Voodoo Burns Up Cat's Art MusikCircus

Perhaps there's the thought we exaggerate in saying 'Voodoo Shilton burned up the Circus' but examine the evidence, if you would.

This, we submit, is one seriously blowed-up Circus and we thank as well Samanta for her outstanding explosions.  If you don't think girls like pyro, talk to Samanta.


But, long before this happened, Joaquin Gustav was going to play electric for the night when he usually does not.  Messages were sent out to announce the show but, soon after, Joaquin contacted me and said he is ill.  No need to describe symptoms but he was feeling lousy and there was no way he could play.  I wished him well but there was still a wee problem because the notices had been sent.  This left me standing in an empty room as in no-one on the stage.  That was ok as I would stand by to tell anyone what happened.  There was no melodrama and we hope he feels better soon.


However, there was also no Cat.  The last time Voodoo played at the Circus, Cat was also afflicted by storms and she had been worried about that for the evening.  Storms were close-by and this was highly stressful because she absolutely did not want to miss this show.  Of course I tell Voodoo when he comes but all musicians will worry if you miss some shows in a row.

As we talked about it, I suggested maybe there's a jinx.  My thinking is to soften this as Voodoo is my friend but he comes to the Circus to play for Cat, everyone does.

Then I added maybe the jinx was caused by the Perseid meteor shower.  If we start hearing about walking plants, we are going to be so screwed.

And then I thought, hmm, that's so far outside that no-one on the planet will get it because the reference to walking plants goes to "The Day of the Triffids" which was an old English B&W sci-fi movie about a meteor shower which results in walking plants which eat people.

It was clear my explanation wasn't explaining very much but I was also continuing with getting notices out to people to let them know Voodoo Shilton is playing this week.  You do NOT want to miss this.

But my results were not so spectacular.  Not so many people had arrived and my thinking was to try sending more messages ... and then I crashed.

This was total bleakness.  No sign of Cat who has probably been blown away in a tornado.  No sign of Second Life which has exploded because of that same damn jinx.  Worst of all, not much of a crowd and I couldn't work on that.  I was thinking, man, you suck so bad as he's your friend and you can't find a good crowd for him.

But then I logged back in.

This was straight from the Wizard of Oz except no witches got squished as when I got back Voodoo's music was playing, Cat was there, many more people were there ... and stuff was blowing up in the sky.  Home, sweet, home!


Voodoo Shilton was playing an exceptionally delicate and gentle set last night and you can find some of the feeling of that even from a title, "My Old Friend."  It was toward the end of the set that I remarked on the overall gentleness of it and Xeao agreed she felt that way about it as well.  Since I typed this, Voodoo could see the words as well.

So ...

The very next song coming down the Voodoo pipeline was "Elephant Strut" and elephants are extremely gentle in their ways but, when he wants to strut, the ground will shake.  This isn't an electric metal song but it has all the power you would ever want and the key words are when he says 'here we go.'  Here we go alright as he has such incredible speed.

These contrasts are what make Voodoo Shilton such a fascinating musician as few have such a dynamic range.  It's all very well to play constantly loud but, after a while, people will either get headaches or walk away.  It's the same to play always soft but then it's not much different as people will either fall asleep or walk away.  Voodoo plays at both ends and anywhere in-between.  He may go from one extreme to the other in the same song.  This is what I mean by a dynamic range and he has all you could ask.

This may sound a bit too fanboy but I'll take that risk because it's real.  The varying orchestration is another aspect of the dynamic as he doesn't use always the same instruments for every song and the contrasts between them vary from subtle to radical.  Imagine a gentle, finger-picked guitar piece and then imagine a heavily-industrial synth chord driving through it.  Impossible?  Not with Voodoo, he makes it delicious.


(Ed:  what happened to the pics of you and Cat dancing?)

Look closer at the one right up the top.  She and I are dancing in the center of it.  Cat really doesn't believe people come to see her too as people only come for the performer, of course, but I know who was there when I left and I know there were hugely more when I came back and she was there.  People want both.  I rest my case.


A brief word on electrical storms as Cat is worried about letting people down and all the things an intensely-committed venue manager considers but I tell her with the backing of thirty years of professional experience that you MUST unplug.  My kit has the best battery backup / surge suppression I could afford but still I must unplug if lightning gets anywhere close.  Even with that protection, the lightning will win.  This also applies to your music kit.  If it's plugged into a wall socket and lightning hits close by, it's going to burn (figuratively), maybe even for real.