The Semi-Automatic Bandstand.....

[Dr cornelius quack]

.....Is a new show by 'The Pressure Company', who are a group of artists, engineers, sculptors and musicians from Manchester.
It's going to be appearing at a number of events round the country this year, starting with this.

http://www.sixsummersaturdays.com/saturday-9-july/the-pressure-company/

The reasons I point this out is that, a) Iv'e been helping out with the build of some of the show's elements.
And, b) It's going to be great!!

Picture, if you will, a bandstand populated by an array of instruments the like of which the world has never seen.
Sometimes they are played by the musicians.
Sometimes they are played by the audience.
Sometimes they take on a life of their own and play themselves.

How can such things be??!!

Well, I can tell you that it's all done by a truly remarkable combination of cutting edge innovation and good old fashioned showmanship.

Marvel at the convoluted ductwork of 'The Pipe Organ'.
Smile at the quirky brilliance of 'The Tone Float'.
Wonder at the impassive majesty of 'Baboom'.
Thrill to the workings of 'The Bass Cannon'.

And that's not even the half of it!

Seriously, folks, this is going to be a show and a half and the best part of it is that the team behind it will be on hand throughout the day to demonstrate each of the parts and let you get up close to some really wonderful stuff

[Lady Chrystal]

Shouldn't this have been posted under Trading?

[Abraham Cog]

It says FREE!!!

[Dr cornelius quack]

Trading?..... Trading?
My dear Lady, you cut me to the very quick!!
As Mr. Cog so astutely points out, the event is entirely 'gratis', public and free of cost.
One need only turn up to be entertained by splendid concoction of inventive paraphernalia.

[Mr. Boltneck]

This sounds like a lot of fun, although I doubt that I shall manage to see it in person.
Mind you, "Semi-Automatic Bandstand" rather gave me the impression that the band were more than normally tooled up, as in that scene from Buckaroo Banzai where the entire band turns out to be armed.

[Lady Chrystal]

I merely tried to suggest it should be posted where people would look for advertisements of any nature. As has been discussed under many threads, the Trading section includes much that is bartered or gratis - not necessarily that it is charged.

[von Corax]

I merely tried to suggest it should be posted where people would look for advertisements of any nature. As has been discussed under many threads, the Trading section includes much that is bartered or gratis - not necessarily that it is charged.

Perhaps, but then those of us who never venture anywhere near Trading would never have seen this.

[Dr cornelius quack]

Just to tease a little more, here is a bit of footage of a bench test on one of the show's Pyrophones.

bunsen's pyrophone	DQ

[darkshines]

I merely tried to suggest it should be posted where people would look for advertisements of any nature. As has been discussed under many threads, the Trading section includes much that is bartered or gratis - not necessarily that it is charged.

Perhaps, but then those of us who never venture anywhere near Trading would never have seen this.

Everyone else offering things for free have to run that risk!

[Lady Chrystal]

Everyone else offering things for free have to run that risk!

Thank you, Darkshines.

[Augustus Longeye]

But then technically this is an event, no? That being the case it should go in Geographical. Regardless of where it should or should not go, it is here. If the mods think it belongs somewhere else they can move it when they desire. Right now it's gone rather off topic.

I must say, some of those instruments are a tad 'inventive' have you got any solid state tesla-coils?
Though the frogs legs freak me out a bit...
~Longeye~

[Angus A Fitziron]

...Acid Brass meets Fairground Fantasia via dubstep and dancehall.
 That I just have to hear - where are the sound clips / Youtube for those of us inadequately tooled up to venture west of Diss?

[greensteam]

Awesome. Whenelse and where else will it be showing?
We are away when the 6summer saturdays are on

[Dr cornelius quack]

Yup, it's an event. So I'll ask someone with a hat to shunt this thread into 'Geographical'.

Questions-wise, the show is brand new and hot off the presses, benches,saws, spanners and paint brushes, so there are currently no bits of video of the whole thing together. The Brummagem gig is the 'World Premiere'. I've just got home from loading the thing up into a truck for the trip down and will be going along to catch the show on Saturday.
No Tesla Coils as yet, but the 'Frog's' are powered by a set of musical 'Jacobs Ladders'.
Freak you out, Mr. L? That's part of the fun, isn't it?
The intention is to take the show to a number of events around the country, so there is a good chance of being able to see it wherever you may be. We are in Preston next weekend and there is a show in Inverness later in the year.
I'll get a set of dates and locations posted up when we have confirmation of the full list.
I'd love to wax lyrical on more details of the piece, but I'm on my honour not to give too much away before the launch.
Suffice it to say that, although it is not specifically pitched as a Steampunk show, it is full of elements which will tickle ones fancy and the overall effect is one of a diverse collection of artifacts rescued from obscurity and brought together as a whole which gels in a pleasing way.

[Augustus Longeye]

Musical Jacob's Ladders! Genius! I'd never have thought of that! It sounds like a lot of inventiveness has gone into setting this up
~Longeye~

[Dr cornelius quack]

Oh yes!!

The group behind the event are all makers and artists who specialise in producing work that pushes the envelope.

It's hoped that some teaching and making sessions can be arranged at a future date to spread the word on how the technology available can be used.

There is a lot of knowhow in this. I'd love to see it passed on to others.

[Dr cornelius quack]

Thank you, J.

Dr. Q.

[Dr cornelius quack]

The next outing after Brum is a trip to the Riversway Festival next weekend.

Details here.

http://www.prestonriverswayfestival.co.uk/whats_on/

[Dr cornelius quack]

Very good day out for the show on Saturday.
Here's a shot of the Galvonium set up in Chamberlain Square.



Folks seem to like the whole 'come and try out the machines' element.

[Dr cornelius quack]

Time to reattach the electrodes to this thread and give you a preview of the joys of the show.

automaticBandstand_pal.mpg

Currently in the process of de-mothballing all the kit from winter quarters and gearing up for some rehearsals.

Tour details in due course.

[The Governess]

more Birmingham, please! (missed the last one :-( )

[SteamBlast Mary]

more Birmingham, please! (missed the last one :-( )

What the Lady said.

[Mr Peter Harrow, Esq]

Would you be looking at something for NEXT year?

It's just that the 2013 Eastercon (The National Science Fiction Convention) is going ahead in Bradford next year, at a large hotel on the ring road.

[Dr cornelius quack]

We have another outing with the show this coming weekend as part of the Inside Out festival at the National Theatre.

http://insideout.nationaltheatre.org.uk/from/the-semi-automatic-bandstand-the-pressure-company-uk/tags/The+Semi-Automatic+Bandstand+-+The+Pressure+Company+%28UK%29


We'll be on site getting set up from Wednesday with the show taking place at the weekend.

Anyone in 'The Smoke' fancy a meet up for a beer?

The show has had a bit of a re-jig and now features some new elements and the best possible tune for playing on a high voltage recreation of Mr. Galvani's frog experiment.

Hope to see you there.

Dr. Q.

[Sir A Poiselamppe]

Southbank and Jacobs Ladders, I may even get there on time