Andrea Silkey is obsessed with the quality of her music mixes. Every week, the 31-year-old DJ (who’s also know as Sonique des Fleurs) spends several hours in front of her computer hunting through digital music sites like beatport, djdownload, and trackitdown, sampling more than 500 MP3s of techno, house, and…

Victor Gade’s charisma is no illusion. The affable Argentina-born magician, 59, has a constant twinkle in his eye and suave smile on his face, charming people wherever he goes. He’s also constantly in entertainer mode; cracking jokes or conjuring a simple magic trick from his pocket to amuse an impromptu…

Oksana Kroshkina’s background is as intriguing as her alluring Russian accent. The 31-year-old Soviet-born beauty spent almost a decade traveling the world, masterfully engaging in thrilling and danger-filled exploits on behalf of her motherland. Was she some Communist femme fatale or secret agent? Goodness, no. Kroshkina starred as a high-flying…

Barry Schwartz is a wired guy. Jittery and manic, the overly hyper artist sounds as though he’s practically plugged into the wall as he explains the large-scale electrified installations he’s built around the world during the past 20 years. In lightning-quick fashion, Schwartz rattles off factoids about attenuators, ground leads,…

Paul Wilson’s had more than a few obsessions in his day. In fact, the über-eccentric artist’s spent a lifetime indulging his endless manias for the past (particularly 1953-1963) and all things kitschy or campy. Following his kooky muse since childhood, the 45-year-old Valley native has chronicled his ever-changing fixations through…

Travis Mesman engages in a nonstop battle with gravity. At 34, the dancer and movement artist wages his war against the invisible adversary during each of his performances, whether he’s propelling his lithe and muscular body through twisting acrobatic routines, or stilt-walking on a stage like a gigantic daddy longlegs,…

If ever there was an embodiment of Phoenix’s weirder side, then Stephen Strange and Sahar Mitchell are it, and proud to be. He’s a 32-year-old occultist and magician with a flair for the fantastic. She’s 34, a graceful serpent-wielding dancer dubbed “the Mother Fakir.” Collectively, they’re the Strange Family Circus,…

Don “Hollywood” Yates isn’t someone you wanna mess with. Boasting a fearsome countenance and muscle-bound physique, the 6-foot-4, 235-pound badass has made a career out of battling both man and beast. As the villainous “Wolf,” a breakout star on NBC game show American Gladiators, he’s fiercely taken out contestants, unleashing…