The Clockwork Cabaret
Encyclopedia
The Clockwork Cabaret is a live radio variety show
focusing on steampunk music, created and hosted by the Davenport sisters. The show runs two hours on Mondays from 11pm to 1am Eastern Time, and usually originates from the studio of WCOM Community Radio in Carrboro, North Carolina
, although it is often taken on the road. The show is also streamed live over the Internet, and posted online afterward as a podcast. The Clockwork Cabaret is known for its musical selection, tongue-in-cheek radio drama
, and several storytelling segments such as, "Klaude's Botched Inventions", "Emmett's Poetry Corner", and "Dear Prudence", an advice column for the steampunk challenged. The hosts also encourage audience participation in such segments as "The Adventures of the Klaude-o-tron", which has audience members sending postcards from various locations around the world from the Klaude-o-tron.
After researching steampunk
music and what that could be, the Davenports became interested in doing a variety show on the radio. On 29 January 2008, the first live broadcast of The Clockwork Cabaret took place. They had only 3 listeners at the time, their listeners now range in the thousands. The second episode featured the first performance on the show by Phineas P. Moneyload, who became the reader of sponsorships at the top of the hour.
The show went off the air for two weeks in May of 2010, when the radio station, WCOM 103.5 FM-LP, moved to a new location. In June 2010, the show returned to the airwaves with a slightly revised format & changes in the hosts.
While many of the episodes originate from Carrboro, NC, the show often "travels" to other locales around the world.
Music is the main focus of the program; the show is a significant outlet for music
of many genres, especially steampunk music, folk
and dark cabaret
. There have been several notable guests and interviews on the program - Eli August, Curtis Eller
, Jay Cartwright of Lemming Malloy, Melora Creager of Rasputina, Dexter Romweber
& the New Romans, Andrew Benjamin of The Hellblinki Sextet and The Slow Poisoner.
Notes and poems from members of the audience (which are frequently humorous) to the hosts are read each week, as well as, the hosts own poetry.
original "sponsors" have included
Variety show
A variety show, also known as variety arts or variety entertainment, is an entertainment made up of a variety of acts, especially musical performances and sketch comedy, and normally introduced by a compère or host. Other types of acts include magic, animal and circus acts, acrobatics, juggling...
focusing on steampunk music, created and hosted by the Davenport sisters. The show runs two hours on Mondays from 11pm to 1am Eastern Time, and usually originates from the studio of WCOM Community Radio in Carrboro, North Carolina
Carrboro, North Carolina
Carrboro is a town in Orange County in the U.S. state of North Carolina. The population was 19,582 at the 2010 census. The town, which is part of the Durham-Chapel Hill metropolitan statistical area, was named after North Carolina industrialist Julian Shakespeare Carr.Located near Chapel Hill and...
, although it is often taken on the road. The show is also streamed live over the Internet, and posted online afterward as a podcast. The Clockwork Cabaret is known for its musical selection, tongue-in-cheek radio drama
Radio drama
Radio drama is a dramatized, purely acoustic performance, broadcast on radio or published on audio media, such as tape or CD. With no visual component, radio drama depends on dialogue, music and sound effects to help the listener imagine the characters and story...
, and several storytelling segments such as, "Klaude's Botched Inventions", "Emmett's Poetry Corner", and "Dear Prudence", an advice column for the steampunk challenged. The hosts also encourage audience participation in such segments as "The Adventures of the Klaude-o-tron", which has audience members sending postcards from various locations around the world from the Klaude-o-tron.
History
The Clockwork Cabaret originally aired on Tuesday nights running from 12am to 2am on WCOM Community Radio beginning in January 2008. In December 2008, the show moved to a new time slot, Mondays at 11pm, that the program still uses today.After researching steampunk
Steampunk
Steampunk is a sub-genre of science fiction, fantasy, alternate history, and speculative fiction that came into prominence during the 1980s and early 1990s. Steampunk involves a setting where steam power is still widely used—usually Victorian era Britain or "Wild West"-era United...
music and what that could be, the Davenports became interested in doing a variety show on the radio. On 29 January 2008, the first live broadcast of The Clockwork Cabaret took place. They had only 3 listeners at the time, their listeners now range in the thousands. The second episode featured the first performance on the show by Phineas P. Moneyload, who became the reader of sponsorships at the top of the hour.
The show went off the air for two weeks in May of 2010, when the radio station, WCOM 103.5 FM-LP, moved to a new location. In June 2010, the show returned to the airwaves with a slightly revised format & changes in the hosts.
While many of the episodes originate from Carrboro, NC, the show often "travels" to other locales around the world.
Format
Each show opens with the Kyle O'Dore composition "The Clockwork Cabaret" as the theme song, which was written specifically for the program.Music is the main focus of the program; the show is a significant outlet for music
Music
Music is an art form whose medium is sound and silence. Its common elements are pitch , rhythm , dynamics, and the sonic qualities of timbre and texture...
of many genres, especially steampunk music, folk
Folk music
Folk music is an English term encompassing both traditional folk music and contemporary folk music. The term originated in the 19th century. Traditional folk music has been defined in several ways: as music transmitted by mouth, as music of the lower classes, and as music with unknown composers....
and dark cabaret
Dark Cabaret
Dark cabaret may be a simple description of the theme and mood of a cabaret performance, but more recently has come to define a particular musical genre which draws on the aesthetics of the decadent, risqué German Weimar-era cabarets, burlesque and vaudeville shows with the stylings of post-1970s...
. There have been several notable guests and interviews on the program - Eli August, Curtis Eller
Curtis Eller
Curtis Eller is a banjo player, yodeler and songwriter based in New York City.Eller's work has an old-time feel, drawing on an abundance of direct or indirect influences from the first half of the 20th Century, combined with a modern perspective and a healthy dose of rock & roll energy. Many of...
, Jay Cartwright of Lemming Malloy, Melora Creager of Rasputina, Dexter Romweber
Dexter Romweber
John Michael Dexter Romweber is an American rockabilly/roots rock musician from Chapel Hill, North Carolina. Dex is best known as one-half of the seminal two-piece Flat Duo Jets...
& the New Romans, Andrew Benjamin of The Hellblinki Sextet and The Slow Poisoner.
Notes and poems from members of the audience (which are frequently humorous) to the hosts are read each week, as well as, the hosts own poetry.
"Sponsors"
The show is "sponsored" by several fictitious products and companies, which are often read by Phineas P. Moneyload, Rogue Financier.original "sponsors" have included
- Madame Pomegranate’s Bustle Starch
- General Horace P. Longblatt’s Wrist Mounted Pocket Watch
- Sir Thomas Buxhull Whitworth’s Mentholated Monocle Balm
- Doctor Phinneas T Norwood’s Patented Omnitism Oil, a Healing Antiseptic Linament
- Dame Leiderham’s Underbustle Wind Muffler
- Pierre DuMont’s All Purpose Food Boiler
- Ministry of Surname Normalization
- Silas Boncomb’s Hat Cement