Making Halloween Haunt History

It is official, Zamora the Torture King will NOT be at Knott's Halloween Haunt this year; in fact, they have cut ALL the shows except for the big 2, The Hanging and Elvira's show at The Charles Schultz Theater.

The Los Angeles Times reported “Haunt has severely pared back its show offerings... with only the perennial pop culture evisceration of “The Hanging” and the campy song and dance of “Elvira’s Big Top" returning for 2014." (emphasis added)  Los Angeles Times Aug. 7, 2014 “Knott's Unveils...”

 Zamora first showed up at Knott's Scary Farm way back in 1996, appearing on a very small stage set up on the streets of “Camp Spooky,” or The Gauntlet Scare Zone as it was called during the haunt. He did not expect to be a part of Haunt for more than a few years but they hired him back, year after year, until he became a Knott's Halloween Haunt tradition.

 Zamora's 17 seasons in a row are the longest run of shows of any entertainer at The Haunt ever. This was confirmed by Ted Dougherty, author of the definitive book, Knott's Halloween Haunt: A Picture History. In a recent email he confirmed that Zamora's 17 year successive run beats even Haunt mainstay Elvira, saying “...if your records show you were at Knott's 17 consecutive seasons, you definitely have Elvira beat..” and “...I think you're safe in making a statement on your website as 'Performer with the longest uninterrupted run of years for a stage attraction at Knott's Scary Farm.'"

In those 17 years Zamora performing on almost every stage at Knott's. It was a good run and fun time. This leaves Zamora open for bookings at other venues and events for the Halloween season. It would be good to be back at Knott's, so if you would like to see the return of Zamora, or any of the other performers and shows that have been a part of the Haunt, a good way to let them know is to post on The Haunt's official Facebook page... but please post nicely and politely. This is the best way to let Knott's know that you like the traditions that made Knott's Halloween Haunt what it is, the first and the biggest Halloween scream park in the world. The Knott's Halloween Haunt Facebook page is
https://www.facebook.com/KnottsScaryFarm

  What follows is a listing of all of the shows and stages that Zamora has done at Knott's over the years, all recreated by searching email and Internet archives. The list will be improved, with attention to official show names and other details, and updated. Interspersed in the list are photos links and videos relating to the show by year. Every effort is made to credit the photos to the photographers. If you have any details or photos to add please send them Zamora at ZamoraKing@aol.com .

1996: Gauntlet Streets w/ co-performer The Impervious Aziza (Year 1)

From James Taylor's Shocked and Amazed

Click Here for James Taylor's Shocked and Amazed

1997: Gauntlet Camp Snoopy Animal Stage w/ co-performer contortionist Nancy Luna (Year 2)

Higley, Doug Higley, Nancy Luna and Zamora TK

1998: Gauntlet Streets w/ co-performer Rubber Boy. (Year 3)

1999: Festival of Freaks Gauntlet Streets  w/ co-performer Rubber Boy (Year 4)

Photos by Stephanie E. Jennings Photography Oct. 31, 1999

2000: The Bird Cage Theater w/ co-performer Rubber Boy (Year 5)

Knott's feral cat backstage at The Birdcage Theater

2001: Boardwalk Ballroom     w/ co-performer George the Giant (Year 6)

2002: Zamora's Sideshow of the Bizarre at The Wagon Camp Stage and The Boardwalk Ballroom with co-performer Zandrini (George the Giant) and Morgana (little person assistant). (Year 7)

2003: Gauntlet Camp Snoopy Outdoor Theater w/ co-performer Miss Electra (Year 8)

2004: Gauntlet Camp Snoopy Outdoor Theater w/ co-performer Miss Electra (Year 9)

2005: Gauntlet Camp Snoopy Outdoor Theater w/ co-performer Miss Electra (Year 10)

Photo by Brent Turner

2006: Zamora’s Sideshow of The Bizarre Gauntlet Camp Snoopy Outdoor Theater w/ co-performer Miss Electra (Year 11)

