Posted in: Comics | Tagged: eccc, sandman

The Sandman Tribute Concert At ECCC

Gavin Lees writes;

The Bushwick Book Club is a fascinating organisation. Like other book clubs, its members all read the same book before their monthly meetings, but rather than discuss what they read over some coffee and home-baking, the Bushwickers write and perform original songs inspired by the book. The source material is incredibly eclectic, ranging from Shel Silverstein to The Bible, and the styles of the performers just as wide. For this year's Emerald City Comicon, they put on a performance at Seattle legendary Crocodile venue, with songs inspired by Neil Gaiman's Sandman series.

Kicking off the night was Mark Blasco, backed by fellow Bushwickers, Mozo. It was a more upbeat and rocking performance than most, and also fairly sincere. One of the trademarks of the book club is their snarky takes on some of the lower points of literature, so it was refreshing to see a comic series treated with some dignity:

Following Blasco was Perry Maybrown, one of the few teenage members of the group, who looked barely big enough to hold her guitar when she first emerged on stage. She showed some maturity beyond her years with her take on "The Doll's House":

The Bushwick is not just about musicians, however, as displayed to wonderful effect by the next act, Evan J. Peterson. He opened with a quip about how he likes to play "Sandman Bingo" at conventions, and if you spot people cosplaying as all seven members of the Endless, you win a handjob from Catwoman. He then proceeded to disrobe and show off his own own Desire outfit and recite a wickedly funny monologue from the character's perspective:

Finishing the first act was Aaron Daniel, showing just how far the boundaries can be stretched at the Bushwick Book Club. Hunched over an array of effects pedals, he crafted layers of looped vocal sounds that built to a swirling psychedelic crescendo, occasionally interjecting words and half-sung melodies. Unlike other performers, he didn't offer any introduction or context for his piece, but no one present could have been in any doubt that this was pure Delirium:

One of the final highlights of the night was Tai Shan — one of the real stars of the Seattle Bushwick chapter — with her soulful, folk-tinged ode to dreams:

In all, it was a surprising night, with the hit-to-miss ratio a lot higher than usual and only one performer choosing to turn to comedy for their performance. Having taken on Watchmen at last year's Emerald City Comicon, it would seem like this is turning into an annual event, and it's exciting to consider which comic the book club might choose for next year's convention.

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