So, wow. The first two stops in my first House Concert Tour are over – the guest appearance with Leannan Sidhe on Friday, and the Spooky Action at a Distance party and show on Saturday. Thank you so much, Fern and Corvi and Juli, for throwing these events and letting me be involved! I had a great time, and I hope everybody else did too!

The new Transformation Sequence edition of “My Boyfriend” worked about as well as I’d hoped. I came up with one more component literally on the way to the show, and added it without rehearsal, and it worked great. I do need to fix the headdress, tho’ – adhesive-attachment worked fine in rehearsal, but not on stage, so I’ll have to do that the right way for next time.

And! I got called up for an unplanned! encore! at someone! else’s! show! I still can’t believe that happened! The audience was all “YEAH!” and I was all “lol sure!” and then was like, “wait, seriously?” And I ended up going back up and doing two more of my own songs. Thanks so much to Leannan Sidhe for putting up with that 😀 because that’s not an experience you get to have very often!

I’m still all O.O over that one.

I am also told that I need to come up with a way to do Dalek Boy – “Danny Boy,” as sung by a Dalek, a Cyberman, and a Mechanoid, a.k.a. the Bacon for Birds people and myself – live, and also, I am told I need to write a song about Munchkin.

Then Saturday! and SPOOKY ACTION! The party got going a little late, which was actually kind of good since it let me get in a little nap after the drive down, and a little warmup before people arrived. Incidentally? Corvi and Juli put on quite the spread of hospitality out on their little farm, I gotta tell you. I think my favourite were the chocolate covered pomegranate seed clusters, because they weren’t dehydrated in any way, so it was chocolate and pom and juicy. So simple yet so good.

But then people started arriving, and everybody played with flash paper and sparkle chemicals around the bonfire, and after a few visits from the Bad Idea Bears I realised I had to do an impromptu rendition of Paul and Storm’s Ten Finger Johnny. I think we managed all the really bad ideas except for flash paper hats, but somehow, everybody still had all their fingers at showtime! And only a couple of blisters.

Bad Idea Bears

Then, showtime! Around 12:30am. Hey, only four and a half hours later than planned, and we get one of those back thanks to the return of Normal Time! I had lots of fun doing the spooooky creeeepy set, complete with candlelight and growls in the dark. That’s fun. <3 But I wasn’t going to send them off into the night that way, so closed on “Stars,” which is an even lighter song performed without all the bass solos and drums and such – the mandolin alone can carry that song, because when I’m doing it solo, I really just tear loose with the mandolin work and am basically playing chords and simultaneously soloing the whole damn time, only ducking the complexity down for lyrics.

And I really enjoy that. YES I AM SHOWING OFF HERE GODDAMMIT PAY ATTENTION. XD

Were you at either show and made your way here? Tell me what you thought! This tour is my first set of house concerts, so it’s all new and exciting! And I’m making it up as I go along and having one hell of a good time so far. Best of all, I get another go on Friday! Yay! o/

So I’m really looking forward to this Friday at Sidhehaven. Please come out for it! And if you can’t, there’s the Bainbridge Island show on the 18th.

And while we’re at it – how was your weekend?

If you’re reading this on Friday, listen up: I’m playing tonight, providing some instrumental backup for Leannan Sidhe, at a house concert at 13309 23rd Ave. NE in Seattle. RSVP info here.

It’s mostly their show, of course, but Leannan Sidhe’s lead singer has also asked me to perform one of mine: My Boyfriend, which is my political Sailor Moon song about writing out queer characters in US translation. (If you don’t know the story, listen to it before the song.) This is pretty much the opposite of her and her music – so really, I’m there to throw her into sharp relief. XD

But the request got me thinking, “Y’know, this song is missing something, live.” Of course, what it’s missing is a drum kit. But aside from that, I realised that I think it’s also missing a really terrible costume change mid-show.

I have taken possibly disturbing steps to rectify this situation.