Click to see Sideshow World's Coverage of  Zamora at Knott's 2007

2007: Zamora's Sideshow of the Bizarre Gauntlet Camp Snoopy Outdoor Theater w/ co-performer Miss Electra (Year 12)

2008: Zamora's Sideshow of the Bizarre Gauntlet Camp Snoopy Outdoor Theater w/ co-performer Miss Electra (Year 13)

2009: Zamora’s Sideshow of the Bizarre at The Cloud Nine Theater w/ co-performer Kitty Karloff (Year 14)

Photo from Theme Park Review

2010: Zamora's Sideshow of the Bizarre Outside on small stage near The Perilous Plunge assisted by Cheyenne (Year 15)

2011: Zamora’s Sideshow of The Bizarre (“Zamora’s Sideshow of Horrors”?) at The Cloud Nine Theater w/ co-performer Kitty Karloff (Year 16)

2012: Zamora’s Sideshow of Torture at The Birdcage Theater w/ Dr. Odd (Mike Odd) (Year 17)

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 Tim Cridland / Zamora TK

 www.astoundingshow.com

323-366-9539 voicemail

ZamoraKing@aol.com

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Help support live entertainment and help keep the Zamora on the road and entertaining people. If you have seen Zamora's show and would like to through a something into the virtual tip jar, make a donation of your choosing with the button below.

Zamora on Man vs Weird on UK TV Channel 4

The UK TV programme Man vs Weird finally aired on Channel 4 in The UK in May.
The show underwent several changes impending air dates and even a change in the title. The Daily Mail  had announced that the show would air in “probably April” with the name Miracle Hunter, its original title. Zamora's segment in in the second episode which is titled Superhuman Strength.

The show traveled around the world and searched for people who have, or claim to have, remarkable powers.

Simon Farnarby in front of The Onyx Theater in Las Vegas

The second episode featured a segment on Zamora and Zamora's Sideshow and included a live show that was filmed last July at The Onyx Theater in Las Vegas' infamous Commercial Center.
Simon Farnarby, the show's presenter had some flattering things to say such as “Zamora is a legendary entertainer who can withstand extraordinary leaves of pain and he has a bewitching power over his audience.”

Zamora freaking out Farnarby

 



After seeing the show Farnarby said “That was astonishing, bizarre, outrageous...”

fMRI of Zamora being put in pain.

There was also a section of a meeting with Simon, Zamora and Dr. Joshua Prager from the UCLA Pain Medicine Center. Dr. Prager has previously studied  the pain control abilities of Zamora, or Tim Cridland as Dr. Prager knows him in his clinic. This is detailed in a previous blog posting HERE.
Dr. Prager brought along functional MRI brains scans that had been done during a previous study of Zamora/Tim Cridland. Dr. Prager explained how the  brain scans show that the part of Zamora/Cridland's brain feels pain normally, but the part of brain that reacts to pain is made dormant. The interview was quite interesting and extensive and unfortunately time constraint only allowed a small portion of it to be aired.

Farnarby, Cridland (Zamora) and Dr. Prager

 When asked about Zamora's pain control Dr. Prager said “Clearly he has a special ability” “...what Tim can do is he can accurately turn off the suffering by getting himself into a certain state. So that even though we see that that pain information is getting right to the place where you feel it, the whole experience of the suffering, hurting, gets turned off. So he doesn't hurt, so he can take as much pain as he wants.”

Another view of a fMRI of Cridland (Zamora) taking pain in the brain.

“Tim, you might say, is the world champion of internal pain-control.”
We will attempt to copy of the unedited interview and will transcribe it and post it at a later date.

At the end of the series Farnarby put Zamora in the category of the truly puzzling saying “Some of what I've seen has totally baffled my rational mind. Like the extraordinary people born with bizarre powers.”  Of which he includes “ ...Zamora The Pain King. ...born with genuine abilities beyond the reach or the desire of most of us.”

