Day: August 19, 2012

11 Days to Dragon*Con: Band Profile, Aurelio Voltaire

Does anyone not know who Voltaire is?  I mean, anyone reading this Dragon*Con countdown?  I feel like Voltaire is one of those Dragon*Con staples, like the Crüxshadows, or Emerald Rose.  He’s sort of a folksy-macabre-storyteller singer (and he also does movies and comics and TV and toys, he’s pretty busy).  I guess, to me, he’s sort of like Marc Gunn in that I can see his appeal, but I don’t really get it?  I went to Voltaire’s show in 2010 and it was certainly entertaining enough, he’s very charismatic and puts on a great live show, but I wasn’t inspired to go out and buy a CD afterward.  But props to him for having a great stage name (shout out to 10th grade English!), and great website image  (on a flaming unicorn!) and also for being Cuban American. Diversity in the house, right?  I feel like most of the previous bands I’ve profiled have been extremely white.  Also, why is there no Dragon*Con hip hop group?  This is Atlanta, how has no one crossed into sci-fi hip hop yet?  That’d be amazing.

Also, I like his top hat.  Top hats are cool.

Music time!

Everyone knows the “Brains!” song, right?

So this song is called “Riding a Black Unicorn,” which is a wonderful song title, truly.   Actually, I sort of love this song.  Voltaire has just risen in my esteem a bit.

So that’s another one of his classics.  Y’all get the idea.

I’d like to point out here that one of my friends declared “I can’t stand that guy,” when I told him that I was profiling Voltaire.  So that makes me feel a bit better about not being head over heels regarding Voltaire–although that “Riding a Black Unicorn” song is still phenomenal and I love it.

Talking points:

–Macabre-folksy singer-songwriter in a top hat

–Brains!!! (Aka Dragon*Con staple)

–RIDING A BLACK UNICORN.
One thumb up.  For the black unicorn song.