REVIEW: Dragon*Con 2009

Posted on September 11, 2009 by Skittle.
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So Dragon*Con has once again come and gone. This year was a blast. I got to see a lot of cool shows, meet a lot of cool people, and… well… probably a lot more stuff that I can’t even remember.

Lulz


The first night of the convention is technically the day before the thing even starts! Those who show up early for Dragon*Con have the opportunity to catch some pretty cool events. After registration and hotels were sorted, I made my way down to check out the pre-con show. This year was kicked off by the Spider Lilies‘ live set. Stacey and the gang put on an entertaining show featuring older music as well as selections from their latest release, Cyclogenesis. A highlight of the show was when a fellow former member of The Crüxshadows, violinist Rachel McDonnell, joined the band on stage to perform a few songs. Including a few encore tracks. I’m glad I finally got the opportunity to catch Spider Lilies live. The con favorite Voltaire took the stage next. He definitely seemed on his game this year, as he put on one of my favorite shows of his that I’ve seen. My favorite performance of the night was his track featured on Cartoon Network‘s The Grim Adventures of Billy and Mandy, “BRAINS!”.

Dragon*Con 2009




I started Friday off by watching William Shatner and Leonard Nimoy in a panel. It was cool seeing them. One of my favorite actors had a panel immediately following, Malcolm McDowell, where he spoke about his extensive film career including one of my favorites: A Clockwork Orange. Later in the day I had the opportunity to contribute to the official Dragon*Con blood drive, adding one to the over 2600 units which accumulated over the weekend. This means that this year we were responsible for the largest amount of donations accepted at a convention ever! Yes, even more than that ComicCon you may have heard of. I also got to see a portion of a the Bedlam Bards set on the concourse while waiting in line for the Squidbillies panel, where I had the opportunity to see a few songs performed by the voice of Early himself Unknown Hinson.

Friday evening I had a difficult choice as to which concerts I wanted to watch. While I can only imagine what I missed at the How I Became the Bomb and Bella Morte set, I had a heck of a time in the other hotel. While waiting in line I got to see an impromptu performance by Atlanta based Le Sexoflex. As the doors opened, however, I had to make my way in. Doc Hammer’s band WEEP opened up the show. Their set was entertaining and included most, if not all, of the band’s material. Being a relatively new band, Doc continuously cracked on their lack of merchandise and much of an established fanbase. Regardless I would recommend checking out their music. They reminded me somewhat of The Cure, but with a unique spin on the sound. After they finished their set, requesting that the audience not request an encore, the stage was set for steampunkers Abney Park. After a bit of sound troubles, the band got their show going. Even with new members in tow they still managed to bring the house down playing material from their oldest up to a few songs from the unreleased Aether Shanties. Truly a memorable performance. And my mother has a crush on Captain Robert now as a result of it.

Boba Fett collects a bounty on Captain Robert



After getting a few hours of sleep I made sure to get up in time to catch Abney Park’s special acoustic set on the concourse Saturday. Creating somewhat of a fire hazard, the fellas played interesting versions of some of their songs for over half an hour. One interesting note was their cover of the classic ode to everyone’s favorite (well maybe not everyone) sports car “Chitty Chitty Bang Bang”. Everyone clamoring around a single copy of the sheet music, the band finally got the song completed after two amusing retries. Also, congratulations to the couple who got engaged at the show. Every airship pirate needs a first mate. On a relatively steampunk note my favorite costume from the weekend was a huge Big Daddy, complete with Little Sister companion, from the game BioShock (of which we have the original soundtrack for). His giant drill actually spun too! Most impressive.

Big Daddy and Little Sister


Saturday night was The Crüxshadows night. Being that I personally owe so much to this band and love it more than any other I would never consider missing the concert. Even if it meant that I had to miss the special performance with Voltaire and Hellblinki Sextet. At least I got to see V on Thursday and Hellblinki last year. We all lined up relatively early to assure a decent spot in the crowd. One thing that I thought was interesting is that throughout the weekend’s evening concerts, The Crüxshadows were the only to have no other band scheduled with them. That meant that the show was luckily able to start relatively on time. After a quick introduction I got to hear their new single, “Quicksilver”. Definitely a great track, everyone should buy a copy of the single if you didn’t at Dragon*Con already. Especially in the first week of release, they’re aiming to hit the Billboard charts again. As usual the entire show was great and incredibly enjoyable.