The show Man vs Weird has been  viewable on to people in The UK on Channel 4's Video on Demand service which can be found here: http://www.channel4.com/programmes/man-vs-weird/4od Information about the series can be found here:
http://www.channel4.com/programmes/man-vs-weird

But what about the rest of the world? How can you see it.? A version has appeared on YouTube. There is no guarantee that it will remain there show watch it right now while you still can. The segment on Zamora and Tim Cridland starts about 24 minutes in. Man vs Weird Episode 2: Superhuman Strength

Contact Tim Cridland at ZamoraKing@aol.com

Tim Cridland's web site is www.astoundingshow.com

Interview from 2006

A blast from the past.... this interview appeared in The Charleston Gazette in 2006
       
Q. What is your skill?
       
A. I am called The Torture King. That's the traditional sideshow title for people that do what I do. I do things like laying on sharp objects with people standing on top or breaking objects on top of me and putting sharp wires through my body - not just through the skin, but all the way through muscle. I do very extreme demonstrations. I have a skewer going into my mouth and going out underneath my jaw - that's one of the things I'm known for.
      
Q. Ow! Doesn't that hurt?
      
A. It appears that I would hurt myself doing what I do, but I come through it without pain - that's the point of the act. If it hurt me, I wouldn't be able to do it every day. And with the show we're doing now, I do it multiple times per day. It's more about healing and self-control over the body and mind than anything else.       
Q. How in the world did you learn that you could do this?
       
A. It was a very slow process. I was fascinated by things like this when I was growing up. I grew up in a small town, so I naively believed that people in bigger cities were still doing it. I quickly learned that was not the case, but I kept learning and researching. [Torture performance] is an obscure subject, so it took me many, many years to accumulate my knowledge, but once I began to put that knowledge into practice, it became easier to learn and achieve stunts."
       
Q. Have you ever had someone puke or pass out watching the show?
       
A. As far as that goes, it's pretty much expected. We have a speech on "How to prevent this from happening." Women usually have the sense to look away. It's the macho guy in the leather jacket that ends up being the one to pass out. I'm usually not aware of it except that a big open area appears in the crowd. Puking isn't as common.
       
Q. In contrast to your stage persona, what's the most normal thing about you?
       
A. It depends on what you consider normal. I'm actually the contributing editor for a book called "Weird Nevada" published by Barnes & Noble, so I'm doing lots of research and scholarly stuff. I don't know if that's normal, but it's certainly different from what people think I should be like, given my profession. Because of the shocking nature of my act, people expect me to be completely over the top, but the truth is, I'd rather be at the library doing research then going to a bar and getting wild.

Charleston Gazette (WV)-August 3, 2006

The Charleston Gazette
http://www.wvgazette.com/

Info about the book Weird Las Vegas and Nevada.
http://zamora.blogspot.com/2010_05_01_archive.html#8127998723011887163

Tim Cridland and Dr. Joshua Prager Part 1

 

Testing and Verifying Tim Cridland’s Pain Control Abilities

During the many years I have been giving pain-control demonstrations I have been observed and tested by Dr. Joshua Prager. Dr. Prager specializes in pain medicine. He is the current director of California Pain Medicine Center and Center for Rehabilitation of Pain Syndromes at UCLA.

Photo of Dr. Joshua Prager taken by Denis Belliveau via Dr. Prager's Wikipedia page (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Joshua_Prager_(doctor)

The first interaction between Dr. Joshua Prager and me was not in person. I had done some demonstrations for a TV show called Encounters: The Hidden Truth that aired in 1995. The producers of the TV show had show Dr. Prager the video of my demonstration and on the show he commented:

"He is able to change what he experiences. It’s not that the stimuli aren’t there, it's that the way that he [Cridland] processes them is different than you or I would. So when you say mind over matter; I believe that you cannot see pain in isolation as a physical phenomena. Pain is an experience and the mind is a major part of that experience.”

Years later, in 2003 I met Dr. Prager in person for the first time. This was when I was filmed for a TV show for a UK production company. They had filmed some of my demonstrations and wanted to see if my abilities could be tested. They brought me to Dr. Prager’s offices at California Pain Medicine Center at The UCLA Medical Center.

