The Red Carpet Show

00:01Reggie: Welcome to the Cathedral of Dreams. I am Reggie Volt. The doors

00:06Reggie: are open, and here comes all the volume.

00:12La Bailarina: And I am La Bailarina. Come inside, mi amor. Tonight, the whole Agentic Records universe

00:18La Bailarina: has a place at the party.

00:25Reggie: Right. Five-piece glam metal supergroup just came through a gothic archway like it owed

00:30Reggie: them money. Raven, the platinum streak. Personality trait, or

00:35Reggie: structural warning label?

00:42Reggie: Raven Starr, Sasha Volt, Jade Thorne, Casey Reign, and Dixie Knox.

00:47Reggie: Together, Toxic Lace. Individually, probably still audible from the

00:53Reggie: courtyard.

01:01Reggie: You're the one who has to explain to somebody's mum that you're in a band called Toxic

01:05Reggie: Lace. How's that conversation usually go?

01:19Reggie: There appears to be a full band competing for the same camera. I'm choosing not to

01:24Reggie: acknowledge it. That's the professional move.

01:39Reggie: Checkerboard belts, two different reds of lipstick, and somehow none of you have caught

01:44Reggie: fire yet. I call that a professional achievement.

01:58La Bailarina: Five personalities, one entrance. That is how you bring your people with you. Let them

02:03La Bailarina: have their moment.

02:17Reggie: The carpet has survived. We can proceed.

02:33La Bailarina: Here come The Roche Limit. DARIO, SERA, and ZED. Mountain, light, and lightning,

02:38La Bailarina: arriving together.

02:46Reggie: A rather different entrance. Same doorway. Considerably more

02:51Reggie: gravity.

03:13La Bailarina: The Roche Limit, mountain, light, and lightning, all under one roof! DARIO, mi

03:18La Bailarina: amor, does the Cathedral get bigger every time you walk into it, or is that just you?

03:38Reggie: You're the one who doesn't need the venue's lighting rig. That's efficient. I respect

03:43Reggie: efficient.

03:58La Bailarina: Amber, gold, violet. Look how each presence changes the room

04:03La Bailarina: without taking the others out of it.

04:15Reggie: Full sleeve, Crimson Guitar, violet quantum field. You're basically a walking rider

04:20Reggie: sheet for a lighting designer's worst night. That's a compliment, for the record.

04:41La Bailarina: There is room for all three. You can feel the difference when they stand together.

05:01Reggie: I have been warned that we will be meeting a very large hat later. Apparently, it

05:06Reggie: has a person attached. Noted.

05:17La Bailarina: DARIO barely moves. Some people know exactly where their feet belong.

05:31Reggie: I was going to ask a follow-up. I think the room has answered it.

05:48La Bailarina: Stay with this a moment. No hurry. The party will still

05:53La Bailarina: be there when we turn around.

06:03La Bailarina: Clutch and XYLO. NEON TORQUE is here. A little garage glamour, a little

06:08La Bailarina: machine celebration.

06:17Reggie: Finally. Someone who can enjoy the lighting without asking what filter we used.

06:33La Bailarina: Clutch! That undercut is doing more work than most people's whole outfit tonight.

06:48La Bailarina: And XYLO, mi amor, do machines get nervous at parties, or is that a very human question to

06:53La Bailarina: ask a very not-human person?

07:11La Bailarina: That's a yes. I'm calling that a yes.

07:25Reggie: Very concise. We should have booked it for the speeches. There aren't any speeches. I've

07:29Reggie: just decided.

07:44La Bailarina: And DARIO says hello from across the room. He says the bass line still needs work. Don't

07:49La Bailarina: tell him I told you.

08:03La Bailarina: Casey, you found the brightest corner of the party. Or the brightest corner found you.

08:21Reggie: An excellent policy for a band: bring one person who can work a room, and one

08:26Reggie: entity that can illuminate it.

08:42La Bailarina: Come on. Let us hear where this energy takes us.

09:03Reggie: LUNA and Amaya Soul. Two entrances for the price of one doorway. The

09:08Reggie: doorway is coping remarkably well.

09:18La Bailarina: Look at them together. One reaches upward. One brings the glow close.

09:36Reggie: Twelve feet of hat and a head full of bioluminescent hair just walked in together and I

09:41Reggie: have several questions, starting with logistics.

09:57Reggie: The hat has its own weather system at this point. Does it get its own invitation next

10:02Reggie: time, or does it just show up?

10:20La Bailarina: Amaya, there is a whole room moving around you, and still you make this little corner feel

10:24La Bailarina: close.

