First off I want to wish everyone a very Happy Thanksgiving! This last year has been a roller coaster. From the album computer crash to the REALLY busy show schedule its been interesting every step of the way. This year we've traveled as far as:

Whitby England






to Atlanta, GA







to Dallas, TX






to Hollywood, CA





to Seattle, WA





and everywhere in between. Having you guys there makes it all worth it. :)
I know its been about a month since the last show, but I did want to say that the Seattle Steam Con show was a great end to our 2009 show lineup.

As for the album, now that it is all said and done I know that you are going to enjoy it. We've added a bunch of new instruments and Jody's voice is extraordinary.

So in conclusion, I just wanted to say thanks to all of our fans and hope to see you on the road next year, starting with the Edison on NYE!

Adventure is in the wind, lets see where the fates take us.



Btw thanks to Nakedlens.org, 3Quartermoon, Smithington, Leathaltalon, Gabrielle D'Artifax, Davefish, and Gspeezy for posting the photos on the net.

Well I just wanted to blog a bit real quick before we all head out to Fayetteville, AR for a show.

So Ive been poking around the net for some photos of the Long Beach show and found a bunch that Lili was it.






(Yes that's Lili leading around a Zombie)

One thing about my daughter is that she loves to talk to everyone one she meets. I'm sure anyone who was at the CA show can attest to that because she probably talked their ear off. Case in point. Gayle from the League of Steam, let Lili borrow a head feather pin to wear around the Queen Mary. She told Lili just to let people know where she got it if they asked. Lili took that to mean, stop everyone she sees and tell them about it.... sigh. :) I'm fearful what she will be like in a few years. :)

Anyway. I've just finished packing (yes while I was typing, I'm that good....) and have to head on up to the Airport. Wave.

Ok, true story...

We had a rehearsal yesterday for our Saturday show so I was heading down the highway at about 65 mph in my Jeep when I started to feel it vibrate a bit. Thinking to myself, "That's a bit odd." I decided to take a look out the window. As I turn my head I see that my left rear tire is shaking a bit and I again think, "That's a bit odd."

Knowing it cant be a good thing, I start to get over to the side when all of a sudden I feel a very large BUMP. As my eyes darted back and forth to see what had caused it, I caught a glimpse of something next to me. To my surprise I see my tire pass me in the HOV lane of Interstate. "That cant be good." I thought as sparks began spewing out behind me.

Needless to say I slid off the highway into the ditch as my tire jumped the median, flew about 20 feet in the air, bounced off a semi, jumped over the tops of 3 more cars and onto a set of railroad tracks past the southbound lanes.

As I climbed out of the Jeep, another guy in a Jeep pulls up behind me and leaps out with a frantic look on his face. Thinking he was there to help, I waved to him that I was Ok. Quickly he approached me and said.....

"DUDE! THAT WAS THE COOLEST THING EVER!" Following this very helpful statement, he got back in his Jeep and left...

Annnnyway. A few hours later I got it towed to a repair shop, fixed it up, and still made it to our rehearsal for this weekends show. SO THERE! :)

I'm very relieved that no one got hurt thought. A tire going about 65 mph could have done some damage.

Just thought I would share. :)

Well we are back from Dragon Con and I have to say it was exhausting. Not quite as bad as last year though. I think its because we had so many great fans helping us out throughout the Con. Speaking of great fans check this out



Its a Plushy me! All of us got one, but I think mine is truly awesome. Right down to the brass rivets on my belt!

One of the best things about this year was that we all had time to sit and chill with the other bands. Because of where our merch was last year, we were only able to hang out with one or two others. This time we were all together in on central area, so it was us Bella Morte, Ghost Project, Faith and the Muse, Spider Lilies, Hellblinky Sextet, Arc Attack, Voltaire, Cruxshadow, and Ayria.

Something really special happens when we all get together at one festival. Its like a mini reunion seeing as we are always running into each other on the road. We all got a chance to go and watch each other live as Arc Attack, GP, and Hellblinky came to our sound check and show, just as we went and checked out Faith and the Muse, Ayria, and Hellblinky. We even had a chance to pull Parsec from Arc Attack up on stage for one of our songs. Its makes life on the road so much better knowing that there are other performers out there, each willing to take the time to help the other out and make all of our performances better.