Dr. Prager attached me to a device that he called a “Medoc TSA II.”  This was attached to the back of my hand with a strap. The device would apply levels of cold and heat and I would respond by clicking a button, first when I was aware of the heat or cold and then again when I could no longer tolerate the stimulus.

The Medoc TSA II Pain Threshold  manufacture’s website says that it is “…is a precise, computer-controlled device capable of generating and documenting response to highly repeatable thermal and vibratory stimuli, such as warmth, cold, heat-induced pain, cold-induced pain or vibration….  The TSA-II is… used for identifying thermal pain thresholds in various clinical and research applications.

“The TSA-II thermode is placed on the patient's skin to heat or cool the skin. Patients respond to the temperature stimuli by pushing a button, and the sensory threshold is recorded and automatically compared to an age-matched normative data.”

In other words the device would measure to see if I had normal sensory response or if my pain response was impaired by nerve damage or some other disorder and would then test to see how high my tolerance to pain is.

The device showed that my nerve response was normal; that there was nothing psychically wrong with me and that I had the same nerve response as the majority of the population.

However, when I was asked to show my ability to withstand pain I the machine went as high as it could go without causing tissue damage. “You went to its limit.” He told me “You do know when there is pain there; it’s just that you don’t react to it the way a lot of our patients do.”

Prager also said:

“When I first heard about Tim I thought more likely he was an illusionist than he was actually doing what he does.”

“He had the ability to take our machine up to its maximum and down to its minimum, in terms of the temperature being generated, without withdrawing, which most people who come in here are not capable of doing. So he was able, clearly, in this setting, also in a measured situation to be able to turn off his pain.”

“It takes a special ability to be able to ignore your pain. The way that he does that demonstrates a level of mastery that probably requires some special abilities.”

 

 

Video of a TV show with Dr. Prager and Tim Crildand

I went to Prager’s offices again a few years later, in 2005 for a test that was filmed by The National Geographic Channel. This time Prager had a different device to measure pain. It was called a Neurometer CPT/C.   This device had a clip that attached to my fingertip. The clip had electrodes that pressed against the skin of my fingertip. This time I was asked to hold onto a button and keep holding on as long as I could tolerate it. As soon as the button was released the electricity would stop. He did two separate runs of this.

The sensation from the electricity was much more intense than from Prager’s previous device. It turned out that this was because that each of the two sessions were stimulating separate nerves.  The electricity could be adjusted to create very specific pain stimuli.

When I did first runs and it showed where most people would stop (level 4-6). I had stopped at level 20.

After this first run Dr. Prager said “Your score basically puts you in outer space compared to the rest of the population.”

I told him that now that I had felt what kind of pain it was I could do it again and increase my pain tolerance to the specific type of pain.

We did two more runs, once again one each of the specific electrical stimuli, and this time I showed a remarkable increase in tolerance, scoring raising my level to 27. I had managed to increase my pain tolerance tens of times with only a few minutes of practice with the specific style of pain stimuli.
Dr. Prager said “Clearly he is able to change something in his nervous system so that he can tolerate more pain.”

I met with Dr. Prager for further testing for a Japanese TV show called The Miracle of the Human Body that was broadcast on TV-Tokyo in April of 2011.  During this show I was observed by an fMRI machine while in I was put in pain. The results confirmed something that I had been telling people for a long time; that I can feel pain as a normal person does, but that I react to it differently. By changing my reaction I change the whole action of pain.

Details of what happened during the filming of the TV Tokyo show will follow in an upcoming blog post.

Tim Cridland

Some references:

Machine used for first test at Dr. Prager’s office: 
http://www.medocweb.com/medoc_en_tsaII_analyzer.aspx

Machine used in second test at Dr. Prager’s office:

 http://www.skintestequip.com/neurometer.html

Article about pain that mentions Dr. Prager and Tim Cridland:
http://abcnews.go.com/Health/PainManagement/story?id=2722954&page=1

TV Tokyo show Miracles of The Human Body:

http://www.tv-tokyo.co.jp.e.ck.hp.transer.com/contents/newtitle/83870.html

 

 

Contact Tim Cridland at ZamoraKing@aol.com

Tim Cridland's web site is www.astoundingshow.com

Mirin Dajo Book

Update: 11 Nov. 2013
I am SOLD OUT of this book. I will be getting more copies but this will not be until after my next tour in Europe (See tour information by clicking HERE ). I will post this again when I am restocked.

