The second video made by the Hong Kong Cavaliers was released in viral video format a few weeks after "Calling All Angels." While the first has been called the official anthem of the Blue Blazers, this song is commonly referred to as "Who's Who in Fenspace," despite missing several major power players in the video. When asked about the video, Blackstone and the other band members thanked those that appeared and stated that they wanted to have everyone in it, but "the silly thing is only five minutes long." This also marks the first appearance of Blackstone's "Ringmaster" alter ego, who appears in several videos the band make during their career.
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"Karn Evil 9, First Impression, Part 2"
Hong Kong Cavaliers
Just Here For The Food
2012
The shot opens with a circus ring, with the house lights up. Blackstone stands in the middle of it, wearing a ringmaster’s outfit, in bright crimson and black, complete with top hat and white gloves. A cloisonné Blue Blazer pin can be seen in place of a boutonnière. He stands with his heels together, head down, with the top hat in both hands in front of him. As the music starts, the lights of the house fade to black. The ring disappears, to be replaced by stars in the sky on all sides. A spotlight hits Blackstone and he jumps into movement. Grinning madly, he bows to the camera, and as he straightens up, there is a strange moving shot, where the stars blur and move as Blackstone stands still.
Welcome back my friends to the show that never ends
We're so glad you could attend
Come inside! Come inside!
When the motion stops, Blackstone is standing on the outside of the Grover’s Corners dome, apparently unaffected by the vacuum. He gestures with his hat, making a long sweeping gesture to the dome beneath his feet.
There behind a glass is a real blade of grass
be careful as you pass.
Move along! Move along!
Blackstone starts walking along the outside of the dome, but he does not move. Rather, the dome spins under him like a treadmill, and the stars spin behind him, as if everything but he is moving at an ever-increasing rate. Still grinning, he gestures about him as he sings, his gloved hands gesturing as various fen ships zoom past.
Come inside, the show's about to start
guaranteed to blow your head apart
Rest assured you'll get your money's worth
The greatest show in Heaven, Hell or Earth.
Blackstone gestures and the camera leaps up and away from him, following a dizzying point of view through Earth orbit. Babylon .5 can be seen, zooming past, as can the Island. Other stations and spaceships tumble about in a chaotic jumble as the camera continues its vertiginous spin.
You've got to see the show, it's a dynamo.
You've got to see the show, it's rock and roll ....
The camera comes back down to show Blackstone again, standing on a perfectly spherical, cratered planetoid, a la a Warner Bros. cartoon or The Little Prince. He gestures over his shoulder, showing the Professor’s ship. With a wink and a grin, he leaps, impossibly, to the ship and opens a door (with no apparent decompression). Inside is a stylized version of the Professor’s laboratory, with the Professor working on something. As Blackstone sings, the inventor throws back his head and cackles madly (on “he laughs until he cries”).
Right before your eyes we pull laughter from the skies
And he laughs until he cries then he dies then he dies
Blackstone sings to the camera and behind him, in mid-laugh, the Professor notices him. The inventor pulls out an Improbably Huge Handgun and points it at Blackstone, discharging it on “blow your head apart.” The screen explodes in a psychedelic rainbow of colors that explodes across the screen in a very cartoonish fashion.
Come inside the shows about to start
Guaranteed to blow your head apart
The colors resolve into a soundstage done up like something out of a 70s cartoon or a Sid & Marty Kroft set (think “The Bugaloos,” only with less pastels and more day glo colors). Cartoonish images of stars, planets, and a variety of spacecraft decorate the walls, including a number of recognizable fencraft, done in a very cartoonish style (the Jet Car done up as a Earl “Big Daddy” Roth funny car, and Ptchitka with cartoon eyes and a big grin). The band is set up on the stage, playing the solo, and Blackstone is behind the keyboards, dressed in his normal style. Each member of the band wears a t-shirt that has a space reference. Nez’s says “The Meek May Inherit the Earth, but the Rest of Us Are Going to the Stars!”; J.’s reads, “You May Have All These Moons, Save Europa.”; Chaos’ reads, “That’s No Moon….”; and Blackstone’s says, “Billions and Billions ….” Blackstone sings the refrain from behind the keyboard and then they go into the bridge.