Then tomorrow, all the way down in the wilds north of Olympia, in the South Sound, I have Spooky Action at a Distance, where I’m contributing a set and Juli will be doing a short reading and hopefully some glasswork and maybe some other things! All of which I hope happen. It’s been a while since I’ve done anything Seriously Arty. One way or another, THERE WILL BE ART!

Oh, the latest Trad o’ th’ Month, Red is the Rose (with Leannan Sidhe) is, like the rest of the Cracksman Betty project, a free/pay-what-you-want download.

I’ve had a couple of people say they feel bad about downloading without hitting the tip jar, so don’t download free things. Really, if I minded, I’d put a price on it. This is what Cracksman Betty is for, along with experimentation and learning. Put another way: I need ears more than I need a dollar. NOT THAT BOTH WOULDN’T BE GOOD. But if I want your money that much? Don’t worry. I’ll steal it from you. XD

Leannan Sidhe came by today by surprise and we recorded something! It’s pure trad, which is kind of unusual for me, but not at all for her; I’ll be playing backing zouk for her at first house concert on Friday. Then on Saturday I’m playing down north of Olympia at Spooky Action, ripping it up elfmetal style.

But on Friday, it’ll be more like this. Enjoy:

Separately, I’m kind of amazed that Quatermass and the Pit (a.k.a. Five Million Years to Earth) (1967) is you guys’s favourite horror flick, but it is! And I can’t fault you for that. It’s not mine, but I respect it.

All for now, busy rehearsing. No poll this week, but MUSIC IS BETTER THAN POLLS! Go clickie!

(There’s also a radio edit without the live bits, if you prefer that.)

So busy this week – updates may be ragged, sorry! Rehearsals, nwcMUSIC/Norwescon deadlines including some things I can’t wait to talk about, shows, prep for shows, other shit I still can’t talk about… there is too much. Here, enjoy some bullet points:

I may give polls a rest this week, mostly because I don’t have time to think up a good one. XD But today is Halloween, so you can still go pick your favourite horror film if you want.

Do you get door-to-door kids in your neighbourhood? We hardly get any trick-or-treaters at the Lair. It’s a weird holiday for me, because I don’t have the tradition, and I really don’t know what to do with it. I tried giving away death-rays one year, but working ones are spendy, and who wants broken toys? I’m a supervillain, not a jerk, and not the right kind of clever to come up with something like, say, Snarkkula’s brilliant tradition of gift-wrapped mayonnaise packets. So we have candy! And we even give some of it away.

Except the smarties. Those are ALL MINE!

It’s Friday! Friday very early in the morning, Cascadia time – really still Thursday night, socially, you know how that goes.

I have something I can’t talk about yet! But I can talk about November 5th. Doesn’t November 5th sound nice? I think it sounds nice. Maybe nice for a trip down to the south sound. Just, you know, for fun. That evening.

This should not be confused with the House Concert at Sidhehaven, which is on November 11th, and further south! Please RSVP there or here, and come and stuff – it’s my very first house concert! And I’ll have a new song.

I also have something else I can’t talk about too specifically, but I’m hoping to release as a new free/pay-what-you-like Cracksman Betty track! It’s a cover song. Of sorts.

See, I’d heard this song, and liked it, and when I was prepping for the Talk Like a Pirate Day show at Juanita Bay, I realised with a little tweaking it could be a really good modern pirate song! So I was trying to remember how the music went from memory and reconstruct it, and, um, I kind of… missed. By a LOT.

By which I mean I wrote new music, like y’do. Oops. XD

But I really like my version. o/ So I’ve got permissions request in to the original artist, and we’ll see! He’s not opposed in principle, but wanted to hear it, and he has an mp3 waiting for him. It’s still mostly his lyrics, so I really hope he signs on. The original music was traditional, so we’re good there.

Oh, mustn’t forget this:

What else? I found out that some people missed a bunch of the horror film polls entirely – like, didn’t see notice of them or anything! That kind of explains the low turnout. Are people seeing the final championship poll?

