Baxtalo Drom (The Lucky Road Show) was a gypsy punk cabaret featuring brass, banjo & accordion music, Middle Eastern dance, and circus acts. Held monthly at Amnesia; a charming, dimly lit beer & wine venue in the heart of the Mission district. The popular event was a community hub, and a champion of San Francisco’s underground art & performance scene. Between 2007 - 2012, I produced this event with my four lady team; bringing local and traveling talent to our stage.
How I helped
Created the copy that branded our event, pitched our performers, and crafted the mood of our rotating monthly themes.
Wrote all email correspondences between production team and performers; getting performers excited about doing our show.
Managed the content of our social media pages. Grew our community support online with my grassroots efforts.
Generated concepts and pitched theme ideas to crew. This was vital for developing our signature brand aesthetic, and set us a part from competition.
Below are writing samples of my work on that production.
Flyer by Sarah Mockus
We've got clowns with curves, dancing ladies with nerve, and music men with swerve!
Once again Baxtalo Drom's gypsy caravan has traveled over deserts, mountains, and seas to peddle an eclectic sampling of obscure trinkets and treasures for you. So stick a coin in your purse, a flower in your hat, and come enjoy and night of buxom baubles and tasty trifles!
Shaking the floorboards loose…
DJ DELACHAUX -- Cranking up his victrola! This astro-surgeon weaves together a saucy sampling of glitchy mambo, torch-lit tweek-easy, and electro swing steam-crunk!
As always we'll be serving it up with intimate performances all night long. So come early and stay late! Dress tight and get loose. And try your luck at the Lucky Road Show; where fortunes and told and made!
Flyer by Sarah Mockus
Join our wagon train! Get ready for a little slice of Americana, and a sliver of slither!
This Month Baxtalo Drom -The Lucky Road Show rides the rattle of a snake, like a tumbleweed across the plains!
Featuring…
MOLOTOV! — Infused with the venom of 10,000 snakes! He'll swallow swords, and bite whomever comes too close to the stage!
SHOVELMAN -- We welcome back our favorite junkyard beatnik; a shovel guitar wielding surrealist folk superhero, and one man band!
DJ DELACHAUX!! Mixing up eclectic cocktail sets that swirl everything from Weimar Berlin and brassy beatnik, to torch-lit tiki and retro-atomic go-go. Mixing festive cine-sexy melodies with infectiously slick beats,
Flyer by Sarah Mockus
A wild wind is stirring, and something wicked, wacky, and wunderbar this way comes!
Baxtalo Drom -The Lucky Road Show is throwing a weather vein atop our gypsy tent, and inviting you to join us for an electrifying night of Oriental dance, cabaret quirkiness, and black water blues!
Musical Acts....
RAGWATER REVUE! —
Like an escapee from a secret shadow lab; where 1930s sideshow girls, ‘40s film-noir dames, and '50s rockabilly queens were genetically blended. Lady Viola and Ragwater Revue play spookabilly and country blues for an accursed roadhouse from another time and place.
.Rattling the floorboards!
DJ Alxndr -- This Mixaholic is serving up his special blend of "World Crunk", straight up!
It was also my job to provide a fanciful name suited to each months theme; inspired by the lore of life imagined on the dusty road.
Flyer by Sarah Mockus
Come sip a spirit from a martini glass, and enjoy a night of glamor, electro swing, and saucy cabaret show tunes!
This month, your favorite little gypsy party trades in our dusty fedora for top hat, tails, and the twinkling ivories of a prohibition era speakeasy.
Featuring!
MC VEGAS TRIP — Our favorite clown, life coach ventriloquist, personal spatial engineer, fern polisher, and brass ring-a-ding-dinger!
Shaking the floorboards loose!
SLIM JENKINS - Dark swing, voodoo blues and the dirtiest swamp belly R&B around.
Rattling the tin roof!
MAX PASHM - Here from London! The ‘King of Falafel Techno’ is back! bringing his highly danceable Balkan Beats, Electro Swing, and Klezmer Breaks to Baxtalo Drom! And he raps.... you've gotta see this!
Results
Relying heavily on grassroots efforts, word of mouth, and the promotional materials I penned, we were able to create a profitable monthly event that ran for over 7 years.
Helped increase visibility for up and coming performers.
Provided opportunities for traveling artists to come to SF to perform.
Created more visibility for Middle Eastern dance.
Functioned as the premiere SF venue for enjoying Balkan, Gypsy Punk, World Folk, and eclectic Americana music.
Inspired imitation nights in the years following our inception.