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Want to hear a sample of the bands that played at Gothicfest 2005? Then go to their page on MySpace: www.myspace.com/gothicfest. Also, if you scroll down the page, you'll see in the "Friend's Comments" section some information about bands and vendors that attended the festival last year.

Gothicfest 2006 will take place Sept. 16 at The Odeum Expo Center in Villa Park, Illinois. However, for a taste of what it was like last year, you can order the DVD, which is now in production. Filmmaker Cliff Sieloff is producing the DVD, which will include "live performances by almost every artist that performed at Gothicfest 2005 including: Hanzel Und Gretyl, Slick Idiot, Slave Driver, Grigori 3, Drake, Ghost Orgy, Deepest Symphony and others," according to www.gothicfest.com. "The audio was captured digitally on 48 tracks and is being mixed to 5.1 surround sound. The DVD will also include a documentary on Gothicfest 2005 which will include: interviews with some of the many exhibitors, backstage footage and of course live candid filming of the many true Goth fans that attended Gothicfest 2005."

From now until March 5, Signature Theatre in Arlington, Va., will be showing Nevermore, a new musical based on the writings of Edgar Allan Poe. Nelson Pressley of The Washington Post called it "an intermissionless fever dream about the near-demented Poe and the women who haunted him." And J. Wynn Rousuck, of The Baltimore Sun, wrote that "the macabre atmosphere" captured "the dark essence of Edgar Allan Poe."

The songs, written by first-time composer Matt Conner, are basically Poe's poetry and short stories set to music. The book, written by Grace Barnes, interprets Poe's work in a Freudian fashion, showing Poe as a man defined by the women in his life and tormented by the search for a mother who died when he was very young.

Connor was inspired to set Poe's work to music because he felt a connection with the work. "Trying to find someone to understand your work," he said, "or who you are as an artist, I think is very challenging."

The production is directed by Signature Artist Director Eric Schaeffer. "It's a bold, exciting new musical that breaks boundaries, challenges audiences, and brings Poe's passion and obsessions to life in a most extraordinary way," he says. "What's particularly exciting about Nevermore is that it breaks many musical theatre conventions. It doesn't have a linear story. I like to describe the show as a cross between an American musical and Cirque de Soleil."

Special Event Discusses Poe and Nevermore
On Feb. 13 at the Corcoran Gallery in Washington, DC, Schaeffer and Conner will lead a discussion about Poe and his life. Cast members will also be there to sing some of the songs from the musical. Tickets to a performance of Nevermore, which includes a post-show discussion with the entire cast, are available for a discount when purchased in conjunction with the event at the gallery.

INFORMATION:

Nevermore
January 10 – February 26
Signature Theatre
3806 South Four Mile Run Drive
Arlington, Va.
Tuesday and Wednesday, 7:30 pm
Thursday through Saturday, 8 pm
Sunday, 2 pm and 7 pm
Tickets: $31 and $55
Tickets are available by calling Tickets.com (800) 955-5566 or online at www.signature-theatre.org.
Discounts are available for students, seniors (60+), military and groups of 10 or more.

Corcoran Gallery Discussion
February 13, 7 pm
500 17th Street, NW
Washington, DC 20006
Tickets: $15 (Corcoran members) and $20 (general public)
To order tickets call (202) 639-1700.

Nevermore with Post-Show Discussion
February 21, 7:30 pm
Signature Theatre
3806 South Four Mile Run Drive
Arlington, Va.
Tickets (includes gallery event): $47 (Corcoran members) and $52 (general public)
To order tickets call (202) 639-1700.

With titles such as "Bloody Awful" and "Elton's Vampire Musical 'Sucks'", the reviews have not been kind to the Lestat, the musical incarnation of Anne Rice’s The Vampire Chronicles. The January issue of The Genre Traveler announced the premiere, now the blog brings you the critic's opinions.

Robert Hurwitt, Theatre Critic for The San Francisco Chronicle felt that the musical was "didactic, disjointed, oddly miscast, confusingly designed and floundering in an almost unrelentingly saccharine score by Elton John."

