Ravenwood Update - VENUE CHANGE!
Dj Infam0us
9-21-2009

They Gypsy will not be hosting the Ravenwood Festival this year on account of it closing.

Ravenwood festival has a new (and larger) home, The Event Center.

The Event Center

3570 W 6th St
Fayetteville, AR 72704
(479) 521-7665

Want a map? I thought so.

The closest hotel to the venue which I have secured a rate of 60 a night with IF you give them my first and last name (Bobby Scarbrough) is here:

The Comfort Inn - 735 S Shiloh Dr, Fayetteville, AR - (479) 695-2121

Also there are now close to a dozen Vendors and artists who will be attending the event with a plethora of different wares to show and sell. This event is now a combination Steampunk craft fair and dance festival.

I love a good party. This is shaping up to the be one of the best we've put together. I hope you'll join us.

Tickets are here: http://www.ravenwoodfestiv..al.com/tickets.htm

Dj Infam0us
We ain't goin' out like that. We ain't goin out...

Updates: Hotel information and Performance Artists
Dj Infam0us
8-26-09

Call the Hotel and give them My first and Last name to get your discount

Name: Bobby Scarbrough

Days Inn
2402 N. College Ave.
Fayetteville, AR 72703
(479) 443-4323

We've added additional performance artists:

Tribal Motion Belly dance - http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=54775932823
http://www.myspace.com/tribalmotion

T. Sebastian Essex Close up Illusionist - www.myspace.com/sebastianessex

Kindlin Spirits - Spinning Poi for your viewing pleasure.

I'm still working on announcing the Vendors, and I have... one more band up my sleeve that hasn't been seen in North West Arkansas since... Masque & Veil 2007!

-Dj Infam0us

You can get a ticket for Friday, the entire weekend, or you can purchase the Brass Key Membership.

I've been asked over and over and over. What is a Brass Key Membership? Well, let me outline it as it currently stands. Just be advised that more is going to be added to this pile of awesomeness as the event gets closer and closer.

Brass Key Membership:

* 2009 Brass Key Badge
* Vampirefreaks.com care package
* Exclusive access to the Brass Key gathering before the main event stars saturday night
* Private signing with the Performers, Djs, and Artists
* Brass Key group photos with the bands, Djs, and Artists
* A poster sized copy of the artwork for Ravenwood festival's 2009 flier by Eden Martin with Dead Earth Studios
* More to be added...


As a Brass Key member you are the core support for Ravenwood Festival 2009. This membership includes a Brass Key badge signifying your support for the Ravenwood movement, a care package from Vampirefreaks.com, and a poster sized print of the original artwork used for the Ravenwood flier created by Eden Martin of Dead Earth Studios.

You will also receive exclusive access to the Brass key gathering Saturday night before the main event begins where a group photo of all of the participating artists and brass key supporters will be taken by K Herbert Originals. You'll also have exclusive access to shop the vendor tables, Chat with the bands, pick up their albums and wares, and have them signed when there aren't hundreds of people between you and the artists you love.

We're also having a print of the piece Eden Martin created to be used for the Brass Key badges made for all of the participating artists, performers, djs, and Brass Key members to sign.

We have more to be added to this package over the next month so keep your eyes here.

-Dj Infam0us
(If you've been tagged in this note please help me spread this around. Thanks!)

There are some new details. Check them out.... here:

Ravenwood 2009 - Neo Victorian Cabaret

Thank you for visiting the RavenWood Festival page. This festival is based in the Ozark Mountains of North West Arkansas.

Featuring Performances by

Abney Park - Myspace - Facebook

The Hellblinki Sextet - Myspace - Facebook

Espermachine - Myspace

Ex-Voto -Myspace

With a special performance by Tribal Motion Belly dance - Myspace - Facebook

and Dj Annabel Evil of New York and VampireFreaks.com - Myspace

Time:

October 2nd and 3rd

Location:

The Gypsy on College - Myspace

Tickets are 20 in advance. I'll be posting a link where you can purchase them online this weekend. You can also find me at any event and get your tickets from me in person. Thank you!