Or are people just not as into horror film as I thought, even this time of year? That’s kind of a shame, since all of these are really good in different ways, from Quatermass and the Pit‘s postwar British SF to what is for my money absolutely Carpenter’s best film Prince of Darkness, which has…

A lot of films use the warning/message-from-beyond shtick. Lots of them. That part of This Island Earth is the part that’s actually really effective, creepy, and weird. I love that first reel to death. (In the MST3K treatment, it’s almost entirely cut out – it’s too unironically good. You could mock it, but why? Best to cut it out.)

But in horror – for my money, no film plays that game better than Prince of Darkness. None. So much ambiguity, so much uncertainty, but at the same time, so much existential need to act. Fantastic.

And! Bride of Frankenstein. For my money, the best of the classic era. So luscious, so lovingly filmed, so weird. It’s like an art film, in the best senses – experimental, daring, a story of defiance with a cold heart of hardest stoic inevitability, wrapped in a tight little horror plot, bundled in some of the most beautiful visuals of the classic Universal horror set. What’s not to love?

I’ll leave you with this bit of WTFery, IMPORTANT INSTRUCTIONS from a box of labels I bought three days ago:

I had an HP IIIp – in 1994. And guys, even grandma’s not using that printer anymore. It’s not even like that’s generic print art; these are instructions specific to those printers. And to no other printers. Just those. Print cartridges for them haven’t even been available since 2007. Guys – let it go. Okay? XD

Hey, guys!

I want to make some little quote stickers as freebies at shows, snippets pulled out of songs for the merch table. Does that sound like a good idea? I know that SJ Tucker does that and people seem to like it.

I’ve drawn up a little list of bits I like, but if you have any snippets that you think would be cool on a sticker, let me know!

I was kind of surprised Quatermass and the Pit fared so well in last week’s poll. That’s kinda awesome. I like it too, so I’m happy. The Carpenter film you liked best turned out to be Prince of Darkness, and all I can say about that is that you guys have really good taste in Carpenter films – it’s totally my favourite. And since Battle Royale and Paranormal Activity tied for first, I’ll bring ’em both in, why not?

The rest are Universal Horror Classics. Well, most of them are. I’m going to cheat, and add one: White Zombie, 1932. I love that film. Yeah, it’s a bit slow, even for the era, and it’s kind of weird in that we’re-still-figuring-out-how-to-make-movies kind of way, but it’s moody like mood is going out of style, Bela Lugosi is in fine form, and, most of all, it has the single creepiest scene I have ever seen in any film to this day.

Creeps me out just thinking about it. No lie.

This is a pretty good set of films, really. If you wanted a viewing list for your Halloween pleasure – one that doesn’t include robots and Gizmonic Institute employees – you could do a lot worse.

Pick your favourite of this lucky 13:

[poll id=”18″]

Last Friday I mentioned that I was building a database of publications that review and talk about music, starting with a list of majors. Well, that’s sorted now: 263 magazines, newspapers, and similar, all categorised.

Sadly, few of these are actually interesting! Some are! A few are great! But most are old-school print dailies or the usual alternative-to-what-exactly weekly. And while those are good to have in the database, I’m looking for things a little more atypical.

I mean honestly, if you think the major dailies are out of touch on news, try music. The front page at the Kansas City Star this weekend? Roger Daltry, Paul McCartney, Kenny G., Boz Scaggs, Laurie Anderson, and a Pink Floyd cover band. HI GUYS, 1986 WAS 25 YEARS AGO I KNOW YOU HAVE A HARD TIME COPING WITH THAT BUT PLEASE TRY.

And sure, they aren’t all that bad, but it makes the point. The “alternative” weeklies are better, pretty consistently. But I need different. Those guys aren’t going to care about me, or people like me. I’m not Baby Boomer nostalgia and I’m not going to be selling Jagerbombs to Bros and the party crowd any time soon, if ever. I need something a little more niche, who isn’t trying to follow the usual Bar/Club/Club/Bar Circuit and is not interested in the Major Label Sucker System.