Just another example of this was last month when we were playing down in Hollywood. While we were there we found out that The Last Dance was playing a show down the street from us at Bar Sinister. They ended up coming to our sound check and we then went down to theirs. Robert and Nathan even had a chance to get up on stage and play a few songs with them. Knowing you have that kind of support and comradiere within the music community makes playing shows that much sweeter. But I digress....

I want to thank all of the fans who had a chance to come out and see us. From what I could see it was a packed house. I hope we can get the new album out to you soon so you don't have to get it all off our live performances on Youtube. :) I look forward to seeing all of you next year, and hanging out with Faith & the Muse in Portland, and Hellblinky in Arkansas!

Also, special thanks to Diana and Martin from Seattle Steam Rats and Colt from Atlanta. I think they were the main reason we didnt burn ourselves out this year. :)

Getting ready for Atlanta has been interesting to say the least. We have been putting together our acoustic set and it should, oh how should I put it, interesting. :) We will have a few new songs and a few old so it will be fun! Last time we were there I though I was going to pass out after we got done with the acoustic set. Main reason was that our day went something like this.

About 4:00pm start getting ready for load in and sound check. Got done with that about 7:00 or so. From there, start getting ready for the show and get people fired up about coming. Perform about midnight. Get done signing autographs around 4am ish. Pack up and get to bed around 5:00am ish. Get up around 7:00am ish..... Do another show at 10:00am.... lalala

I was living off of coffee and bananas. Mmmmm, banana flavored coffee.... aahhhhhhhhh

Anyway. Its going to be a good time. Hope to see all of you guys there! :)

Btw, did you know spell check thinks the word aahhhhhhhhh is chihuahua? Just thought I would share that with you...

So I know its been quite a long time since I've blogged anything. Also you may have noticed that most of my posts start with that statement. Anyway..... The show last Sunday was probability one of the best ones we have had. Not only did we have Aerialists, Fire Breathers, and a host of Fashion Designers. But we also got most of our songs right on the first try! It was good to see everyone there, and I hope we are able to do another show there soon for everyone who couldn't get in the door. :)
Right now I'm hanging out with Nathan down in Hollywood at the Hotel Roosevelt chilling before our show tomorrow. Should be a spectacle, one way or the other. :) Look forward to seeing everyone. Ill write more in a bit, but for now I need to try out the pool.....

\

and Nathan needs to keep his clothes on. :)

I thought I would pose a question to you guys based on a conversation I had last week. Its a little deep for a weekday so bear with me. :)

The other day I was discussing different cultures with some friends of mine, which lead to a discussion of the “Universal Declaration of Human Rights” which was published by the UN after WW II. (Yes, these are the things we discuss. Along with literature, zombies, and Nathans drinking habits.)

I do not want to debate the merits or flaws of this document, instead I would like to discuss an underlying concept that came to light. That being “What is the definition of good and evil?”

The discussion started with evil being loosely defined as an act by which one person violates the rights of another. Obvious actions such as theft and murder being at the top on this list. As we continued, I noticed that all of our definitions were similar but there was a question simmering in the back of my mind. Can there really be a Universal absolute for good and evil?

All of us who were debating this premise come from a similar background. We are all US Citizens, we all grew up in law-abiding households, we’re educated in US Schools, ect. So it stands to reason that our moral and ethic views would align, based on common life experience.

But what about the billions of people outside our cultural norms and laws, that have been taught an entirely different set of moral values?

I have lived in several other countries for a time doing humanitarian missions, and have seen things that many here would consider “evil”, but are an accepted part of their society. Concepts such as “An eye for an eye” would be considered vigilantly justice in the US, but in some places it is expected. In fact you would be committing an immoral act if you did not seek retribution or compensation.

This brings me back to the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, and the question I pose to you: Can there ever be an absolute definition of good and evil (aka moral and immoral behavior)? And if so, what culture/religion/law (if any) should it be based on?

