a strong goth-y cyberpunk vibe. Truly enjoyable.

In the hospitality area, Vaud and the Villains, a more than 16 piece band played for a couple of hours following the show, a stellar soundtrack to the fireworks going off in every direction!

We decided to cap the night with a cocktail, and headed over to check out Seven Grand, downtown. A modern 'old fashioned' whiskey bar, complete with wood paneling, Billie Holiday on the Jukebox, and ten year Talisker.

As RJ twirled me around the bar to Billie's crooning, much to the amusement of other bar patrons, I couldn't help but grin from ear to ear...what a great holiday.