You gotta see the show
It's a dynamo
You gotta see the show
It's rock and roll
As the solo progresses, the camera view swings about, alternating between showing the cartoonish depictions of fencraft and faction leaders that are painted on the walls of the soundstage and the band members playing. Each member is shown long enough to see the shirts they are wearing. The angles and motion of the camera give the images the appearance of moving across the walls, and even a holographic effect, as if they are not actually painted on the walls, but moving though the space above the heads of the band.
As the bridge ends, Blackstone appears stage right, dressed in the ringmaster’s suit, and crosses in front of the band. At the same time, he is still playing keyboards behind. The two Blackstones share a look briefly, the one in the ringmaster’s outfit grinning broadly and the one playing the keyboard rolling his eyes in exasperation. The Ringmaster Blackstone crosses to stage left, where a curtain hangs. As he sings the next verse, he pulls the curtain aside, revealing A.C. Peters, dressed in one of her usual skintight outfits. He holds up a jar of Vaseline and waggles his eyebrows at her suggestively as he sings, and she gives him a look of utter confusion that changes to annoyed outrage. Just as she’s about to step forward and hit him, he pulls the curtain shut and turns and walks away. Behind him, seemingly unknown to him, AC comes through the curtain, toting a large, anime-style mallet.
Soon the Gypsy Queen in a glaze of Vaseline
Will perform on guillotine
What a scene! What a scene!
As he sings the next part, Ringmaster Blackstone gestures to the band behind him, and then mimes applause for the four musicians. Keyboardist Blackstone gives him another exasperated glance and then goes back to his playing. AC closes on the Ringmaster and takes a swing, just as he leaps down off the apron of the stage that the band is playing upon (until he leaps off, it isn’t apparent that they’re on a stage). The mallet swing down and impacts with the stage, making the four musicians all jump with the impact, but not miss a beat.
Next upon the stand will you please extend a hand
to Alexander's Ragtime Band
Roll up! Roll up! Roll up!
See the show!
Ringmaster Blackstone strides across the open space below the stage and comes to a gathering of the leaders of the Sailor Scouts, all standing around looking confused. He gestures to them, and then off to his left, where a mule stands complacently. The girls look horrified and turn on him, angry expressions on their faces. They close on him as he stands, and AC can be seen coming up behind him. The band is still in the background playing.
Performing on a stool we've a sight to make you drool
Seven virgins and a mule
Keep it cool. Keep it cool.
As the last part of the song is sung by the Ringmaster, the Scouts and AC close a ring around him. The Professor and the other faction leaders and Fenspace celebrities caricatured on the soundstage appear and crowd around. The Ringmaster addresses the camera, but as he sings the last “Come and see the show!” he notices the others. He grins widely and insouciantly at them, tips his hat, and winks. Mallets come down all at once, punches fly, and the Professor lets fly with some sort of Buck Rogers-esque pistol, and the Ringmaster is briefly obscured from view by the activity. However, when the attacks finish, he is nowhere to be seen. The band finishes out the final part of the song, as the camera swings past the angry crowd and focuses on them again.
We would like it to be known the exhibits that were shown
were exclusively our own,
All our own. All our own.
Come and see the show! Come and see the show! Come and see the show!
As the band hits the final crescendo and sings the final line, Keyboardist Blackstone reaches beneath his keyboard and pulls out the top hat that the Ringmaster Blackstone was wearing. He tosses it up into the air, and the camera follows, zooming up past the cartoonish murals, shifting to a view of real space and stopping on a view of the Earth, which then pulls back, to show the stations in orbit with fencraft flying around them. The song ends with this image of Near-Earth Fenspace, then a logo appears in the lower right corner of the screen (like the ending of a Cowboy Bebop cartoon) that reads, “Ladies and gentlemen, children of all ages….” The scene fades out, leaving the logo, and then it goes black.