Just wanted to pose the question because it was on my mind. Hope it’s not too deep for a Wednesday. :)

So, about London. :)

Its like herding cats, trying to get all of Abney Park out of a venue after a show. We are all so pumped up that we forget that we have to pack up, drive to the B&B, sleep for 15 mins, and drive 6 hours south to London for another show. :)

We got back to the B&B around 4:00am or so (or maybe thats when I fell asleep, I cant remember) and passed out until around 7:30am. One thing I would like to point out is, Nathan must have an Energizer battery hidden in his kilt somewhere. Even after a 2+ hour performance, packing up, and hanging out with fans, he still got up about an hour before everyone.

Here's another question, whats up with baked beans for breakfast? Not that theres anything wrong with it, but every “Traditional” breakfast we had was smothered. We were flirting with disaster in the car on the way to London, with our bowels fully loaded with beans..... (I'll let you ponder that one.)

The sound check was scheduled for 3:00pm, and we got there at about the right time. The Slimelight itself is a little club in downtown London on Torres Street, and when we saw the stage... Well it was tiny, and narrow, and a rats nest of cables.

We met up with Joe Black, Ghostfire, and Thomas Trux before the show and everyone was pretty cool. We hung out and had coffee at the cafe next store, and got to know everyone. We were defiantly a bit punchy already, and it was only going to get worse. :)

Then the sound check from hell began. Oh yes, it was certainly the 9th Circle of Hell into which we had fallen. It began with Roberts Drum Mike. After about 30 mins of pounding on the drum, the house and monitor mix had not changed and there was still some feedback. Every few seconds the sound guy would come up on stage to move some cable, trip over something, the walk back to the board and do nothing constructive. I think the highlight for me was when I hooked up all of my gear and he couldn't get a strong single out of it. He changed the DI, the XLR cable, the power converter, and half a dozen other things but assumed it was my gear. To prove to him that it wasn't I plugged into Ghostfires backline and lo and behold, my stuff worked fine..... Hmmmm. Maybe operator error? COULD BE!

I think another clue was when Robert asked for phantom power for his mike. The exchange went something like this.
“I need phantom power.”
“You got it.” replies the sound guy.
“No I don't.”
“Yes you do.”
“There is a little red light on my mike and it isn't on so I don't have power.”
“Yes you do.”
By this point Robert was ready to throw his mike stand at the sound booth, and then.
“Oh, maybe this will work. Do you have power?”
“Yes.....”

I also noticed that the sound guy didn't believe in muting lines prior to unplugging stuff. So this fiasco went on for 3 hours. Yes thats right 3 hours. Nathan would have sound, but the lead vocal would fail, I would get sound and the keyboards would go out. Finally we just said “I surrender!” and went to get ready.

As we were leaving, I saw the drummer from Ghostfire starting his sound check and started having the same issues. We looked at each other with an understanding nod.

As went went out to the cars, we were greeted by a very long line of Steampunks all lined up for the show. One of Dr. Steels minions gave us some Mind Control Cookies, obviously one of his clever ploys to enlist as many of us as possible. ;)



We left and came back about 2 hours later, parked at the end of the road and headed on inside. By the time we had gotten there, Joe Black was already done and Ghostfire was on. I loved their set, as well as Thomas's which came after. Unfortunately, Thomas had some huge sound issues and was only able to do about half of his stuff. He recovered very well though, and still put on a good show.

Then it was our turn. After Nathan did a violin solo to a Britteny Spears song (Yes its on Youtube already.) we went into the first song. I though my ear drums were going to pop, seeing as the keyboard volume was through the roof when we started Holy War. For the first few songs we had to stop and start, trying to get the sound guy to fix the levels, but eventually we got going.

(Photo's below courtesy of Anhur's photostream on Flickr.





Once things were moving, the show went well. Aside from Finn twirling around and getting caught on my Gators or Roberts drum every time she moved! Our set was a little short, a little over an hour because we weren't quite sure when everything was going to blow up.

I'll talk a little more about what happened after the show with “Atmosk” and the fans later. :)

Ok, so now to continue describing our trek through the UK…

Where was I? I’m too lazy to look at my earlier post to find out.

Anyway, after everyone got to Whitby that Friday (Robert and Kristina decided to drive up from London the day of the show) we opted to go out and get some food. I’m not sure where it was, but we were walking down one of the side streets near the Abbey steps. It looked like someone pulled it right out of a movie.

