Aside from maintaining Dragon*Con's website, my other area of responsibility was the Hyatt's Concourse area, i.e., the floor below the lobby where the tables for performing bands were placed. So, this was where I spent most of my time; I think I made it over to the Marriott a total of three times. It looked like things were MAJORLY improved over there this year, too. I was also responsible for booking the bands who played on the Concourse, and it was great to see how many did well this year. More on this later, with pics. :)
I arrived early on Thursday and checked in with no problems. THIS year the valets at the hotel completely failed to destroy my car, which almost immediately made D*C 2002 a big improvement over 2001. I picked up my staff's badges and went downstairs to situate the early-arriving bands who were already wanting tables.
We had a few bands performing on Thursday night, including Yeti and
Sins of Lust, who were already scheduled, and Emerald Rose and
Driwhater, who were slotted too late to make the schedule. Despite
this, Emerald Rose drew a sizeable number of fans even on Thursday
night, as I thought they would. I managed to go get my camera
only in time to snap a few pictures of Yeti, a black-metal band
from Florida who performed in the Regency. I have no idea why
they were booked and they only drew a small crowd, but they were
pretty good for that style (they'd told me they sounded like
Norway's legendary and excellent Dimmu Borgir, and sho' 'nuff, they
did). Here are a few pics, somewhat dark since the room was dark
and my flash didn't carry too well:
Yeti #1
Yeti #2
Yeti #3
Yeti #4
Yeti #5
Yeti #6
--And that's all the pics for Thursday. I'm pretty sure I was up wayyy late, but I'm not sure exactly what happened aside from a late trip back up to my apartment to get more clothes -- and no, I don't drink or otherwise imbibe. :)
Kelly Stewart, a Welsh-trained Celtic harpist was next on the stage, followed by Envie, who also turned in a good set. Butterfly Messiah, shown here also, are a fairly big goth act and performed next to an appreciate audience. Although they were also scheduled for a show the following day, they and their merch vanished overnight. A pity; they sounded good.
Fearing problems with a sizeable crowd, we had moved Nothing Inside's 8:30 performance into the Learning Center, and I got a few pics, here and here.
With my Concourse duties effectively done for the day I did a bit of wandering and snapped this typically-dark shot of the Hyatt's lobby on Friday night and this one of the choked traffic by the escalators at around 10:30pm. Note that the crowd is already quite thick....and I kept thinking "Whew, and this is only Friday!"
Next on my bill of shows to see was The Changelings, who have
played at Dragon*Con for more years than I can remember. With good
reason; they've been consistently voted Atlanta's best goth band
for many years, and their sound is soo much more than just goth.
For D*C 2002 they'd actually flown keyboardist Nick Pagan back from
his work in Prague, Czech Republic, to play their show. Although
late-starting, as virtually all D*C Changelings shows are, and
marred during quieter moments by a damnable 60-cycle hum, they
still turned in an excellent performance for at least 400-500 fans.
Here are some pics, none all THAT great:
The Changelings #1
The Changelings #2
Nick Pagan, keyboardist and world-traveller :)
The Changelings #3.
Following the Changelings and also suffering from the bad sound in
the Centennial Ballroom were Persephone's Dream, booked through the folks
at Renderosity.com. Their audience was small, but they have a lot of
talent and some of the band members are, like me, deejays for the online
radio station
SeismicRadio.
My only complaint is that Kim, their lead singer, sounded a bit raucous
when she was really belting the lyrics out. :) Here are some pics:
Note the bubbles being generated
Kim
More bubbles, and sponsor product-placement!
These glowing plasma globes were kewl.
--And that was it for my Friday photos. Unfortunately I managed to miss the
really cool folks in Ghoultown for a second year in a row, because I'd been
in the Regency during the wrestling tear-down and thought "there's no way
they can get this room back on time," and so we went out to dinner at the
City Cafe in the Days Inn. By the time we got back, they had already
finished. :( I was also feeling so worn out and my feet were hurting so
much from constantly walking around that I scrapped my plans to go to the
Slayer/Soulfly/In Flames show at the Tabernacle, and any plans to go
do part of my usual Friday night
metal radio show
at WREK-FM. Oh, well.
So, down to the Concourse I went to check in with the bands and my people. The Lost Boys, a popular Ga. RennFaire band, played at 11:30 a.m. but I arrived too late to get any pics. At 1pm Butterfly Messiah had been scheduled, but as already mentioned, they scrapped their slot completely and apparently left, so I put the Brobdingnagian Bards on in their place at the behest of Emerald Rose.
Following the Bards, I'd been able to get Z-Axis a slot on the Concourse during the weekend at the last minute, so here's a pic.
Nothing Inside followed Z-Axis and played to their usual sizeable crowd,
this time on the Concourse itself. Meanwhile I was helping my friend
Dirk and our "Tennessee posse" load his gear in for his performance,
as Windhorse, at 5:30. Wonder of wonders, we got it all in and ready and
he played a faultless one-man show, quite a trick considering he had
to bring virtually his whole home-studio with him: Mac computer, rack,
Korg Triton keyboard/synth, guitars, etc. We'd casually jammed
together -- he on guitar, me on my djembe -- on one song while I stayed at
his place, so it was with great trepidation that I agreed to TRY to play
along with him on one song, as moral support. :) Here are a few pics of
Windhorse's performance:
Dirk alone
..and again
Seated, playing guitar (he's amazingly good
considering he's self-taught and only been playing for about three years...)
