Baron Dave Romm
Marscon 2009 Dementia Track Fundraiser
By Baron Dave Romm
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Fundraisers for 2007 and 2008
The great Luke Ski has an interesting, self-appointed job: To ceaselessly promote Dementia Music. The effort is huge, but he gets to hang around with his friends. As he makes more and better music, he gets better and better at the promotion. Watch out Sonny Bono! Somehow, he never runs out of energy. Geeze, I hope they don't test this guy for steroids...
The Dean of Demented Music is Dr. Demento. More than the godfather of this branch of filk music/novelty songs/funny stuff, it's how he earns his living. He and Weird Al Yankovic benefited from a symbiotic relationship, back when the field was smaller. Both could make fame and fortune in their respective niches. Now, YouTube is ubiquitous... and free.
Shockwave Radio Theater tried, as much as possible, to promote weirdness in all categories, not just music. We didn't get paid either, and our influence was largely local, largely at science fiction conventions, at least until the internet spread the word across the world. We didn't write or perform music, but we kept the spirit alive, and the radio show introduced listeners to some very strange artists. There is a reason why science fiction convetions, Minneapolis conventions in particular and Marscon in specific is one of the hotbeds of Filk and Dementia Music.
Marscon has had a Dementia Music Track since 2003, possibly the only sf con to dedicate a programming room to these performances. Many conventions, including Minicon, also in Minneapolis, have Filk Rooms, but these are largely (though not solely) traditional filk in the sense that a work is shared in a music circle, and others are encouraged to join in playing and singing. Dementia Music is performed in front of an audience.
And that's where the Dementia Track Fundraisers come in. (You were wondering when I'd get to that, eh?)
The 2007 Dementia Track Fundraiser captured many of the live performances, which is always iffy, and as I said of the 2008 Dementia Track Fundraiser, you don't buy it for the music, "the reason to get the CD is to encourage them to do it again." And they did.
The first two Fundraiser CDs were largely vanity projects; a remembrance if you were there, a collectable if you're a geek. Not unlike the Obama Plate Sets now being offered, except noisier and you can't eat off them. For 2009, everything changed.
Marscon 2009 Dementia Track Fundraiser
The Marscon 2009 Dementia Track Fundraiser is available in not one! Not two! Not three! Not five! But four different configurations!
I was in the audience for much of Dementia track at Marscon 2008, where these were recorded. Luke Ski and Earl Luckes kept the acts moving; not easy when you havn't scheduled any set-up time between acts. Live music is a different art form than recorded music. Too often, as in the previous two fundraisers, a live album is more for fans than it is about the music. But now we can record more than just the music, and the musicians at Marscon are experienced and funny. Some of the introductions, missed music cues and banter is entertaining, even if you weren't there.
Some of the banter is entertaining even if you weren't there.
The great Luke Ski has engineered two separate sets of CDs: A two-disk set with mostly music cuts, and a three-disk set including more banter and the Opening Ceremonies skit. You can order either set of CDs (shipping included) or you can get the downloaded versions for cheaper. For $15, you can get 2 1/2 hours of music and personalty in mp3 form. Just the iPod stuffer for a late X-Mas gift.
I got the two-disk set: Intros and some banter are included, but the Fundraiser comprises mostly performances. Much like any live recording, the studio recordings are (to my ears) better. But not always, and sometimes the energy of the crowd is fed back to the artists.
The professional quality of the recordings is a pleasant surprise, given the home-made-sounding Fundraisers of years past. Again, this is due to Luke as well as Marscon. At times, during the con, Luke almost made running the stage seem like work. Well, it paid off.
Geeks will appreciate Worm Quartet's "Ode to the golden days of cybersex," Less Than Three. WQ benefits from a decision to avoid bleeping. You have to hear him in all his raunchy glory. And you really have to be part of the audience for What Your Parents Think All Your Music Sounds Like, though you can get the sense of it from the recording. Devo Spice, formerly using his band name of Sudden Death, brings a bunch of his the FuMP.com friends to pop Pillagers.