Just to show how American we are, I think we said something along the lines of “Disney would try to make it look this cool, but it would suck and everything would be made of Styrofoam…” :) I’m paraphrasing of course.

We began setting up for the Friday night show around 6:00pm or so. We set up our table in the lobby of the venue, which was right on a cliff overlooking the North Sea. Again, very neat….

Later, we went are checked out the stage and they had a custom lighting and sound rig setup. I have to say that I was pleasantly surprised with what they had up there. I had two monitors and a backline for myself. Crazy! :) Normally I just have to try and feel the bass tone from the house subs. All the guys working that evening were top notch.

Down in the green room we had all the essentials, water, chips, Jameson, Beer, Advil…..





The show went really well and I think we played for over two hours. Robert kept saying, “What about this one?” and we would play another one. We are lucky we stopped when we did because I think we were bordering on the “I can’t really remember how to play that song, but let’s do it anyway” area.

As always, the people there were dressed in their Steampunkeriy finest. There was one couple with a pair of steam rifles and a small mechanical dragon that moved around their pack. Also, there was a guy who hand tooled a pair of pistols which looked fantastic! (Photos below curtosy of Sistercarrion on LJ)









We got done and out of there around 3:00am, and got to sleep about 4:30am. The reason I point that out is that we got up about 8:00am to start the drive to London for our 3:00pm sound check at the Slimelight. Ah yes, the Slimelight….. I will talk more about that fiasco later. But I have to say that our fans in London, in all of Europe in fact, are very cool. :)

Here we are back from the good old UK, and it was quite an arduous adventure. Allow me to begin this whole thing with saying it was well worth the flight. Although I don’t think I want to watch anymore movies on a tiny little screen for a long while. When you wear your headphones so long your ears ache, you know there is a problem.
Nathan, Finn, and I took off last Wednesday and got into London Heathrow early Thursday morning with little fan fare. We went to pick up our car, yes we decided to drive, and that when some of the fun began. First off, why do Brits drive on that side of the road? I know it has some historical context but seriously…..
After having about a 3 hour screw up with our rental, we finally started driving north to Whitby from London. As you can see, it was a bit different.



Right when we left the rental place the road north sent us through about 100 roundabouts. An important thing to note is that roundabouts go clockwise in the UK. I realized this after I got into my first roundabout and an oncoming bus helped me realize something was amiss. After nearly crapping myself (I think the term we used was “Spackle my underwear.”), we got on the right side and drove north up the M1.
We got to drive through the moors, which look liked some kind of brownish moonscape seeing as the heather has not bloomed yet. Also, every road disappeared as we crested the hills, which caused more spackling to occur….
When we finally got to Whitby, our lovely GPS (which was pissed at us I swear) took us the back way to our Bed and Breakfast. Which normally would be fine, but these were one lane cow roads with large trucks on the wrong side of the road and no shoulders…. I digress….
I have to say that where they put us up for the night was gorgeous. We were right on the North Sea and Jane (the owner of the B&B) was super nice. She had coffee and tea out as soon as we got in, and we took a walk down the shore.





By the way, people in the UK are really friendly, so much so that I began to wonder what they were up to….. Hmmmm…..
A little later we went to a meet up at a local pub with the Last Dance and some people from the festival. Nathan immediately began to consume mass quantities of beer and pronounce his love for everyone. Then Finn and I force fed him so he didn’t pass out to soon.
We have to remind Nathan from time to time that he needs to get drunk AFTER the show…..
One thing I do have to say is that when we go into Whitby, it was the first time I was ever speechless looking at a town. Its right no the North Sea, and used to be an old fishing village. It has the most picturesque abbey on top of a hill which is older then the whole US.







I’ll continue with a bit more later…

Speaking of Zombies...

A few years ago I became aware of a new breed of floating Zombies that have been trying to invade England as documented below. I hope we don't have to battle through to many to get to Whitby. Brain matter tends to clog up the instruments after you beat them with it.....


Worst Case Scenario ....
Btw, I love these trailers :) To bad they never made a movie from them.....