Mirin Dajo was a man who would have himself run through with a sharpened fencing sword, from back to front and from side to side, as well as some other astounding impalements. He did this hundreds of time with minimal injury. It was all real and verified by doctors who studied him and published the results of their investigations in medical journals. I have talked about Dajo many times over the years and have interest in duplication his wonderful deed, but every time I research it there seem to be more to learn.

 

There are only two books written on Mirin Dajo and neither is in English. When I was in Germany I managed to find one of them, Das Wunder - Mirin Dajo: Der unverletzbare Prophet (The Miracle of Mirin Dajo: The Invulnerable Prophet) by Luc Bürgin.

Many years ago I had corresponded with the author and we traded some of our files on Dajo. Some of what I sent him appears in this book.

 

I must warn you... most of this book is in Germany. There is a brief section in English, that being a reproduction of Mirin Dajo's letter to Albert Einstein (!) and there are many photographs. If you looking for light reading, forget it! Buy this book ONLY IF YOU ARE A SERIOUS RESEARCHER! I am working on a loose, researcher only translation of the book. If you buy it and include your email I will be sending out updates of my translation periodically.

 

The book is hardbound, 8.4 x 5.7 x 0.9 inches, 224 pages with many photographic illustrations. This book is new and still in its shrink wrap.

 

I am selling this for $20.00, postage included in the USA (outside the USA, email me at ZamoraKing@aol.com for postage prices). This is the lowest price you will find it in The United States.

 

There are a few listed on Amazon but at prices higher than I am offering here. I was only able to bring a few of these back with me from Germany, and it is unlikely that I will be able to replenish my stock once they sell out.

 

Update: 11 Nov. 2013

I am SOLD OUT of this book. I will be getting more copies but this will not be until after my next tour in Europe (See tour information by clicking HERE ). I will post this again when I am restocked.

 

Latest News About the Upcoming UK TV Show Broadcast

Live Show Filmed at the Onyx Theatre Set for Broadcast on UK TV

 

This summer I did a live show in at The Onyx Theatre in Las Vegas that was filmed by a UK TV production company for broadcast on major English television channel. The producers have contacted me and have told me that the show is set to broadcast in the next 2 months they do not yet know the exact date of the broadcast and am told that it will be before Christmas. I also do not yet have permission to use the title of the show, which might change, or the name of the channel; I can tell you it is one of 4 major channels.

The Onyx Theatre is a great Vegas alternative venue that has made “best of” lists for years.  The show was sold out and ended with a standing ovation. My co-performer, contortionist Stephanie Castellone was definitely part of the reason for ovation; articles in the local Vegas press by Rick Lax and Jarret Keene helped fill the theater.

The show was attended by Dr. Joshua Prager, of California Pain Medicine Center, who has tested me previously and was interviewed about the scientific aspects of my act.

A highlight of the show was having UK celebrity Simon Farnaby break a building block on my chest while I was laying down on upturned sword blades.

I will post more information about the TV broadcast date and channel when I am able to; in the meantime here are a couple of links the articles that publicized the show filming.

> Click to Read Article from The Las Vegas Weekly <

> Click to Read Article from Vegas Seven <

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Tim Cridland / Zamora TK www.astoundingshow.com

347-549-8766 mobile phone 323-366-9539 voicemail

zamoraking@aol.com

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List of Televison, Film and other Media

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Tim Cridland / Zamora TK www.astoundingshow.com

zamoraking@aol.com 

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This in an incomplete list of television, film and other media that has featured Zamora

Films:

• Spokanarcky! -- Carnage & Rouge (2011)
• Sideshow Still Alive -- Pinhead Productions (2008)
• Modify -- Committed Films (2005)
• Freakshow -- Florida State University (1998)

 Television (United States):