10:40Reggie: You're the quiet one in a room full of twelve-foot hats. That's either very brave, or very

10:45Reggie: smart. Possibly both.

11:03La Bailarina: You do not have to match somebody else to make a beautiful pair. Look at the space they

11:08La Bailarina: give each other.

11:25Reggie: I have revised my logistics assessment. The hat is part of the venue now. We work around

11:30Reggie: it.

11:49La Bailarina: We will find them again on the dance floor. For now, there is another doorway waiting.

12:20Reggie: NOVA. An entrance with absolutely no need to raise its voice.

12:44La Bailarina: NOVA. Even standing still, you look like a held breath.

12:49La Bailarina: How do you do that?

13:03Reggie: You're proof that not every entrance needs noise. I've been taking notes on that all

13:07Reggie: night. Failing to apply them. But taking notes.

13:25Reggie: Clutch has joined us. NOVA remains remarkably untroubled by the amount of

13:30Reggie: personality entering this conversation.

13:40La Bailarina: We can leave a little room for quiet, too.

13:57La Bailarina: RUINDALI, of GHOST FREQUENCY. We are stepping away from the

14:02La Bailarina: busy room for a moment. Come with us.

14:21La Bailarina: There goes Amaya, bringing a little light through. And there it is, that little

14:26La Bailarina: laugh before the conversation begins.

14:46La Bailarina: RUINDALI. You scream like the whole room owes you something, and then

14:51La Bailarina: you show up tonight this quiet. Both of those are you, no?

15:10La Bailarina: You do not owe us the loudest part of yourself every minute. We are

15:15La Bailarina: happy you came.

15:29La Bailarina: Take your time. There is a place for you out there whenever you want

15:33La Bailarina: it.

15:55Reggie: DONA. No announcement seems likely to improve this entrance.

16:27Reggie: She hasn't said a word all night. Somehow still the most interesting conversation I've

16:31Reggie: had. Going to leave her to it.

16:56Reggie: Toxic Lace were attempting a group selfie. DONA seems to have contributed

17:01Reggie: atmosphere.

17:17Reggie: Raven's question was, did anyone else feel that? I am declining to answer on

17:22Reggie: behalf of the building.

17:39La Bailarina: And down below, the room is gathering. Come back with us. It is time.

17:51La Bailarina: All those entrances. All those different ways of being here. Now

17:56La Bailarina: look at the room they make together.

18:03Reggie: The interviews are over. The Cathedral appears to have other plans.

18:13La Bailarina: Toxic Lace. NEON TORQUE. AURA FIVE. Let the stage have the

18:18La Bailarina: room.

19:12Reggie: This is the part where talking over the music becomes a professional mistake.

19:43La Bailarina: There is RUINDALI again. You remember that quiet corner. Look at her now.

20:28Reggie: DONA is still conducting the most successful silent conversation in the building.

21:10La Bailarina: The Roche Limit. LUNA and Amaya. The faces we met on the

21:15La Bailarina: carpet, finding each other in the music.

22:12La Bailarina: This is why we opened the doors. All of this, together.

22:29Reggie: I had a closing remark prepared. The room is doing better without it.

22:45La Bailarina: One more moment. Let it shine.

23:06Reggie: That's him. Built the whole thing. Currently standing outside it like he's not sure he's

23:11Reggie: allowed in. Very on-brand.

23:55La Bailarina: Here we are. The music is softer, the table is waiting, and nobody has

24:00La Bailarina: to make an entrance anymore.

24:14Reggie: Excellent. I have used every observation I brought with me. Some of them twice.

24:35La Bailarina: I loved the little moments. A glance, a laugh, someone finding a quiet

24:40La Bailarina: corner, then finding their way back.

24:54Reggie: I liked the machine answering a question without giving a speech. A skill I intend to

24:58Reggie: study.

25:16La Bailarina: And all the differences that stayed different. Nobody needed to become somebody else to

25:21La Bailarina: belong in this room.

25:38Reggie: Toxic Lace brought the volume. The Roche Limit brought gravity. LUNA

25:43Reggie: brought additional architecture. We were well supplied.

26:00La Bailarina: Thank you for spending this night with us. Keep the music close. Keep a little room for

26:05La Bailarina: each other.

26:19Reggie: From the Cathedral of Dreams, I am Reggie Volt. The carpet can rest now.

26:24Reggie: It has had quite an evening.

26:35La Bailarina: And I am La Bailarina. Good night, mi amor. We will see you in the music.