Do you have any pointers here? Any youtube channels, active blogs, websites, tumblrs, podcasts, whatever – someone that someone like me could send a download code or a CD and say, “j0, whadda think?” Because I want to find those people. I need to find people who aren’t sucking the last drips of marrow from the bones of a Rock Industry Culture that isn’t even aware that it’s dead.

Ask your friends. Comment if you or they have anything. I really want to know who you trust.

In other news:

The Sunday market show at Redmond went pretty well, particularly given the rain and muck. I earned professionalism points just for showing up – the main band cancelled! But the wind stayed down and while crowds weren’t heavy, the kids got into it, I had some nice conversations, I handed out a lot of cards, and told a lot of people about the history of the Irish Bouzouki! (Trinity College really needs to be paying me, f’srs. XD )

If you’re stopping by from there, hi! Next show is my very first house concert on November 11th, at Sidhehaven. There’s an evite here, and a Facebook event here. They’ve hosted a bunch of people of more note than me, and I’m really excited to have been picked up by them for my first announced house concert! These are small and cozy shows – I’m hoping for 6-12 people. If you’re in the south Olympia or Yelm area, come, and bring a friend!

Polls are still open on the horror film favourites – last week and the week before. We’ll pit those winners against the Universal classics of the 30s on Wednesday, so get your final votes in!

Still trolling through music publications, building out that database. I talk about that in the previous entry, “alternative to what exactly.”

But I just found something else, too. One of the things lefties have absolutely correct is that capitalism will package and sell back to you your own culture. But first, they’ll be really bad at trying to hook into it, like so:

So annoying.

I’ve been building out a big publications database. This is important to have and I’ve spent a lot of time not having one, and really, not even trying to have one – I sent review copies of Dick Tracy Must Die a couple of places I knew directly, and talked about it here, but I wasn’t trying to reach larger media on the whole.

But I do need this database, and more importantly, I need to survey all these publications. So when K said he could give me a list of publication titles I could research and fill out, I said sure! And got to work.

So many of these weekly “alternative” publications are so very much the same. It’s really dreary – it’s the same bar/club/club/bar/bar scene/club scene/party scene/bar/club/club/local-music-festival-that-adversises-with-us/club/bar/bar/club over and over and over again. (Thanks for that, Village Voice Media Group and your dozens of cloned “alternative weeklies.”)

Seriously, at this point, if I see this menu on a paper’s website?

…I can tell you with 98% confidence exactly what’s in it.

And every time I see that menu I wonder whether this is another actual indie they took over – several have been – or whether they moved in and drove an indie out of business. But I also suspect they’re some places an indie wouldn’t’ve been, and it’s better than nothing. Even the worst of them cover some local musicians, and that’s good. I just don’t know.

But every so often – once in a while – you still find something unique, and it’s just a joy. Like Cincinnati City Beat, which last weekend was headlining with J-Rock coverage. (To wit: なんだ？) Or the existence of a Montreal anglophone music and arts weekly, Hour Community. Or my favourite one-off so far, Asheville, North Carolina’s Mountain Xpress, which has coverage of buskers as a continuing feature.

Yeah, buskers. They go out, find a good busker, video them doing some song or other, and put it up on their website with name and location so you can find them yourself.

That’s awesome. And a hell of a lot more “alternative” than anything Voice Media Group might be handing their readers today. We ♥ you, little Mountain Xpress. Stay strong. You are doing it right.

Anyway. I have house concerts coming up! Two I’ve announced! Maybe more I can’t talk about yet ’cause they aren’t confirmed and may not even happen. But I hope they do!

Also, you can still participate in the movie polls if you want. And this weekend, I’ll be doing some instrumental market music Saturday morning in Redmond, at my last market gig of the year. I’ve been warming up the flute again and my embouchure is kinda sad but that may not stop me! I may use it. ph33r me. ph33r my phl4ppy l1p5. XD

So if you’re out there, c’mon by and say hi! And if not, have a good weekend. Got any plans? Share!