If you appreciate the bizarre and the subversive as much as I do, The Yard Dogs Road Show will most certainly titillate your freaky obsessions with a visual spectacle that is edgy, funny and surprisingly unpredictable. Like the Seattle-based Circus Contraption’s Grand American Traveling Dime Museum, the San Francisco troupe combine cabaret, vaudeville and music that caters to those who crave the absurd, as they take you on a strange journey through a part of history that may or may not have existed. The story of sword swallowers, dancing dolls, fire eaters and sunset hobo poetry is self-described as a modern hobohemian sonic journey.  The wickedly outrageous characterizations that grace the stage are accompanied by the live vaudevillian music of the Yard Dogs band.  While the origins of the show are shrouded in mystery and there are many theories of what/how/when started the carnival side show, one thing is for certain: if you are seeking an experience you will remember for years to come, the Yard Dogs Road Show will embed itself in your memory and creep into your dreams as you relive the show over and over in your mind. — Tony Engelhart

[Capitol Theater, with Femme Fabrique dance troupe, Monday, May 7, 8 p.m., all ages, $12-$15, 206 Fifth Ave E, Olympia, www.buyolympia.com]