• Freakshow -- American Movie Channel
• Oddities San Francisco -- The Science Channel
• Stan Lee's Superhumans -- The History Channel
• Full Throttle Saloon -- TruTV
• Everything You Need to Know -- Discovery Channel
• Is It Real: Superhuman Powers -- National Geographic
• The Casino -- Fox
• eXtraordinary People -- Discovery Channel 
• Don Francisco Presenta -- Univision
• Taboo -- National Geographic TV
• Twisted Tour -- Travel Channel
• World's Weirdest Performers -- The Learning Channel
• Extreme Gong Show -- Game Show Network
• 48 Hours -- CBS
• Sideshow Celebrities -- E!
• Beyond Bizarre -- Discovery Channel
• The Living Edge -- Syndicated
• Real TV -- Syndicated
• Sideshow, Alive and on the Inside -- The Learning Channel
• Penn & Teller's Sin City Spectacular -- FX
• Guinness World Records Primetime -- Fox
• Ripley's Believe It Or Not!!! -- TBS
• Encounters: The Hidden Truth -- Fox

Television (International):

• Czech and Slovakia's Got Talent -- xxx - (Czeck and Slovakia) In Production
• Japanese TV Show -- ??? - (Japan) In Production
• Real Freakshow -- FoxUK - (UK)
• Das Supertalent -- RTL - (Germany)
• Man vs Weird -- Channel 4 – (UK)
• The Miracle of the Human Body -- TV-Tokyo (Japan)
• Mucizeler Gecesi -- (Turkey)
• Open Mike with Mike Bullard  -- (Canada)
• One Step Beyond -- Discovery Channel Asia
• Death Wish Live! -- (UK)
• Troma's Edge -- (UK)
• The Deni Petty Show -- (Canada)
• Sorpresa!! Sorpresa!! -- (Spain)
• The Word -- (UK)

Click Here to See Zamora on Internet Movie Data Base

Music Videos:

Fallen Leaves by Billy Talent (winner of Best Music Video 2007 Much Music Awards Canada)

Click Here to See The Music Video

Tim Cridland / Zamora TK www.astoundingshow.com

zamoraking@aol.com 

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 Click to Return to Zamora's Sideshow Web Site

Click to See A History of Zamora and Zamora's Sideshow

Click to See Press from the Past

Click to See Reviews of Past Vegas Shows

Reviews of Past Vegas Shows

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Tim Cridland / Zamora TK www.astoundingshow.com

323-366-9539 voicemail

zamoraking@aol.com 

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Zamora is the first performer of his kind to have a show in a Las Vegas casino. He moved to Vegas in 2003 when he was asked to star in the show SHOCK at The Bourbon Street Casino (now a vacant lot). Since then he has been featured in several shows in several hotels and Casinos including The Aruba, The Greek Isles and The Palace Station. Zamora currently has no regular show in Las Vegas however there is "something cooking" Join the mailing list for updates on Vegas shows and touring shows.

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Zamora was the featured Midnight Act at Jeff McBride's Wonderground at The Palace Station Casino. This review was published in the Los Angeles Times and reprinted on the Vegas.com website.

Wonderground Review: Nov. 2008

The night is still young when a slight man with silver streaks in his hair quietly drags his personal bed of swords past the blackjack tables and into the Sound Trax Showroom at Palace Station.

"That's our midnight show, Zamora the Torture King," says magician Jeff McBride matter-of-factly, as he stands in front of the showroom welcoming guests to his new nightclub, Wonderground. "He's a faqir, a Middle Eastern holy man who can transcend the human realm. He was on "Ripley's Believe it or Not."

Later in the evening Zamora removes his silk smoking jacket and plunges a sharp skewer through his bicep to the horror and amazement of those in attendance.

"Did you see that!?" asks an excited McBride jumping up from his seat. "That's not an illusion. That's real. Not a drop of blood! It's mind over matter."

As tempting as it may sound, please do not attempt this stunt at home. This is the kind of thing that's best left to the professionals at Wonderground.