Ok, so I just watched the G4 TV thing and I have to say that I was pleasantly surprised. I didn’t know everything looked cool in slow-mo. :) I was a bit nervous in the days leading up to it, trying to think of what I said during the interview and what they could do to manipulate it. But to my sincerest relief, they made Steampunk good!

Jake, your name just kind of slipped out during my interview. :) Sorry about that… But I did provide a good transition into your section.

Hope everyone enjoyed it!

Now I can sleep better tonight…
After we record…
And practice…
And drink…
And kill zombies…
Lots of zombies…

Seeing as we almost didn't do a show in Hollywood due to the health inspector stuff, we opted to do it without a bar. The exchange between Nathan and I after the show went like this..

"Nathan, how do you think the show went?"
"I think it was awesome, but it felt a little weird."
"It's because you weren't drinking."
"Oh yeah, that's probably it...."

Ahhh Nathan Nathan Nathan... :)

So, we had an all ages show in Hollywood last week and I decided to bring my daughter. The Last Dance opened for us, and my daughter (who is 9) has a few of their CD's and listens to them often. So she was in the front row singing along when Jeff (lead singer from TLD) came down and sang to her. She had a little fan girl moment...



After the Last Dance got off stage and we went on to perform, she asked if she could go lay down because she had already seen us before. Well I know where I rate with her... :)

Wow, has it really been a month since I blogged? Ooops. I've been recording, playing shows (most notably Hollywood and San Fran), doing the G4 TV thingy, and taking a college class. (Yes I went back to college after 12 years. :P)

I have to say that the San Fran show had some of the best lighting we ever had, and the Hollywood show was our first “no alcohol” show. Granted this was not on purpose, seeing as the club was closed down by the health inspector, but you do what you can. :)

I’ll talk a bit more about them later, but for a Wednesday and Thursday show they were great! Thanks everyone for coming out.

I am here again to entertain you with a short synopsis of the events which transpired this past weekend. We were fortunate enough to play the Edwardian Ball in San Francisco with Rasputina. As always, it was a enjoyable event, and I have to say that this one was very well executed. But allow me to begin at the beginning… So we begin... Again... Anyway....

As we travel more and more, the airport has become predictable so I will not bore you with that, suffice it to say that nothing went horribly wrong. The food from “Casa del Agave” came out horribly wrong, but that’s another story.

We arrived at our dwelling around 9:00pm and sauntered our way down to the Regency Center. The building itself used to be a Masonic Temple back in the early 1900’s. There was the seal of the 32nd Degree Mason on the entry way floor, and as we entered the main ballroom we were met with an extended stage in a newly repainted space, with a full balcony, and what was arguably the best lighting system in SF. But this was not the really interesting part of the venue. The promoter escorted us back to a vintage elevator, with the old control handel, and took us up to the Red Room. This room used to be the Masons Lodge Hall. As we passed through the entry chamber (which still had the original brass valves on the wall for gas lamps), we arrived in a red velvet lined room with a wood planked stage at the far end. Just above us in a balcony, stretched a fully functional pipe organ. (I could see Kristina twitching, she really wanted to play it…) But the truly unique items were on the stage. There were 32 back drops, one for each degree of masonry in the Scottish tradition. You can check them all out here: (http://www.regencycentersf.com/lodge_backdrops_a.html)



After ooo’ing and ahhh’ing for a while we went out for dinner at someplace that I cant remember. I know I had some kind of Portuguese soup and the quote of the night was.
“Man, there is some sort of sausage at the bottom of my bowl…” to which Robert replied
“Are you saying you don’t like man sausage in your bottom?”

The next day I took a stroll to China Town and found the most interesting toy that I got for my daughter. (See Photo). The best part was the caption “With 4 Magical Horns and 3 Figures to Impale!” MMUUAHAHA!



That evening we readied ourselves for the show and set up the merch booth in the lobby area. Everything went fine, until the show started. At one point Robert went to the green room to get some food and opened up a window to let in some air. As he did, he realized that he was looking out over the line waiting to get in, which stretched around the block.
“It’s Robert from Abney Park!” someone exclaimed.
“Anyone want Cinnamon Roll’s?” he responded. Really, that was his response. Robert then proceeded to throw cinnamon rolls to the crowd from the window.