More details as they are confirmed

Ravenwood 2009 - Neo Victorian Cabaret
Dj Infam0us
7-1-09

Everyone has been asking me about Ravenwood festival. I won't bore you with the details of all the troubles we've had trying to nail down a venue and a date.

Along the way there have been rumors and troubles. There have been victories and defeats. All of the events of this year have culminated in Ravenwood - which is in essence what Masque & Veil was before it ceased to be in North West Arkansas - returning to the roots of our community.

Here are the details:

Ravenwood 2009 - Neo Victorian Cabaret

Featuring Performances by

Abney Park - http://www.myspace.com/abneypark
The Hellblinki Sextet - http://www.myspace.com/hellblinki
Espermachine - http://www.myspace.com/espermachinemusic

and Dj Annabel Evil of New York and VampireFreaks.com - http://www.myspace.com/annabelevil

Time:

October 2nd and 3rd

Location:

The Gypsy on College - http://www.myspace.com/thegypsyoncollege

More details as they are confirmed

I am well aware that the domain is not updated. I am posting this because we are behind on getting the word out. I am frantically working to get the fliers together, to get the sites updated, and the last of the details worked out.

I appreciate everyone's patience with us as we've been working hard to get this event put together for this year. I really do appreciate the support we've had for the events our group had worked hard to build.

Keep your eyes here for more details. More will be announced soon.

-DJ Infam0us
(Going to Tokyo in Tulsa to spread the word)

Ravenwood Festival and The Infam0us in the Media
The infam0us
8-9-08

Check out Ravenwood and myself in The Arkansas Times (front page of July's Entertainment Section). This article features details of the founding of Ravenwood Festival as given by me in an interview with the Author David Koon who was gracious enough to give us some coverage of our first year's event.

Ravenwood was also given a listing by the NorthWest Arkansas Times giving us a lot more visibility.

The NorthWest Arkansas news blog "Tuned In" also covered the event in pretty decent detail. Check this article out.

If you feel so inclined you can pick up a copy of the Benton County Daily Record this Sunday. There's a featured article in the paper that I was interviewed for. The article is about the local area goth community, and who we are. I was just one of the people interviewed for it. I haven't seen the article, but I do know that it's a full color feature article.

My picture is going to be in that paper. I'm excited and a bit apprehensive all at the same time. You never know how things are going to come out when someone puts them on paper. After her and I talked for nearly two hours I think she has a pretty decent amount of information to work with. I can say for certain that she doesn't see our crowd as quite as scary as she once did.

She was very honest in coming forward with her perceptions which she stated were likely off - that we're associated with stuff like Columbine. I laughed a lot. Mostly because to me it's a HUGE opportunity to get to set down with someone who really wants to know the people out side of their own circle - someone who knows they have misconceptions about a certain group of people and they want to know the truth.

The truth is we're a bunch of nerdy misfits. We're a very diverse crowd, and we're a lot less dangerous than most of the other club going crowds out there. You may have tons of drama in a goth club but you pretty much never have fist fights or weapons. Try those standards at some of the local mainstream clubs that have been shut down over violence.

Goth clubs are almost NEVER a place you have to worry about violence in in my experience, and that's another reason I love my community even if some of the people drive me a bit nuts. It's a place I can go be myself, and as myself I'm perfectly at home.

Anyway, I'll be posting a link to the article once it's online. I hope you guys will check out all of the coverage we've been getting. This is a break through for us in this area, and there are many many more to come.

I hope everyone is having a killer weekend. I'm sure I'll see you at the Cruxhshadows show September 13th. As always, the after party is at Sanctum. I'll be on the dance floor as usual.

-The Infam0us

Special Thanks Continued
The Infam0us
7-17-08

There were a few people I missed when I posted my thanks yous out.

