About

Andrei Pischalnikoff, AKA "Doctor R. Snick", AKA "Major Blaze", has been a storyteller using various media for many years.  You can see where he has recently been at Past Events.  He delivers captivating shows about patent medicines, snake oils, medicine shows, oddities and Memento Mori while focusing on the audiences interests.

In addition to ongoing research, he collects various patent medicine artifacts, strange devices that claimed to cure serious diseases and a variety of ephemera related to quackery and poisons of the Victorian and Edwardian eras.  On the flip side, Andrei also has a passion to share information about the "Oddities" of Barnum's museums and later sideshows of America and mourning jewelry & the different categories of Victorian hair jewelry.

Andrei has held many jobs, from being a 12 bravo (demolitions) in the army serving with the 10th Special Forces Group to working over 3 decades with the State of California (Including creating multimedia products to inform and influence the California public and the staff of the agency).

As a hobby, Andrei, known as Major Blaze, breathes cornstarch fire, spins a fire whip and uses a fire canon.  He enjoys being a sideshow talker with "Sideshow" of Reno, a small group of artists and magicians that perform occasionally at festivals.  In years past, the Sideshow group (and Andrei) shared their talents at the annual Burning Man Festival of Black Rock City, Nevada.

Contact Doctor R. Snick at dr.r.snick@gmail.com
or text at 916.812.8507