Now then, the show. It was standard Abney Park glitchiness… It began before the first song when we had the entire crowd yell “Kristina!!” as she was no where to be found. Come to find out that she was selling stuff at the merch table and lost track of time… I thought she was in the bathroom, but I lost that bet. Sydney and her crew of bubble girls were there though, which made the night even more fun! You had to be at either the Edison Show or here to under stand that remark I guess... ;)

We were able to play a few new songs for everyone to include “Until the Day I Die”, “Clockyard”, and “My Life”. In the middle of the set we were presented with the Video of the Year award from Noisescape TV for Sleep Isabella, which was a cool deal. “)

Now, after the show. I would like to preface the next statement with “I never drink.”

A fan (Whose name starts with a C, and told me to call him Claws, and who I told to email me because I knew I would forget his name...) gave each of us a personally engraved shot glass with the AP logo on the back. I have to say that these were damn cool! Now, the problem was that I have a shot glass in my hand. So fans felt obligated to fill it with Jameson, a couple of times. Did I mention I don’t drink? Anyway, peer pressure got the best of me and I downed a few shots. How bad could it be?

Sooooo, I’m still apologizing to several individuals for making a blabbering fool of myself. Nothing unforgivable mind you, but (as an example) when I spoke with Gayle (From the Steampunk Ghostbusters) and said that “The girl we brought on stage looks a lot like you. Is that your daughter?” Too which she glared at me and replied “It’s my sister, and I’m five years older than her.” Foot in mouth maneuver complete.

Just so you know, I continued this trend for about an hour, digging myself ever closer to China.

I remember narrowly escaping with my life, and staggering back to Hotel later that evening / morning.

Needless to say it was a good time had by all as always. Thanks to everyone who came and hope to see you in March, when we swing back through SF!

Let the wind be at your back.

There we were deep within the recesses of the dark and foreboding urban jungle which is Los Angeles. By day LA teems with life as its citizenry move about its concrete and asphalt veins, imbuing it with a sense of purpose. By night, LA breaks free of its corporate shackles as its life blood moves indoors where all manner of art, music, and excitement can be found.

And then there are the white blood cells of LA, the dreaded motorcycle police…..

Ok, so Nathan, Robert and I decided to go to breakfast the morning after the show. Surprisingly, Nathan did not have a hang over because he can hold his liquor (then devours it), and drinks lots of water. (and his pee reeks of alcohol. Ahhh, the circle of life.) Just kidding Nathan :)

Now we originally left just to get coffee and a bagel, but it quickly devolved into a scavenger hunt. We first stopped at the Coffee Grind next to the Edison, but it had a sign that said Starbucks was open on 4th Ave, so we went there and it had a sign that said come to the Starbucks on 6th Ave. It was at that point I noticed that the message also said “This message is for the employee meeting. Starbucks is closed.” Sooooo we decided to go to the Kyoto for breakfast.

Not surprisingly, there were few people in the restaurant when we were there. It had a decent menu with $15 bacon and eggs and a friggen expensive fruit bowl. (Robert likes his fruit. Mmmmmm fruit.) Robert left a bit early to go finish packing and Nathan and I walked back about 10 minutes later. As we left the Hotel we noticed just how dead the streets were. There were no cars to be had, the cabbies were sleeping in their taxis and I think I saw two other people walking. With this in mind, we started back to the Hotel which was about 3 or 4 blocks away. As we walked up South Hill Rd, we came to a four way intersection near the Edison. Nathan and I looked both ways and noticed that there were no cars. I mean there were no cars parked, driving, or otherwise. In fact there were no bikes or pedestrians either.
So Nathan and I crossed, god help us we crossed AT A RED LIGHT! Oh the HORROR! Jaywalking, we’re such pirates...

As soon we took our first step onto the roadway I heard him, sneaking up from behind. His little motorcycle engine puttering away. Then it came… “Whoop Whoop” The familiar sound of a police siren. (Don’t ask why it’s familiar). I don’t know if he was hiding in the alley or disguised as a tree somewhere, but there he was pulling us over for jaywalking.