See the show!
Ebony the Black Dragon
http://ebony14.livejournal.com
"Good night, and may the Good Lord take a Viking to you."
-------------------------------------
"Karn Evil 9, First Impression, Part 2"
Hong Kong Cavaliers
Just Here For The Food
2012
The shot opens with a circus ring, with the house lights up. Blackstone stands in the middle of it, wearing a ringmaster’s outfit, in bright crimson and black, complete with top hat and white gloves. A cloisonné Blue Blazer pin can be seen in place of a boutonnière. He stands with his heels together, head down, with the top hat in both hands in front of him. As the music starts, the lights of the house fade to black. The ring disappears, to be replaced by stars in the sky on all sides. A spotlight hits Blackstone and he jumps into movement. Grinning madly, he bows to the camera, and as he straightens up, there is a strange moving shot, where the stars blur and move as Blackstone stands still.
Welcome back my friends to the show that never ends
We're so glad you could attend
Come inside! Come inside!
When the motion stops, Blackstone is standing on the outside of the Grover’s Corners dome, apparently unaffected by the vacuum. He gestures with his hat, making a long sweeping gesture to the dome beneath his feet.
There behind a glass is a real blade of grass
be careful as you pass.
Move along! Move along!
Blackstone starts walking along the outside of the dome, but he does not move. Rather, the dome spins under him like a treadmill, and the stars spin behind him, as if everything but he is moving at an ever-increasing rate. Still grinning, he gestures about him as he sings, his gloved hands gesturing as various fen ships zoom past.
Come inside, the show's about to start
guaranteed to blow your head apart
Rest assured you'll get your money's worth
The greatest show in Heaven, Hell or Earth.
Blackstone gestures and the camera leaps up and away from him, following a dizzying point of view through Earth orbit. Babylon .5 can be seen, zooming past, as can the Island. Other stations and spaceships tumble about in a chaotic jumble as the camera continues its vertiginous spin.
You've got to see the show, it's a dynamo.
You've got to see the show, it's rock and roll ....
The camera comes back down to show Blackstone again, standing on a perfectly spherical, cratered planetoid, a la a Warner Bros. cartoon or The Little Prince. He gestures over his shoulder, showing the Professor’s ship. With a wink and a grin, he leaps, impossibly, to the ship and opens a door (with no apparent decompression). Inside is a stylized version of the Professor’s laboratory, with the Professor working on something. As Blackstone sings, the inventor throws back his head and cackles madly (on “he laughs until he cries”).
Right before your eyes we pull laughter from the skies
And he laughs until he cries then he dies then he dies
Blackstone sings to the camera and behind him, in mid-laugh, the Professor notices him. The inventor pulls out an Improbably Huge Handgun and points it at Blackstone, discharging it on “blow your head apart.” The screen explodes in a psychedelic rainbow of colors that explodes across the screen in a very cartoonish fashion.
Come inside the shows about to start
Guaranteed to blow your head apart
The colors resolve into a soundstage done up like something out of a 70s cartoon or a Sid & Marty Kroft set (think “The Bugaloos,” only with less pastels and more day glo colors). Cartoonish images of stars, planets, and a variety of spacecraft decorate the walls, including a number of recognizable fencraft, done in a very cartoonish style (the Jet Car done up as a Earl “Big Daddy” Roth funny car, and Ptchitka with cartoon eyes and a big grin). The band is set up on the stage, playing the solo, and Blackstone is behind the keyboards, dressed in his normal style. Each member of the band wears a t-shirt that has a space reference. Nez’s says “The Meek May Inherit the Earth, but the Rest of Us Are Going to the Stars!”; J.’s reads, “You May Have All These Moons, Save Europa.”; Chaos’ reads, “That’s No Moon….”; and Blackstone’s says, “Billions and Billions ….” Blackstone sings the refrain from behind the keyboard and then they go into the bridge.