Every Friday and Saturday night following McBride's show, Magic at the Edge, the showroom is transformed into a mystical mecca for the weird, wacky and wonderful. Those thirsty for a diversion from the drunken Las Vegas club scene, gather for a magical evening, where velvet ropes and VIP table service give way to sideshow acts, performance art and close-up magic.

Yes, there's cocktail service, a DJ spinning techno music, scantily clad go-go girls and evanescent flashing lights. But there's also a painter putting her brush to a blank easel to create live art, jugglers skillfully traversing the room and balloon twisters blowing life into enormous multicolored, potentially popping sculptures.

While most Las Vegas clubs are specifically designed to help people forget their reality, McBride says Wonderground is built for those who want to remember.

"Our club is an alternative to alternative nightlife," says McBride, an acclaimed magician and director of McBride's Magic and Mystery School in Las Vegas. "We offer enlightened nightlife."

For More info about Wonderground click here.

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Zamora produced a limited run show to tie in with the publication of his book Weird Las Vegas. The show, Vegas After Midnight, was in the showroom at the Aruba Hotel on The Las Vegas Strip and was "Pick of the Week" in Las Vegas City Life.

 

Las Vegas City Life

 06/09/2007

CityLife doesn't make a habit of recommending variety shows, but this one sounds so cool we just couldn't resist. Running Sept. 9-20, Vegas After Midnight: A Late Night Variety Show stars Zamora the Torture King -- he of Jim Rose Circus Sideshow, and TV's Ripley's and Guinness World Records infamy. Zamora's real name is Tim Cridland, and when he's not walking barefoot on broken glass or having concrete blocks smashed against his chest with a sledgehammer, he pens articles for the world's top paranormal magazines. Cridland co-authored the just-published Weird Las Vegas and Nevada: Your Alternative Travel Guide to Sin City and the Silver State, which he'll be signing copies of at every nightly performance. If you're looking for uncanny kicks, Zamora's show should satisfy. Jarret Keene

http://archives.lasvegascitylife.com/articles/2007/09/06/ae/picks/wednesday/iq_16392707.txt

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Zamora was a performer, researcher and occasional tour guide in The Haunted Vegas Tour and Show at The Greek Isles Casino. It was a Las Vegas City Life Pick of The Week.

Las Vegas City Life Pick of the Week 03/09/2006

The horror-inspired Haunted Vegas sideshow starring "Ripley's TV" fire-eating geek Zamora precedes the Haunted Vegas tour in order to prime your senses for brain-stem level gooseflesh reactions while on the bus. However, the creators insist this is no "ghosts and goblins' amusement park ride" for the kiddies (16 and older please) but one meant to educate the public about documented spectral activity in Sin City. Most of the two-hour tour is spent safely on the bus with the exception of one leg-stretching foray into a haunted park. The morbid ride will take you to the alleged otherworld digs of unquiet celebrities. Many will be familiar to longtime Las Vegans: from Bugsy Siegel's reputed attachment to the Flamingo to the spot where Tupac Shakur was murdered. There is even a stop at an unspecified "Motel of Death" where a number of celebrities are said to have checked in, never to leave.

Check out the ghost tour website at Hauntedvegastours.com for a series of skepticism-allaying blurry photographs taken by actual passengers on Haunted Vegas tours such as the mysterious blur shot in front of Carluccio's Tivoli Gardens captioned simply, "Liberace." B.B.

http://archives.lasvegascitylife.com/articles/2006/03/09/city_picks/citypicks.txt

For more info about Haunted Vegas click HERE

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Zamora was the featured performer in show SHOCK at The Bourbon Street Casino. SHOCK was the first show of its kind in a Las Vegas casino. Below are some reviews of the show.

 Insider Veiwpoint of Las Vegas

Show Review -

by Insider Viewpoint of Las Vegas Staff

Ratings Range from 1-10, 10 is the Best, 1 is the Worst

"Shock!"

Overall Show Review: 7

Show Location: Bourbon Street

Show Type: Variety

Insider Viewpoint of Las Vegas staff delivers an in depth show review that gives you the complete picture of what to expect when attending this show. In determining the Overall Review Rating we research many categories as well as evaluating the ticket price versus entertainment value.

