The FuMP Artist Blog - Consortium Of Genius

And now, a brief interruption...

Sat, 18 May 2013 01:00:00 -0500

As we rocket toward 'NOLA Time Fest' at the end of June, I'm taking a brief detour to the Steamier side of things, where we'll be debuting a new lineup of the 'Confabulation of Gentry' (the 1912 version of COG.) Among the changes are our new tuba player Artimus and our new trumpet playing sensation Stanley.

We're also trying a new approach by utilizing various circus and vaudeville style acts in between musical numbers, rather than a standard opening act. If you live in the New Orleans area, you should come see this antiquarian spectacle!

This is going to be presented at one of New Orleans newest music venues, 'Gasa Gasa', a coffee shop/art gallery on Freret St. that just got a major renovation, with all sorts of interesting video sculpture and light art dyamically decorating the walls, and a state of the art sound system for the stage. If there's one thing I love, it's new ideas, and the people in charge of this venue seem to be brimming with them!

Behind the scenes...

Tue, 07 May 2013 01:00:00 -0500

While things have been pretty silent in public, behind the scenes, lots of interesting experiments and developments are happening. For starters, the electric band has picked up a new trombone player, who promises a character that is very different from all the others - a DIGITAL character! I'm looking forward to seeing how he pulls off the costume.

We're busy constructing a song about the old C.O.G. alien nemesis, the Galactic League of Ultimate Evil. In another first, this will be a PROG ROCK song! We're busy throwing all our favorite prog and fusion licks into this monsterpiece, which might be ready to debut in a couple months...

And a couple months is what we have till our next BIG event - since we didn't get invited to any cons this year (so far), we have decided to team up with a local fan club and throw our own! It's called Nola Time Fest, and it's going to be a Time Travel themed relaxacon, to be held at the end of June. No big guests, and just 7 hours on a summer Saturday, but we have lots of fun stuff planned for this one, so if you can, plan to be in New Orleans on June 29th! And if you want to participate, by all means drop me a note!!!

ANOTHER new member added...

Tue, 16 Apr 2013 01:00:00 -0500

Wow, it seems as though we don't know when to stop... right in the wake of our new guitarist's stage debut, another new member has joined the Consortium of Genius - a trombonist - bumping our current roster to 11. (yes, ours go to 11!) I'm going to need to build a new wing on the Secret Lab... sheesh, where am I going to put all these geniuses? At any rate; last night's rehearsal sounded great with the new trombone parts. Pictures soon, I promise!

Filmmaking!

Wed, 10 Apr 2013 01:00:00 -0500

Past weekend was quite a success, esp. in terms of my other little pursuit, concert filmmaking, culminating in a deluxe 5 camera-shot C.O.G. concert on Sunday. Before then I taped three other concerts for 'Nuclear Choir', 'The Unnaturals', and 'Strange Travelers', the bluegrass band whose EP I recently completed at the Secret Lab. The latter was merely a one camera shoot, but when the camera's as good as mine, it's possible to get something sufficient to show off, esp. when you have a good board-tape to combine the camera mic with. They've posted one of the songs on their website here.

I'll be putting footage of the other stuff up very soon... gotta wade through some format conversions for the C.O.G. stuff before editing! (my camera and my friend Burgin's are HDV, and the others were DSLR's of various types.)

C.O.G. IN TURMOIL FOLLOWING ANNOUNCEMENT

Mon, 01 Apr 2013 01:00:00 -0500

The Consortium of Genius is in a state of upheaval following Dr. Milo T. Pinkerton III's recent revelation that he had forsworn Evil Science for a different life-goal: competitive cuckoo clock carving. "The level of detail I can achieve with my precision laboratory implements is quite unparalleled," said Dr. Pinkerton, "It is also substantially quicker than the old methods of actually cutting betwixt the cellulose fibers with a sharp implement. Why, just look closely at the fine curves I'm currently fashioning on this clock! I'm utilizing a 10600nm 5000W CO2 laser on this particular piece. Now, inspect the rivulets around the top edge of the facade... no living soul will dare doubt my woodcarving prowess from now on!"

Enemies and allies of the former musical supervillain reacted with varying degrees of shock and delight to the news. When informed of this turn of events, Sasha Sleepsindych, head of the Komrades Oppression Group (which attempted to assassinate Dr. Pinkerton last summer) stated: "We are proud to see The Idiot Pinkerton has decided to do the proper thing and join the Proletariat with his first steps into manual labor."

Drumbot, rhythm robot for the Consortium of Genius since 1997, seemed to be taking the news in stride, and concentrated on the positive aspects of this development. "The boss has been spending so much time carving clocks that he never even bothers to sleep at night! That's why me and Remy are totally changing the locks on Pinkerton's room and taking all his stuff - starting with his waterbed. Besides, after last night, I don't think he'd want to use it again anyway."

Zarglar Blinks, chairman and chief marketing director of the Galactic League of Ultimate Evil, had this to say: "You mean to tell me that Pinkerton's going out of business? Really? Has he announced any kind of yard sale yet? Because I've sure been eyeing that Time Door of his for a while... bet I could sell that thing to my old frat buddy Darth for a substantial profit."

Dr. Milo T. Pinkerton III is currently ranked 58th in the world of competitive clock carving, and is expected to improve his standing in the Dusseldorf Clock Carving Classic later this May.