“You know jaywalking is a ticketable offense, and I’ll have to write you up.” He said from behind his mirrored sunglasses. “We get a lot of people hit by cars here downtown.”

Ok, WTF? I again looked in all directions and STILL didn’t see any cars at all downtown. It was at this point I turned on the “Let’s see if I can talk my way out of this.” conversation mode.

“Sorry about that officer, we were just trying to get back to hotel. We have a cab coming in about 5 mins to take us to the airport.”

“Id please..”

“Sure, sure. We are going back to Seattle in a bit, and my daughter is flying back in from Buffalo today so we are going to meet at the airport. I Hope there are no delays…”

“Id?” At this point I slip him the super secret ID card.

“Do you have a state ID too?” And then the Washington ID card.

“Ok, well I’ll give you a warning this time. Have a Happy New Year.”

Success!!
So the moral of the story is don’t pay $15 for bacon and eggs…..

Anyway, just thought I will tell you that little tale. Yet another chapter in the wonderful Misadventures of Abney Park.

Well were back from the New Years Eve show in LA. I know that I got back a few days ago, but I’m just now getting to writing about it. :) Anyway, the trip down went rather well, except for the hour or two flight delay. You know that you fly way to much when you move through check in and security without any incidents. I’ve been back and forth across the country about 6 times in the last two months, and feel as if I’ve been beaten over the head with a large stick of pepperoni. But I digress…..
Once we arrived in LA, we checked into our Hotel which was about a block and a half from the Edison. (Downhill) Now, a block and a half seems like such a short distance to walk, and it truly is. When you are sober and not dragging a bunch of crap behind you. (Whose idea was it anyway to haul to gear by hand? Oh yeah, that was mine….. brilliant.)
The next morning we went to breakfast at the “Blue Cube” next to the venue. As soon as we walked in I knew we were a bit out of place, seeing as we were the only one’s not wearing a construction helmet and a reflective vest. We then sat down to a fine dinning experience of runny eggs, flame broiled toast, and bacon so crisp I used it as a paint scraper. (And then ate it, I was hungry) The looks we got were more of curiosity than anything else, as Robert tried to play a Motocross game on the I-phone (with the volume all the way up) and Nathan and I rambled on about something.
Load in and set up went well, but I’m still not quite use to the backpacker guitar that I’m using now. Its SOOOOO tiny. After that we got to meet with rest of Lucent Dossier, which I have to tell you is a fine bunch of people. We hung out in the Green room together for a bit (did some more eating) and went to down just prior to doors opening. I do love the way Lucent Dossier spreads themselves out around the Edison and adds to the whole atmosphere of it. Nathan and I were hanging out at the stairs with a few of them while we played Mandolin and Guitar. Lucent Dossier began to improvise a little tune about how Cotton Candy is poison and will rot you brain. All the while, another woman fed cotton candy to the people coming down the stairs. One thing on that, all of the people who were dressed Steampunk got into the whole thing by the stairs, but I noticed that the others coming down didn’t know quite what to make of us. Not sure if they were ready for the whole experience. Have some Absynth, that will put you in the mood!
Speaking of Absynth, holy crap I’ve never see so much being served. (Or horded by patrons). One poor addicted fellow was staggering behind the Absynth Fairy, taking several bottles every time she stopped. Then staggered away claiming victory over some oppressive whosamawhatsit, while conversing with his four invisible friends.
The show itself went off well, with us only mildly botching some of the new songs. Although if everyone was playing the Abney Park Drinking Game during one particular song, they should all have alcohol poisoning……
As the clock wound down to midnight, so did our set, as we only played a few songs after the confetti cannons shot off. Speaking of confetti, I found some lodged in the strangest places the next morning. Also, confetti doesn’t taste good mixed with Champaign.
Slowly, as we neared 2am, people began to filter out, and we start breaking down our gear to take back to the hotel. (Remember when I said downhill on the way to the venue was a bad idea? Because it means uphill on the way back!!!) Dragging a keyboard, guitar, 5 suitcases, bass, mandolin, backpacker guitar, violin, accordion, and a semi conscious Kristina is an adventure I care not to repeat.
All in all it was a VERY good evening. There were many a familiar faces to be had in the crowd, and it was good to see you all there. I can even recognize some. :) Special thanks to the Steampunk Ghosterbusters (glad you could make it), Bubble Girl (Not sure your real name), Eric (yes I brought your check :) and the rest of you who supported us down in LA. Hope to see everyone in San Fran in two weeks! Happy New Year!

