Tales From the Road #8 - Steampunk World's Fair, Twisted World, Gettysburg & Watch City Recap

Writer's Note: Somehow I never published this... pretend it's May

I just returned from Steampunk World's Fair ... a weekend of the most epicness & positivity in a long while...

There were 3 highlights for me:

1.  The Eli August Secret Show friday night was one of the most beautiful moments I've ever experienced at a convention... the band was really on, the crowd was AMAZING, and the whole vibe was just so beautiful... a moment to treasure

2.  The Two Bastards set was incredibly fun!!  Though I started off a little rough, when things picked up, it really got going... lots of people afterwards were like "I had no idea you sang"

3.  I BROKE MY BOW!!!  - Every Eli August Set, I try to add a new element of craziness ... sometimes it's singing along, or jumping around & head banging like a mad man... this weekend it was cymbal crashing with my wood bow... predictably, it Broke during the first song of our last set... I had to run back & get my replacement bow (which also has a major crack in the frog)... gonna order an Incredibow soon...

Otherwise, SPWF was a great balance between intensely busy & still being able to enjoy the event... I shared a merch table with The Rose West & Psyche Corp, and as table neighbors, we variably had Ego Likeness, Platform One & Frenchy & the Punk... can't ask for better folks!!

The Rose West sets had some technical difficulties... Aaron's pod crapped out at the beginning of our first set, and I had to cover a bunch of his riffs... Rob's guitar broke a string almost immediately afterwards... I gave up on keyboards, given the context...  our second set, the on stage power went out & I held down the mechanic, since my amp was battery powered...

Writer's Note: I clearly meant to write more, but it's been lost to time...

Tales From The Road #6 - Wicked Faire

I am now home from my second Wicked Faire (first one I was officially performing at).  The weekend of most EPICNESS ... It kicked my ass & I kicked it's ass right back!!

Had a ton of fun the entire weekend & played 12 sets in 3 days on 2 cellos, plus jammed with people, plus sat in w/ This Way to The Egress on a tune ...

Last year was my first Wicked, and it was one of the most amazing weekends of my life ... there were many highlights, but The one that still stands a year later was catching Ego Likeness while being very bouncy & drunk & having that moment of realization "This is Home, These are my People" (Last Wicked Faire was also the first time I started playing with Eli August)

This Wicked Faire was very much the same ... except, in addition to that, I was officially performing in 4 acts - (The Wandering Cellist, Eli August, Psyche Corp, The Rose West), so everything was just non-stop, from the moment I got there Friday (I didn't even have my first actual break until the middle of saturday!!)

I was really enthused by everyone who turned out for my sets - the Lobby show was a perfect way to introduce myself to the con and filled with all the usual geekiness, the Mirabelle Stage featured my full band setup & was well into the drinking hours ... at one point the cello cut out & I did an acappella version of Game of Thrones... Sunday mornings set was probably my favorite... I actually played cello sitting down & when I showed up to play there was suddenly a whole band of people on various instruments Mandolin, Dounbeck, Violin & Clarinet to accompany me... I also had my energy & voice back by this point, and sang some powerful renditions of Scarborough Faire, Moorlough Shore & Rains of Castamere ... it was really inspiring and the reaction I got from everyone was great


The sets with Eli were great too... They just had an amazing energy of fun, and our sound was great live ... huge crowds too ... so far the reaction to the new CD is *very* positive!!  Then there were the Psyche Corp. and The Rose West sets & those all went awesomely... Rose West featured the electric cello (and I had to keep switching pegs b/c of a broken peg all weekend)

Muses Well was nice enough to host my wares!!

Saturday night I did actually get to watch a few people ... got to dance to Platform One & This Way to the Egress before playing my set... there were moments during Saturday where I was asking myself how I was going to make it through the rest of the performances (b/c 12 performances is *very* demanding ... especially the way I play/jump around like a madman during band sets) ... lots of alcohol & 2nd, 3rd & 4th winds were in order...

All in all, it was a weekend of amazingess (and I recorded an EP 2 days before!!)... Now it is time to decompress...