I finished the night by stopping by the Gonzo film festival put on by the folks behind NeedCoffee.com and Nuts on the Road. They seem to show the best material. It’s where I first saw The Clown Quartet and a bunch of other funny stuff. They also have the best free swag. I walked away with some Batman villain action figure, a little Jack Sparrow figurine, and a Star Trek Captain Kirk Ken doll with a misprinted package saying “Mr. Spock”. Maybe it’s worth a million dollars? I sure hope so.




Much of Sunday was dedicated to my getting pumped for the upcoming Guinness World Record “Thriller” attempt. I made sure to attend the practice sessions until I was comfortable with following Michael Jackson‘s famous steps. I had learned it for the most part at home prior to leaving. The actual record setting event didn’t take place until 7pm. Over nine hundred friends of mine and I showed up and danced together for six full minutes. It was a very memorable experience seeing Stormtroopers and zombies and aliens alike “roar claw” and “booty bounce” all around me. I will be sure to post that video when we hear the final word back from Guinness.

Alien enjoys the Thriller dance


After the attempt I returned to the hotel room to rest drink and watch some of the Masquerade on TV. Eventually we made it down to wait in line for the I Fight Dragons and mc chris show. I had a good opportunity to “people watch” at this point. When we were eventually let in to the room I snagged a good spot up front. I must say that the I Fight Dragons set was one of my favorite moments of the conventions. The band put on a heck of a show and were very innovative in their performance. Aside from being positioned near a few considerably drunker than I patrons, the show was still pretty fun. Once mc chris took the stage it was obvious who many of the audience members had come for. A specially selected setlist of undeniably geeky material was played. To top the superb performance he finished his official Star Wars birthday party by throwing about $400 worth of toy lightsabers and action figures into the crowd. Truly, mc chris is the gift that keeps on giving. Especially since he just gave away $666 dollars on his message forum in honor of his new album: mc chris goes to hell.



Most of Monday consisted of just hanging around, saying our goodbyes to friends. After the dreaded 5pm mark had hit, when all panels end and the dealer rooms close, I sat on one of the many gorgeously hideous carpets of Dragon*Con just to the side of The Crüxshadows‘ merch table in the Marriott. As I sat there with a dwindling group of friends, I realized that the con was over. The trip wasn’t over until that long drive home on Tuesday, but in retrospect it was a great con.

Thanks, Dragon*Con!


Oh yeah. I spent a lot of time helping out my friend Nico with her chainmail in the dealer hall. Check her site out, she’s my favorite Canadian. Sorry, Avril Lavigne. ;-)

BinarySoul

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5 Responses to “REVIEW: Dragon*Con 2009”

  1. YSLAR Upates: October ‘09 - Blog Archive - You Sound Like A Robot on October 2nd, 2009 1:39 am

    [...] cool site for music lovers, do check it out. _qacct=”p-c4o3JsfzdTxY6″;quantserve(); After the wild weekend of Dragon*Con posts finally got back on track at a normal pace. Word is that mc chris’ apple tummy may [...]

  2. Stormtrooper Jeff on October 15th, 2009 10:45 am

    The most depressing day of the year is Labor Day Monday, when you see thousands of people in the check out lines, toting their boxes of costumes, uniforms, and gadgetry. I dress up Monday just so there’s -someone- dressed up. So sad… back to reality the next day.

  3. Skittle on October 15th, 2009 1:13 pm

    The worst part of Labor Day Monday is the darn elevators. :-P

  4. MP3/VIDEO: Seven Songs That I Am Into Right Now - Blog Archive - You Sound Like A Robot on December 14th, 2009 11:48 pm

    [...] type it. Anyway, you should check that out. I really dig this band. I first heard this song back at Dragon*Con during their performance. It’s fun. Buy the album here. Download “Until The Day You [...]

  5. YSLAR Updates: September ‘10 | You Sound Like A Robot on September 1st, 2010 7:34 pm

    [...] and I won’t be back until the middle of next week. I will try to put together a good review like I did last year upon my return. Throughout this weekend you can follow my events via Twitter (@skittle61). Check [...]

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