He has two main complaints. The first is with Lestat is the lead character. "Woolverton and Taupin have had to truncate so much of the story that they've barely sketched in the main character," he wrote. "Hugh Panaro, who plays the role, is tall, reasonably dashing and sings with a big, powerful voice, but seems lost in his long stretches of dialogue."

The second is with the songs, which he claims "range from mildly interesting to, for the most part, banal and virtually undistinguishable." He writes that the lyrics are "often woodenly prosaic and rarely advance the story or out understanding of the characters." And, he blasts Elton John for spending "most of the evening trying to become Andrew Lloyd Webber at his most vapid and pretentious."

Tiger Hashimoto, who wrote the review for The San Francisco Examiner, admits that he came to the musical without any preconceptions. "I didn't read the book (or see the movie)," he wrote. However, he also felt that John's music was "vapid," and dislikes the lead character. "After Lestat is 'made' as a vampire (without any warning or motivation)," he wrote, "he mostly kills men in grisly, on-stage murders that had me cowering and wincing -- and I'm a martial arts fan. The rest of the time he is whining about why everybody leaves him."

Dennis Harvey wrote in Variety that "despite subject and talent involved, [Lestat is] lacking the memorable high points these watchable, listenable nearly three-hour tuner needs to play as more than a rambling timeline of several high-pulp novels' picaresque events."

Chad Jones of The Oakland Tribune overcame his "almost overwhelming" urge to "say that the new vampire musical Lestat sucks." However, he conceded that "the creative team has nearly driven a wooden stake through the heart of author Anne Rice's much-loved Vampire Chronicles." He gave Hugh Panaro a slight nod, though, when he wrote, "Panaro does have a beautiful singing voice, but John and Taupin have failed to provide him with a defining number."

Karen D'Souza of the San Jose Mercury News was less kind to Panaro. "Shaking his mane like a lion, the actor strikes one to-die-for pose after another as the flamboyant vampire. If pouts could kill, watch out."

Georgia Rowe of The Contra Costa Times summed it up in this sentence: "The greatest danger in the new Elton John-Bernie Taupin musical, based on The Vampire Chronicles by Anne Rice, is death by boredom." She went on to write that "the new show doesn't capture the romance or the otherworldly qualities of Rice's novel," nor does it "approach Rice's sense of authenticity."

If any of you happen to see this musical, please let the rest of us know what you think! We'd love to hear what a genre traveler thinks of this production.

SOURCES:

SFGate.com:
www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2006/01/10/DDGCQGKMFA1.DTL

San Francisco Examiner:
www.sfexaminer.com/articles/2006/01/10/entertainment/20060110_en01_lestat.txt

Contra Costa Times:
www.contracostatimes.com/mld/cctimes/13587161.htm

Broadway.com:
www.broadway.com/gen/Buzz_Story.aspx?ci=523432

TimesOnline.com:
www.timesonline.co.uk/printFriendly/0,,1-524-2003702-524,00.html

In the January issue of The Genre Traveler, "Demons to Devour the Sun!" (pg. 22) listed several tours to see the solar eclipse on March 29. I just got word of three more from on the go tours out of London -- two to Egypt and one to Turkey. Here's some more information.

Tour 1: Egypt Eclipsed
This tour includes the pyramids, Aswan and Philae Temple, Nile felucca cruising, Luxor and the Valley of the Kings, and Dahab on the Red Seacoast for swimming, snorkeling and relaxation.  It also includes a trip to Alexandria and El Alamein. On March 29, you will be driven to a rocky, mountainous spot about 60 km west of El Alamein, to view the eclipse near Egypt's Mediterranean coast. Lunch will be provided and a local Egyptologist will be on hand to answer questions about the solar eclipse.

The 15-day tour departs on March 26. The cost is £529 per person, which includes all accommodation, guided sightseeing, most entrance fees, all transportation and breakfasts, one group lunch, one group dinner, arrival and departure transfers to and from Cairo airport.