That fat guy trying to pound on a djembe? That'd be me :)
Here we are again....
...and again..
A wider shot (pics were taken by our friend Randall, I think)
Dirk performing alone again. Whew, normality is restored!
A side view. All in all, I must say I was happy for
Dirk and his retinue (all friends of mine for several years), who put a lot of
work and effort into bringing his gear down for one show. But it all worked
and it sounded fine. Next stop: opening for
Ozric Tentacles on tour. :)
Following Dirk was a two-man band called Narrator from Florida, who I'd booked in for one show. I was getting worried, as they hadn't contacted me at all, but they arrived during Dirk's performance and we got them set up. (If they hadn't arrived, I'd have had our good friend Voltaire perform an impromtdu set.) Meanwhile I was helping Dirk get their equipment (Mac computer and all) back to their borrowed van. The dance-drum performance troupe Trybalaka followed, but we had moved this performance to the Learning Center also, due to crowd concerns out on the Concourse itself.
A goth band called Claire Voyant had been scheduled to perform in the Regency Ballroom on Saturday, opening for California's The Last Dance and Richmond's Bella Morte. We never heard from them, and we're still not sure what happened to them. Instead, we gave Voltaire that slot opening for TLD and Bella Morte. He's been a staunch Dragon*Con supporter for years, and I was glad we were able to hook him up with a true performance.
I made it to the Regency in time to catch The Last Dance's show. I'd
listened to the promo CD that they'd sent to our office, but nothing
prepared me for their live performance, which became one of the highlights
of my entire weekend, and easily the musical surprise of the year for me.
I took quite a few pics, and they deserved it:
Crappy side-shot
Over-the-heads shot of Jeff, lead singer
Jeff and Peter
Hey look, Phil uses a Korg Triton, too!
Better, closer shot of Jeff
Peter, Jeff and rap-master Phil (on guitar now)
I tried a few pics without flash. This one of Jeff could be worse....
And this one of Jeff and Phil...
Peter: the low-light version
Oh, well, this shot's blurry
This one of Jeff, Phil and Peter is a bit better
Jeff: the low-light edition
Phil and Peter
Jeff
This one would have been a cool pose if it weren't blurry
Enough of that silliness; on with the flash!
Peter and Jeff
Jeff and Phil
Jeff and Peter
Jeff. Decent, close shot
Rick on guitar. Left-handed, too.
..and again, a better shot
Long shot of the stage and the audience; they drew well.
Okay, everyone up on stage!
The stage can support the extra weight -- although not without flexing a little...
More folks on stage -- that's my friend Candace on the left
Jeff gets down!
The Last Dance turned in a great show! They flew in from California just
to play Dragon*Con, only a few weeks after their beloved drummer Ivan had
passed away, and so there was an additional layer of emotion in the room
that night, with the spirit of Ivan perhaps watching from above. Did
I mention "Spirit"? Their cover of that Dead Can Dance song was a highlight
of their performance. I can't think of too many things that a band can
do live to impress the crap out of me, but covering a Dead Can Dance song
is one of them. :) The title at the top of this page is drawn
from the song's lyrics. This was a classic case of a band reaching back
for more and delivering a splendid performance, totally beyond what I
expected from hearing their CD. I really hope to see them again, and
over the rest of the weekend, they became friends.
Between their set I snapped a pic of my friends Jonathan and Bruce for posterity. It was a bit of a ChattaCon reunion for us. :)
Next up in the Regency were the night's headliners, friends from last
year, Bella Morte. Lead singer Andy Deane started the evening off
wearing a shirt and tie -- just for fun, as you can
see.
Here's an over-the-heads shot.
..and another one...
That bloody Gopal guy! :)
(Andy hasn't doffed his shirt yet....)
(Now he has... :))
Bn Whitlow, special guest-appearance on guitar!
"That? Why, that's a ceiling." :)
Close-up of Andy
Somewhat misframed shot of Andy
Another close-up
Tony back from the grave, and back on guitar.
Kewl shot of Andy.
It's not a REAL rock-show without a
pair of underwear on stage. It's supposed to be smaller and more...feminine, though :)
"See this? This is a rotten way to spend your Easter weekend."
Tony on the gee-tar
Andy
Tony and Andy
Gopal and Andy!
Random crowd-shot during Bella Morte. Good-sized crowd!
Tony and James W. (hidden)
Andy (close, but misframed)
Andy
Andy and Gopal (background)
Andy, in an interesting pose
James W. on the synth/keys
Andy, close-up
Another great year and great show from Bella Morte, who are really a
goth/punk hybrid. Lotsa energy to their show!
Here's a shot as the dance gets underway in
the ballroom afterward.
--And here's a freaky shot of Gopal with some of the guys in Ghoultown. :)
This was where my Saturday ended, and I made a quick trip home to check on the apartment and to offload the photos from my now-full camera. Sunday would bring yet another endless day -- but at least I'd face it with an empty camera!