I'd like to thank Katyasha for her work on the youtube video ad. I'm a pain to work with on stuff. Just ask her. ;)

I'd also like to thank Ravenwood Modeling and the Ladies from RWM who showed up to support the night. I want to extend a special thank you to Ravenwood Scriptorium for coming represent the other arm of our disfunctional family.

There were so many people who contributed to this event it's impossible to list them all. Some of them were unable to actually show up, but they still pitched into the event.  Of those I'd like to mention The Visualante, and Garret who both helped me spread the word in their areas, but were unable to make it at the last minute due to unfortunate circumstances. Neither of them backed off from offering help for this next year.

That... is what community is all about. I look forward to seeing you guys next year, and there will be a next year.

I hope everyone is winding down their week well. I hope you all have a great weekend. I'll see you at Tokyo in Tulsa and Assimilation.

-The Infam0us

Ravenwood Festival 2008 in Review
The Infam0us
7-14-08

Where do you start when reviewing an event of this sort? I mean, there's so much to tell, but really you just had to be there to understand how incredible, artistic, and overwhelming this event was.

The most appropriate place to start with this event is by thanking everyone who helped make the event run smoothly. I'm sure I'll forget someone so please be patient with me.

Roll Credits!

First and foremost I'd like to thank Jason Sterling and Beatnik Generation for helping make the event financially possible. Without their generosity Ravenwood would never have been as huge a success as it was. Secondly, I'd like to thank George's Majestic Lounge for hosting the event in their very swank surroundings. A very special thanks to Halo and Dragonfly who spent all day decorating and getting the venue ready for the event.

I'd also like to thank the staff at George's who were gracious, patient, and extremely helpful with all of our needs for the event.

It would be impossible to remember every single person who helped run fliers. So many people in my local area helped run fliers all over town. People from other cities as well as other states posted fliers and posters for us. If I missed you I apologize in advance. The support for this event was massive and powerful. I am hugely appreciative to everyone who pitched in.

First off thank you to my local Dark family ... Fayetteville, Arkansas for being there for me through all of the hard work, doubts, crisis, and points of near failure. You guys have been so wonderful. There are a few people I simply have to shout out to for all of their hardwork and hours of listening to me whine about event stuff.

First and foremost, a HUGE thank you to the Good Dr. Ford Von Fitch, MommaKatt, and Sky Captain Genesis who lived, breathed, ate, and slept the festival with me. Thank you for your ideas, input, support, and contributions. I couldn't have done this without you guys being there to save my butt everytime something started to go off kilter when I was already tied up. You guys rock.

I want to thank Voltaire, Abney Park, Paul Mercer and Davis of the Ghosts Project, Vernian Process, and Das Gift for putting on some incredible shows. Thanks to DJs Sky Captain Genesis, Fact.50, EternalDarkness, Anabel Evil, ChaosKitty Extreme, Anthony Bale, DeathMistress, Azrael, and Justy for providing all of the beats for the preparty, event, and after parties.

Thank you to DeathMistress who put up with me at the hardest points in the event, ran me to Tulsa so I could promote the event to our Oklahoma family, and spent days and days running fliers in the hot sun. Thank you for taking care of DJ EternalDarkness for me as well.

Thank you to Dark Mark for spending weeks getting Sanctum Ready to host the after party. There were many out of towners (including Bizarro the Optical Illusionist) who had great things to say about the after party.

Thank you to DJ ChaosKitty Extreme for the use of his equipment, and for being available at the most crucial moments. Thanks to all of the old DarkRoom regulars for stepping up in support of this event. Thanks to Caleb Clark my camera guy who busted his butt all night long getting good pictures and video of the event.

I also want to send a shout out to the Springfield crew who showed up en mass for this event. I think I saw half of the Ground Xero regulars at Ravenwood on Saturday night. With that said, I'd also like to thank Ground Xero for their gracious support in letting me promote this festival in and through the venue. Your generosity has been over whelming.

Thank you to everyone from Little Rock who ran fliers for me all over Conway and Little Rock. I'd like to specifically thank Robert, Nita, and Adrian from Das Gift for being so enthusiastic and supportive through the construction of this event.