Ok, so Im putting some stuff into envelopes for a few Abney Park fans this afternoon. I made sure everything was ready to go, and I was about to seal them when I realized that.... I had Cheeto hands. AARRRGGGHHH! Now I myself am a fan of Cheetos (in moderation of course), but you would think they would put a warning on the label stating "Will turn all paper a smudgy orange and clog up your keyboard with a fine Cheetorific powder..... Enjoy." Needless to say I will be redoing all of the envelopes here shortly, unless fans want my fingerprints highlighted in orange on their correspondence. Anyway, just thought I would share.

DAMN YOU CHEETO HANDS!

So there I was… No really it’s true…

Now to continue where I left off yesterday. I noticed that a few pictures of my daughter made it onto my Journal. Yes, she was with us for the whole weekend. I thought it would be good for her to come to a show, seeing as we do not do many all ages shows. While we were there she managed to do the following: First, she participated in ballroom dancing for about 3 hours Friday night. I went up to see how she was doing and saw that she was schmoozing with everyone. Shortly after I arrived she came to me and asked me to dance. I thought, “How nice, it’s great she wants to dance with me.” After we began she quickly realized that I had no clue how to ballroom dance and promptly said, “Your not very good, that’s OK, I’ll lead.” This was coming from a 9 year old. Sigh…
Next, she viciously attacked me with a rubber mallet in the vendor room. The video of which will bubble up on YouTube soon I’m sure. :) Lastly, she came to the show. This was pretty much her first real concert and she got an “All Access Pass”. I never got an all access when I went to shows :P Anyway, she ran around the Civic Center, past guards, Police, and stage crew saying “All access, I’m going over here, and here, and here.” The funny thing is that everyone just stepped out of her way. But the defining moment of the night came after the show was over.
She had been in the audience, dancing with a bunch of fans. Apparently she had bonded with them because she then said to everyone assembled around her “I have an all access pass, want to come back stage to see everyone?” Shortly there after, a group of 12 or so people appeared in the Green Room, my daughter’s entourage I guess, and we all chatted for a bit. This group included the Steampunk Ghostbusters, and a bunch of Dr. Steels Toy Army Soldiers. Kato brought a group up from LA for the show. Yea!
As for us, Saturday went relatively smooth. Aside from me losing the van keys right before we were supposed to leave at about 12:30am. I swear they were not in the Van when I found them. They were in the parking lot…. a squirrel took them from my pocket…. during a hurricane…. it was dark and there were wolves…. never mind :P
The next day we went to the Winchester Mystery House and took the 2 ½ hour tour. I have to say that it was very impressive. Granted we had a few people who seemed very bored because there were no shiny lights and TV’s, but for the most part it was fun. I never knew that Mrs. Winchester was only 4’ 8” tall, although you could tell when you tried to walk through some of the rooms. We were able to see the room where she died, her séance room, the basement, the door to nowhere, and a few other key places.
Overall it was a good show. As always, the fans were great, the venue was great, the promoter was great and we had a wonderful time. Oh by the way, I had heard some people complain that we are getting to good at our live set and have not been making any mistakes on stage. Don’t worry, we more than made up for that this show. A few cases in point.

1. During “Death of a Hero” Robert began singing at completely the wrong time, at which point I glared at him. It took a moment, but he realized what happened and stopped turned to the audience and smiled. (Everyone take a shot…)

2. During “The Derelict”, we had to pass out lyric sheets to ourselves. (Everyone take a shot...)

3. During Stigmata Martyr Robert kicked out his XLR cable on his mic. Even though the sound guy told him to wrap it up. (Drink the whole bottle...)

4. During about three songs the computer had issues with the output to our MOTU. (Now eat the worm…)

Anyway, that’s a quick run down of what happened this weekend. I hope to see everyone in LA on New Years. May you all have clear skies and the wind at your backs.