Today is the day Wasteland, the new Abney Park album, is being released, so I thought it was appropriate to share a few of their songs here for those that may not have heard them. The first track is their rendition of Minnie The Moocher from the new album, with Captain Robert doing an amazing job of channeling Cab Calloway. The next song is Wasteland Warrior, also from the new album. We follow that with a few old favorites, Two Elixirs from the album Nomad, and the extended version of Steampunk Revolution from Ancient World. You can use the link to their home page to hear a lot more, and pick up any of the music you find interesting.
Sometimes called Chap Hop, SteamPunk music has quite a few interesting tunes. Tonight we are presenting Lady Has Bustle from the Desert Rose Theatre, and the second tune is the Steampunk Style parody of the famous Psy song. OK, one more I couldn’t resist; the Gentleman Robot VS Iron Man 1889!
Awesome Con in Washington D.C. this past weekend certainly lived up to its name, and its rep. They had a huge collection of actors, artists, and authors (and that only covered the first letter of the alphabet) doing their best to make the gathering memorable. Pretty much all of the guest actor/voice talent celebrities manned (personed?) a booth on the bottom level, off to the side of the hucksters area by the primary entrance, most of the time they were not doing a panel or presentation. Between those two groups were the artists, both Comics and Fine, with quite a few other visual disciplines mixed in. That last sentence gives you the idea, but not the scope, unless you expect there to be a hundred or more impressive illustrator/storytellers on the multiple-football-field sized area you are crossing to get to your next scheduled event.
They had some presentations I never expected, like Twisted Toonz, where a group of world class voice actors played out a famous movie as totally different characters than the ones in the original. This year the film was The Wrath of Kahn, and the voice of Wini The Pooh coming from the bridge of the Enterprise was one of the the least disconcerting aspects of that presentation. I can’t wait to see another show organized around the same principle, it was absolutely amazing and entertaining! Although the voice actor tasked with being Bill Cosby for one part of it kept looking out at the audience like he was trying to find an escape route.
Laissez les bons temps roulez! This year I decided to become a Mardi Gras float and join a parade which took place in a Steampunk Variation of New Orleans somewhere around the 1860s. The parade was held by the Crewe of Scribes, the theme was favorite Victorian authors, and I had a tough time deciding between Jules Verne and H. G. Wells. But Verne was fully in the era, while Wells only caught a bit of the tale end of it (not misspelling, just a really bad pun), so that is what I went with. I always enjoyed his underwater stories the best, so when I assembled my float I used coral alpha textures on a transparent prim, some seaweed flexi prims, and one of the best little Steampunk submarines I have ever seen. When it was finished, I put the float on as my avatar and joined the parade; what a lot of fun that was! Thanks to the Mayor of Mieville Perryn Peterson, and all the other good folks of the Steamlands, for a truly fun holiday. In fact, I have to get ready for the Mardi Gras Ball now; I will be back soon.
This is Airship Pirates, performed live by Abney Park in Moscow, Russia, earlier this year (2014). And just because one is never enough, here are two more tracks from the show that night; Katyusha and Aether Shanties. I do love me some Steampunk music.
The movie worth noting this week is Earth to Echo, about a group of kids who finds an alien who needs their help. This one comes through Disney, and does look like it will be fun. Be sure to share it with your children, it looks like a full family story.