Thanks to the Tulsa crew who brough a rather large crowd from the great state of Oklahoma. I'm sure I'll be seeing you guys at Assimilation and Tokyo in Tulsa.

Thanks to the coordinators in Dallas, Austin, and Houston who supported us and spread the word in their areas, and thank you to the people all over the west and east coasts who talked up, posted about, and showed up to our event.

Thanks to Sky Captain Genesis for all of his hard work on the flash ads aside from his DJing. Thanks for bringing Brandon and his lady as well as the uber hotness that is your dancing girls. Wow. Just... wow.

About the Event

I'd go over each and everything that went on at the event that I saw and heard there, but really you ought to read the blogs of the people who were there just hanging out.

For me the event was over whelmingly emotional. Seeing over 100 people show up for just the preparty was hugely satisfying. The enthusiasm and graciousness of the people who showed up in support of what we're trying to do was astounding. Standing at the front of the stage and looking back over the ocean of people on the second night, I was squeeing like a little girl. It was amazing.

The DJs that spun weren't just technically good at beat matching and pulling the right tracks at the right times to get the crowd moving, they were really enthusiastic about being there. It is so incredibly flattering to bring people you look up to as a promoter and DJ and have them being so excited about our event, and really taking it on as their own event.

The amount of enthusiasm that was flowing through the crowd, the asthetic quality of the venue and the decor, the lighting, the sound, the giggliness of the staff who were having nearly as good a time as the fans of the bands, and the passion flowing from the music was just overwhelming for me. I have to admit that I cried several times while I was on the dance floor watching Paul Mercer, Davis, and Nathan perform. Then when Abney Park took the stage I just couldn't pry myself away.

If you were at the event you heard Robert dedicate a song. You see, there's a story behind that song and that dedication. If you've been around this area for long then you remember last year we threw a huge fund raiser to bring Abney Park to Fayetteville.  It went very well, and we managed to get them out here for Masque & Veil last year. When I got Robert on the phone I told him we had the money. He seemed a bit shocked that we were able to raise the money. After his blog post about never having seen a fan base do that to bring a concert to their area i was sure he was surprised.

I told Robert that I only wanted one thing in return. He had to play Downtrodden for me. He said he'd see what he could do. Of course, if you were at MnV last year you know they didn't play it, and I gave him no end of grief about it. Jokingly of course, but then after a while I just figured I'd never hear that track live. Then Saturday at the event Robert dedicated that song to me on stage. The music started and I closed my eyes. I let it move me as I just bawled on the dance floor. That song often makes me cry.

After the show Paul Mercer came up to me and said that he really enjoyed performing - that this was one of the best shows he'd ever played in. Again, with the tears.

When you hit a certain level of strain trying to build something that takes months of preperation and thousands of dollars after having invested in nights, clubs, and events that went nowhere ... and the artists, attendees, and staff are so obviously just blown away ... it makes it all worth while. Everything I've spent. Every moment, dollar, and bit of focus I poured into this was well spent. I think those who contributed hugely besides myself would agree.

We are doing this next year. Plans are already being discussed.

There will be a Ravenwood Festival 2009. I hope that all of you who came out this year will be back next year. I hope to see new faces as well. Expect to see the same quality of line up next year as you came to see this year. We're not backing down from our standards. Please subscribe to the festival blog or my own blog to keep up with the ongoing events and festival news.

We will soon have video and some incredible pictures from the event, so stay tuned!

Ravenwood Festival becomes.... Ravenwood Events

I am about to transition the festival myspace page into a full blown events page where you can find the events sponsored and run by the staff of Ravenwood festival. You'll find a few events aside from Ravenwood Festival posted on the festival page from here on out. I have some pretty large shows coming up (like Cruxshadows, Ayria, and I:Scintilla September 13th) so please make sure you're subscribed if you want to stay informed of what we have coming up.

In closing

I hope everyone is recovering well, and to those of you who couldn't make it I hope to see you out next year. Enjoy your week, and I'll see you on the dance floor.