For the most part, performers with recorded backing tracks come off better than those who play instruments. Paul & Storm are a major exception. Referring to the audience, they ask rhetorically, "We're totally going to play with this toy until it breaks, aren't we?" They get a telephone call in the middle of a song, and share Jonathan Coulter with the room. They get everyone to ad lib "Arrrr" jokes during The Captain's Wife's Lament.
Dementia Music covers a lot of very strange ground, and the mix of short sets and Smackdowns are a good way to sample groups you might not encounter otherwise. The Gothsicles's thrash/goth is not my cup of hemlock, but I really liked their version of The Yolk's On You. Beth Kinderman serves cake and grief counseling to to the zombie fighters who are Still Alive. Devo Spice returns for a sequel, Bacon 2: Electric Bugaloo.
I'm glad I own the 2007 and 2008 Fundraisers, because these are my friends, I'm a geek, I'm a bit of a collector of unusual recordings, and because I was there. I can recommend the Marscon 2009 Dementia Track Fundraiser for anyone who enjoys comedy music and who really enjoys listening to people having loads of fun making comedy music. If you're unfamiliar with these groups, it's a good sampler to get you started. If you have their studio albums, you may want to fill in your collection.
And, as mentioned, the downloaded versions are a great last-minute (or not so last-minute) gift for the budding Demented Music Appreciator.
Reflections on being in the audience
For 30 years now (!), I've felt a big part of my job, on the radio, at conventions and on the web is to keep people weird. This isn't necessarily a difficult job, given that most of them were pretty idiosyncratic to begin with. I love playing to an audience who get's the jokes. For most of the Shockwave Live Stage Shows, I wrote a part for the audience. Introducing new forms of humor, promoting fellow artists, keeping people on their conceptual toes: I did my part, and kept on the surface a strain of strange that was threatening to go back underground.
My job, as emcee or at Opening and Closing Ceremonies, was to find people in thankless jobs and thank them for it. As moderator and/or participant on panels, I got to spout off while giving others the opportunity to spout off and/or challenge assumptions. This is lots of fun. I've probably done more Opening/Closing Ceremonies at sf cons than almost anyone else on the planet.
Being in the audience is an odd feeling. To be sure, with the explosion of Mpls conventions, I'm not quite the impresario I once was. Many conventions, including Marscon, do wonderful Opening/Closing Ceremonies, an I'm happy to sit back and take it easy for a change. Not being emcee/dj evokes similar feelings.
I was never the high energy announcer. My style was more Ed Sullivan than Dr. Demento; more FM than AM; more Bob & Ray than Craig Ferguson. Heck, half the people reading this don't get some of those references.
I'm content, usually, to pass the baton and to reflect on a life of being a big fish in a small pond. I still run Opening/Closing Ceremonies at Minicon, and I'm on lots of programming at various cons, including Marscon. But the Dementia Music Track seems to have passed over me. More power to 'em. They're doing a great job. Still, they don't quite appreciate those of us who toiled in the trenches. I'm not part of the scene, and it leaves a bit of a void in me. I'll probably be moving out of that section of the convention. Moving out slowly... I still want to see all the acts... and do radio... and podcasts... and interviews... and photo galleries... and...
Aw heck. Who do I think I'm kidding. The show is too much fun to let go. See you at Marscon 2009!
Baron Dave Romm is a conceptual artist and a noble of Ladonia who produces Shockwave Radio Theater, writes in a Live Journal demi-blog, plays with a very weird CD collection and an ever growing list of political links. Dave Romm reviews things at random for obscure web sites. You can read all his music recommendations from Bartcop-E. Podcasts of Shockwave Radio Theater. Permanent archive. More radio programs, interviews and science fiction humor plays can be accessed on the Shockwave Radio audio page.
Thanks to everyone who has sent me music to play on the air.
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'The Day the Earth Stood Still'
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