Tuneage ~ You Bred Raptors?

You Bred Raptors? pump up the Poe-jam.

Folks, for this "Tuneage" blog post, I'm not asking y'all a question, but telling you about these terrific New York City instrumentalists whose name is already appropriately phrased to pose the question to a Jeopardy answer. (OK, you'd have to preface it with, "Who are..." but the upspeak inflection's already there, which was generous of them to provide.)

You Bred Raptors? are a trio of modern-day minstrels and dinosaur aficionados, with a long-standing tradition of playing in NYC's finest subway stations. Jamming on drums, cello, and an electric 8-string bass (woof! ), these guys compel large groups of cynical and tired New Yorkers to slow down on their treks from one train to the next so they can bathe in YBR's funky goodness. (Um...you know what I mean.) More impressively, they manage to charm us out of our hard-earned coin, which is no mean feat when it comes to all us jaded straphangers.

I told the story of how I "discovered" You Bred Raptors? on my friend Ja's online radio show back in April - you can listen to that broadcast for free and snicker at my dorky voice by clicking here and selecting the play button, comme ça:

I felt a bit awkward during my portion of the interview because I was having some phone issues that night and missed bits and pieces of what was said (and wound up repeating some of Mr. Andlu's words, at one point). BUT, on the bright side, I did manage to coherently give props to the Blogging from A to Z Challenge, in which I was engaged at the time, so YAY, ME! Again, click here to listen to the interview with Epileptic Peat (founder of the band and ass-kicking bass player) and my own fine self, but be advised the interview happened on 4/20, a huge day for fans of the MaryJane (or so I'm told). Pot references, as well as other adult themes and language, abound. (Some of the naughtiness escaped from my own lips, but 'twas elegantly uttered, if I do say so myself.)

If the above isn't your bag, here's a summary of how I "met" YBR?: last November, I went to see a charitable production by The Bedlam Ensemble. They staged and choreographed dances to some stories and poems by one of my favorite authors, Edgar A. Poe. You Bred Raptors? were the band for the show (I took that pic up top on my craptastic cellphone-camera that night). With their masks (which they regularly use when they play), they perfectly accompanied the enactment of The Cask of Amontillado (during which the actors made us audience members get up and dance, so as to be part of the Carnival feel). It was a fantastic show and, thanks to the talented ensemble and music by YBR, a gorgeous night.

So if you're yearning for some new tunes to boogie, think, or just bob your head to, do check out the You Bred Raptors? Web site - it's totally worth the click! (Plus, I think you save a baby Velociraptor if you do. Won't someone please think of the baby Velociraptors???.)

Explicit language/themes in video, below. Just sayin'.

Never Say Nevermore...

...unless you're the infamous Raven of the Edgar A. Poe poem.

Last Thursday was Poe's 203rd birthday, and in his honor Dan Boujoulian, Poe fan and keeper of The Macabre Edgar Allan Poe page on Facebook, organized what I believe was the second annual Edgar Poe Birthday Worldwide Reading. (And ain't that a mouthful!) I missed the boat on this last year, which I deeply regret, as the 2011 selection was my fave, "The Cask of Amontillado." This year's selection was "The Pit and the Pendulum."

What the "Worldwide Reading" bit consists of is recording yourself reading a passage of the selected text and submitting it to be merged with readings done by other fans...well, worldwide. To be honest, though I did remember Poe's birthday on January 19 (being a fan of his myself), I hadn't been on Facebook for a few days and missed Dan's plea for a handful of New Yorkers to join him at Poe Cottage in Da Bronx on Jan. 21 to record some "P & P" reading there.

Poe's actual birthday proved rather a brutal and soul-crushing day for me (through no fault of the dearly departed gentleman himself) so I'd intended to pick up a bottle of amontillado on my way home from work and sip it genteelly while reading "The Cask" before bed. But my local liquor store was out of it so I purchased some port instead and proceeded to fall asleep without cracking either it or "The Cask" open. I remedied this lapse last night, consuming copious quantities of the port while finally catching up on my Facebookery. Pleasantly pissed, I read Dan's post that only one New Yorker had volunteered to go to Poe Cottage and more were needed. Tipsily troubled that I'd been a slacker fan (who'd *yet* to visit Poe Cottage, for shame!!!), and forgetting the snowstorm predicted for today, I e-mailed the fella and said I'd join in.

And, in spite of the fact that the weather was wet and raw and my fingers froze to, fro, and during the reading (we did a bit of recording from the Poe Cottage porch), I'm really glad I trudged through the slushy ick covering the Fordham section of Bronx today. It was such a pleasure meeting and chatting with fellow Poe fans and actually getting to sit at Poe's desk for some of the recording!!! (Squee!) The grand, worldwide recording mashup should be ready for public consumption in a few weeks - can't wait to see how it all turned out!

Your humble bloggy-blogger, standing before Virginia Poe's bed.