-The Infam0us
(Still in awe of this last weekend)

Interview w/ Paul Mercer of The Ghosts Project
=======================================================

Infam0us - So everyone knows The Ghosts Project is trekking all the way From Atlanta Georgia to come up and perform at the Ravenwood Festival with a troupe of our own local belly dancers.

When I first heard about The Ghosts Project I was excited to hear Nathan Johnstone of Abney Park, and Libby from Exoskeleton Cabaret gush about someone whose passion is so invested in their art. With that in mind I want to introduce to you (my readers) Paul Mercer of The Ghosts Project who has also performed with Faith and the Muse, Zoe Keating, and obviously Nathan the guitarist and violinist of Abney Park.

Paul if you would - walk us through what first inspired you to pick up your violin?

Paul - It was actually a bit of am accident, in the fourth grade. I guess you could say I sort of fell into it. It was an epiphany when I was a teenager that first inspired me to make it my life.

Infam0us - So tell us about your first few projects and the path from there to here, and if you would tell us a bit about your experience at Convergence 2007.

Paul - I began my performing career as a street performer in Atlanta. I did this for seven years. I learned more about music at that time than I can easily explain. I still busk when I travel - it is like meditation to me. My first band was The Changelings. We were a five piece formed in 1993. We put out seven albums over the course of our career, which are still in print and being sold. This was also my introduction to the gothic subculture. I began my scoring career during this time, making soundtracks with The Changelings for a haunted house and a few video games. Since then I have composed and performed music for over a dozen films. Currently I perform with many different projects, including DP3, Brass Knuckle Surfer, Faith And The Muse and Jill Tracy. My main focus is of course, The Ghosts Project, as well as my classical compositions. I am in the process of writing my first symphony, having honed my skills scoring films and writing string arrangements.

I performed at Convergence IV with The Changelings in Toronto back in 1998. That is where I met Monica and William from Faith And The Muse. It was exciting to be asked back last year to Convergence XIII in Portland. I had a marvelous time, performing there solo, with Faith And The Muse, and a surprise duet with cellist Zoe Keating, who I adore. Nathaniel Joneston from Abney Park and I did a little busking together, which led to me meeting Libby, and I also met the notorious Jill Tracy for brunch, who I have been touring with since.

Infam0us - When I first heard about you I was talking to Libby about artists to consider for the first year of our festival. She told me a little bit about how you and Nathan Johnstone met in front of a hotel or something. There was a bit about you two breaking out violins in front of the hotel and playing a sort of impromptu jam session right there on the side walk. Tell us a bit about that if you would.

Paul - Well, there were four of us, Nathan and I on fiddles, Steampunk accordionist Magpie on keys and Unsinkable Molly bellydancing. It was completely spontaneous, and we had a great time.

Infam0us - What guides you toward or away from projects as an artist? How do you define what projects - for you - satisfy that desire to create?

Paul - I guess you could say that I would rather be the stone than the ripple. Creating is like a drug to me. Sometimes I am able to enter a state of mind that I know no other way to achieve. I am always looking for artists and performers who defy genre or classification, who aren't content to create according to a formula, and who are willing to fly without a safety net, so to speak.

Infam0us - I know this is completely off the wall and rather random, but you obviously travel a lot. With those travels I'm sure you've seen some pretty spectacular shows. Which ones stick out in your memory the most, and what made them memorable to you?

Paul - Serpentine's bellydance performance at the International Vampire's Masquerade Ball. Soriah, in Portland, Oregon, when he performed with GP at the Fez Ballroom. It was trancendent. I also really loved this guy who beatboxed inot a flute at the Edwardian Ball in San Francisco.

Infam0us - Finally, I want to thank you for taking the time to let me interview you. I'm looking forward to seeing you live in my home town this Summer, and I want to thank everyone who's following the festival blogs. I'll see you at Ravenwood.

With that I leave you with a bit from one of Paul's performances. Expect to see him and the Ghosts Project on stage Saturday night at the Ravenwood Festival.