Tour 2: Eclipsed in Egypt
This 11-day tour includes the pyramids, Nile felucca cruising, and a visit to the Valley of the Kings, as well as trips to Alexandria and the El Alamein. On March 29, you will be driven to a rocky, mountainous spot about 60 km west of El Alamein, to view the eclipse near Egypt's Mediterranean coast. Lunch will be provided and a local Egyptologist will be on hand to answer questions about the solar eclipse.

The tour departs on March 26 and costs £429 per person, which includes accommodation for 11 days, all breakfasts, guided sightseeing, transportation, one lunch, one dinner and arrival and departure transfers to and from Cairo airport.

Tour 3: Solar Eclipse Tour in Turkey - Chasing the Eclipse
This 10-day tour departs March 26 from Instanbul and includes visits to Cappadocia, Pamukkale, Roman ruins, the Aegean coast, Troy, Gallipoli and a viewing of the solar eclipse on the vast Anatolian steppe. On March 29, you will travel just south of Hacibektas, a rural terrain 100km west of Ankara, to view the eclipse. They plan to be there from 12 to 2pm, as the total eclipse passes through there at 1:04pm local time and lasts about 3 mins. Lunch will be in a nearby village during the afternoon tour after the eclipse, and eclipse glasses will be provided.

The cost is £499 per person, which includes all accommodation, guided sightseeing, transportation, arrival and departure transfers to and from the airport in Istanbul and all breakfasts, most lunches and five group dinners.

Please note that all these tours exclude flights to and from the departure points. To book your trip, contact:

on the go tours
68 North End Road
West Kensington, London W14 9EP
UK Tel: 0207 371 1113
US Tel: 877-541-0882 (toll free)
www.onthegotours.com
info@onthegotours.com

Back in October, I wrote about space tourism. Recently, two companies have made steps to bring that dream a little closer.

New Mexican Spaceport
At a Sept. 27, 2004, press conference announcing the formation of Virgin Galactic, Sir Richard Branson, the founder of the Virgin suite of companies including Virgin Records and Virgin Atlantic, boldly stated, “We’re going to space.” He announced “plans to build -- and launch -- within three years the first of Virgin’s fleet of Spaceships -- the VSS Enterprise. A spaceship designed to carry fare-paying pioneers on a journey to the stars.”

Last month, Virgin Galactic and the state of New Mexico announced their agreement to build a $225 million spaceport near the White Sands Missile Range. New Mexico Economic Development Secretary Rick Homans said construction could begin as early as 2007, depending on environmental and aviations authorities’ approval.

Located about 25 miles south of Truth or Consequences, N.M., 90 percent of the space port will be constructed underground, with just supporting structures and the runway above ground.

Already, 38,000 people from 126 countries have paid a deposit for their seat on future flights into space. 100 of these form a core group of “founders” who paid the initial $200,000 per seat upfront.

According to Stephen Attenborough, the executive in charge of marketing the Virgin Galactic flights, said these founding members were committed to boarding a flight early in the operations. “Many of the others will need to wait until the price comes down,” he said, “and will want to wait for proven reliability and safety.”

Trevor Beattie, one of the people who have already paid for his ticket, is not so much concerned with safety as with being around when the time comes. “My only concern,” he said, “is that the longer they leave the launch, the more likely we all are to be hit by a bus.”

Commercial Spaceship Builder
Jeff Bezos, founder of Amazon.com, has started a small company called Blue Origin, a company that many believe to be the first private rocket ship complex in North America. According to its website, “Blue Origin is developing vehicles and technologies that, over time, will help enable an enduring human presence in space.”

With initial research efforts focused on reusable liquid propulsion systems, low cost operations, life support, abort systems and human factors, Blue Origin is “currently working to develop a crewed, suborbital launch system that emphasizes safety and low cost of operations.”

Based in the Seattle area, Blue Origin’s 243,000-square-foot complex of office and warehouse space is currently being converted into bays, construction facilities and chemical laboratories. Bezos also plans to build a spaceport of his own neat the West Texas town of Van Horn, according to SixNewThings.com, with the hopes that the first test flights will take place before the end of this year.