An Amazing Concert

Saturday, after having Blaze's homeschool assessment done, we drove down to DeLand for a big steampunk concert at the historic Athens Theater. The Cog is Dead was filming a live concert video.



For this special occasion, they brought in some very talented friends to help out, Nathaniel Johnstone (formerly of Abney Park, now leader of his own band, The Nathaniel Johnstone Band),



Tempest,
(This was Tempest accompanying the Cog in Dead during their show at Dragon*Con last year)



Clockwork Knotwork,



and Phantasmagoria.



To get the audience all warmed up before the show, there was a costume contest. Five people were chosen to go up on stage and the winner was chosen by the enthusiasm of the crowd. Blaze didn't win, but he was one of the five.

The two pictures of him on stage were taken by Chris Bridges:





The show was absolutely amazing!

I didn't take my camera out of the car until after the show, but here are some pictures of people socializing afterwords.









Nathaniel Johnstone (in yet another poorly focused picture with Blaze) is one of the most talented and friendly musicians you could ever meet. He can play a wide variety of instruments and is full of infectious enthusiasm both on and off the stage.



Blaze and Daniel O'Ryan, one of the members of Clockwork Knotwork, admiring each other's backpacks. The Clockwork Knotwork one is actually a steampowered bagpipe.



This was the welcoming committee that met us as we stepped off the elevator at our hotel.



After being around such creative, talented, and colorful people at the Cog is Dead concert, they just seemed a bit flat.



On the way back to Tallahassee on Sunday, we made a brief stop in McIntosh, so I could take pictures of the cool little submarine that sits in front of McIntosh Village Antiques.

Display Shelves for Tea Cups and Tea Pots

On our way back from Minnesota, we stopped at the flee market in Cullman, Alabama, mostly so we could get out of the car and stretch our legs for awhile. I came away with this new piece of furniture.



It wasn't an attractive paint job and it turned out that the paint had been used to cover burn marks from candles and other damage. The paint had also been applied without removing previous varnish. The price was right, though.

This was the result of an entire can of spray-on Goof-Off brand paint remover and a lot of scraping:



This is the result of a larger can of paint-on paint remover, Klean-Strip.



The rest of the paint was removed with the help of extra strength spray-on Klean-Strip, which is scary stuff. It was burning my hands through a pair of vinyl gloves, so I replaced that pair with two new pairs, but it still burned my hands, even through the double thickness.

There was also a lot of sanding and rubbing with steel wool involved.

The "Warm Cherry" wood stain from Wood You (unfinished wood furniture) was left over from the dining room table.

I decided to put new knobs on the drawers, because the white porcelain knobs looked like they belonged in a bathroom.



After a week and a half of working on it, it was ready to go up on the wall today.