You gotta see the show
It's a dynamo
You gotta see the show
It's rock and roll
As the solo progresses, the camera view swings about, alternating between showing the cartoonish depictions of fencraft and faction leaders that are painted on the walls of the soundstage and the band members playing. Each member is shown long enough to see the shirts they are wearing. The angles and motion of the camera give the images the appearance of moving across the walls, and even a holographic effect, as if they are not actually painted on the walls, but moving though the space above the heads of the band.
As the bridge ends, Blackstone appears stage right, dressed in the ringmaster’s suit, and crosses in front of the band. At the same time, he is still playing keyboards behind. The two Blackstones share a look briefly, the one in the ringmaster’s outfit grinning broadly and the one playing the keyboard rolling his eyes in exasperation. The Ringmaster Blackstone crosses to stage left, where a curtain hangs. As he sings the next verse, he pulls the curtain aside, revealing A.C. Peters, dressed in one of her usual skintight outfits. He holds up a jar of Vaseline and waggles his eyebrows at her suggestively as he sings, and she gives him a look of utter confusion that changes to annoyed outrage. Just as she’s about to step forward and hit him, he pulls the curtain shut and turns and walks away. Behind him, seemingly unknown to him, AC comes through the curtain, toting a large, anime-style mallet.
Soon the Gypsy Queen in a glaze of Vaseline
Will perform on guillotine
What a scene! What a scene!
As he sings the next part, Ringmaster Blackstone gestures to the band behind him, and then mimes applause for the four musicians. Keyboardist Blackstone gives him another exasperated glance and then goes back to his playing. AC closes on the Ringmaster and takes a swing, just as he leaps down off the apron of the stage that the band is playing upon (until he leaps off, it isn’t apparent that they’re on a stage). The mallet swing down and impacts with the stage, making the four musicians all jump with the impact, but not miss a beat.
Next upon the stand will you please extend a hand
to Alexander's Ragtime Band
Roll up! Roll up! Roll up!
See the show!
Ringmaster Blackstone strides across the open space below the stage and comes to a gathering of the leaders of the Sailor Scouts, all standing around looking confused. He gestures to them, and then off to his left, where a mule stands complacently. The girls look horrified and turn on him, angry expressions on their faces. They close on him as he stands, and AC can be seen coming up behind him. The band is still in the background playing.
Performing on a stool we've a sight to make you drool
Seven virgins and a mule
Keep it cool. Keep it cool.
As the last part of the song is sung by the Ringmaster, the Scouts and AC close a ring around him. The Professor and the other faction leaders and Fenspace celebrities caricatured on the soundstage appear and crowd around. The Ringmaster addresses the camera, but as he sings the last “Come and see the show!” he notices the others. He grins widely and insouciantly at them, tips his hat, and winks. Mallets come down all at once, punches fly, and the Professor lets fly with some sort of Buck Rogers-esque pistol, and the Ringmaster is briefly obscured from view by the activity. However, when the attacks finish, he is nowhere to be seen. The band finishes out the final part of the song, as the camera swings past the angry crowd and focuses on them again.
We would like it to be known the exhibits that were shown
were exclusively our own,
All our own. All our own.
Come and see the show! Come and see the show! Come and see the show!
As the band hits the final crescendo and sings the final line, Keyboardist Blackstone reaches beneath his keyboard and pulls out the top hat that the Ringmaster Blackstone was wearing. He tosses it up into the air, and the camera follows, zooming up past the cartoonish murals, shifting to a view of real space and stopping on a view of the Earth, which then pulls back, to show the stations in orbit with fencraft flying around them. The song ends with this image of Near-Earth Fenspace, then a logo appears in the lower right corner of the screen (like the ending of a Cowboy Bebop cartoon) that reads, “Ladies and gentlemen, children of all ages….” The scene fades out, leaving the logo, and then it goes black.
See the show!
Ebony the Black Dragon
http://ebony14.livejournal.com
"Good night, and may the Good Lord take a Viking to you."