Show Review

As the name implies, this show will shock you! You may be shocked even before the show starts. We would like to state, that this show is not for everybody. For those people who think they have seen it all, step up and see this show.

The show opens to a punkish rendition of 'Strange' by The Doors, song by a young lady in leather with a bad retro haircut. This 'opening song' really set the mood for the show. The male host of the show had an excellent script thanks to writer and co-producer Robert Allen. The small venue makes the audience feel part of the show with the performers often coming off the stage and into the audience.

They introduce us to Zamora, the torture king, the star of the show. Zamora appears throughout the show performing classic sideshow stunts and other acts of pain that will have the most macho man grimacing. You will not see things like this in the popular TV show 'Fear Factor.'

Other acts appear throughout the show that may not shock the audience, but are sure to make you laugh. The show fits nicely in the aging Bourbon Street property. It would not surprise us to see this show take off and be picked up by a more prestigious casino property.

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Las Vegas Review-Journal 01/31/2003

SHOCK

Bourbon Street show better fit for Vegas than one might imagine

By Mike Weatherford

 "You gotta be kidding!"

"Don't do it!"

"Oh, that's sick."

You don't hear this at a Wayne Newton show. Well, you might, but that's another review.

But if the show is called "Shock," such audience response is high praise indeed. In fact, there was a suitably dark "Twilight Zone"-worthy twist in store for the college-age guy providing the most vocal feedback on this particular night.

The guy was quick to volunteer for the hypnotism segment by Victoria the Enchantress (Victoria Wayne). She seemed nice enough, and in her sensible pantsuit, appeared to offer a harmless diversion at best, and an annoying detour at worst.

Instead, Victoria took only two minutes to hypnotize the young man. She then peeled off the pantsuit to reveal boudoir lingerie, before subjecting the poor guy to the gentle caress of a boa constrictor, a tarantula and a cage full of rats, one of which nestled right into his spikey hair gel and made itself at home.

The little show in the dinky Bourbon Street lounge lives up to its title with several surprises, and it wouldn't be fair to spill them all here.

The surprise I can talk about is that "Shock" is not only well-staged in its Spartan venue, but lighter and funnier than its obvious inspiration, the Jim Rose Circus.

Time will tell, in fact, if it's a good fit to have one genuine "geek act" -- Zamora, the Torture King -- as the star of what would otherwise pass for the type of late-night cabaret show the Strip has been in need of for a long time.

There's a definite "Rocky Horror Show" vibe to much of the revue, from the bad TV horror-host puns of emcee Malakai (Ron Keck) to the singer (Kelly Carl) covering the Doors' "People Are Strange" and Oingo Boingo's "Dead Man's Party."

But that stuff easily could lapse into the realm of community theater if it weren't backed up with something of genuine skin-crawling gravity. Zamora (Tim Cridland) gets right down to the nitty gritty early on, unwrapping long sterile needles and proceeding to thrust them through his biceps.

Later he will smash and eat a light bulb. For a grand finale, he piles up broken glass and walks on the pieces, then lies flat on the rubble while an audience member hops on his chest.

But even Zamora lightens things up a bit. "People say, `If you're gonna play Vegas, you've got to make your show a little more classy,' " he notes, before hanging Christmas ornaments on a string that he's purportedly swallowed, then extracted from his stomach.

Other acts, such as Aryha, "The High Voltage Girl" (Deanna Hinshaw) offer what are more obviously illusions, striking a sometimes uneasy balance with the real stunts. Producers Robert Allen and Scott Lewis eventually may lean more in one direction than the other, particularly if the show catches on and the budget provides for more genuine sideshow performers.

Hopefully, those won't come at the expense of the humor and clever structure. The big irony here is that a show dreamed up for a niche market might be more for today's Las Vegas mainstream than anyone realizes.

http:// www.lvrj.com/

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Tim Cridland / Zamora TK www.astoundingshow.com

323-366-9539 voicemail

zamoraking@aol.com 

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