Showing posts with label miami hurricon. Show all posts
Showing posts with label miami hurricon. Show all posts

Monday, April 6, 2015

Status Quo Sunday Catches You Up Before You Go Go

Missed last week... but will more than make up for it!

But first... The Jam:


OK, so to make up for it, here's the big news:
ALBUM NEWS-
The last song has been send to Rob for mixing/mastering, meaning that the album is conceptually 100% done. After all that's back, production will kick in to high gear, but for now, I'm keeping it chill.

It's done. There's interstitial tracks left to work on, but A. Someone else may record those, and B. any work done with that can be done on my end since it's just removing the noise and leveling it out.

So, I'm going to spend April finalizing stuff for the Kickstarter, which will launch on May 1st, and while THAT'S going, put the finishing touches on everything.

Still trying to plug away at Dragons of Tarkir, but between finishing the album and Hurricon, that took a backseat.

HURRICON?
Yup, played again this past weekend!

Here's the Flickr Files.

Show went well. Had a few people just passing through, Everyone who stayed around for the whole thing loved it a lot and that makes me more happy than anything. No table, but gave out some posters and CDs to the loyal few.

I also saved like, 5 panels. I travel with A LOT of sound equipment, and for Christmas, I got a handtruck that made everything REALLY easy, so there was NOTHING I could handle.

Other than that, it was a really solid local con. Played some rounds of Magic, HMK was there, along with Paul St. Peter, the voice of Xemnas from Kingdom Hearts. I'm not a big anime guy, but it's a delight seeing all these pretty anime characters being played by guys who look like my Dad. It's sweet it it's own way!

Mad props to a SoFloConBro, Gaijin Takiyaki. DELICIOUS treats in a bunch of flavors! Unfortunately they were out when I got there.

MUSIC STUFF:
All my Rhythm The Bastarding songs are now available for download. I originally disabled it for the mailing list peeps, but I think the statute of limitations


Speaking of which, the mailing list peeps WILL get a new track sometime this week!

Also, HOLY SHIT THE DEADPOOL MOVIE IS FOR REALZ!



Monday, March 23, 2015

Status Quo Sunday Fest Presented by Ultracon

This week's jam:
A.K.A. Gang Beasts in music video form.

This week was another 10/4 week for me, so while I had the extra day off, unfortunately, I still had a busy weekend.

BUT FIRST "YO RB WHATCHA GOT?"
ALBUM UPDATE-
Two songs to go! Really, only one song to finish writing and one song to re-record.  Also finishing my Dragons of Tarkir song which leads me to....

DTK Prerelease! Went 3-1, going with a White/Blue flyers deck. Some MVPs:
-Misthoof Kirin: A 3/2 flier with vigilance that you can play as a morph for 3, and then turn up for only 2 mana, which enbables you to also play...
-Palace Familiar: 1/1, Flying, for 1 and a blue, AND when it dies, you draw a card? Definitely worth drafting. Small fliers, cheap blockers and even cheaper draw is WORTH IT!
-Illusory Gains: Control a creature, then control the next creature that comes out? Really took to this one, since there were a few games where my opponent didn't want to cast anything else, in the event that I'll control that too.

KICKSTARTER...?
Right now, the plan is to focus on finishing the album, then worry about the Kickstarter. So, nothing has been set forward with that yet.

UPCOMING CONS?
Good news everyone!
Miami Hurricon is coming up VERY soon, April 4th!
Ultracon has been moved to July, making me 100% FREE to do Omni Expo!
Ultracon and Hero Hype Con are not confirmed yet, but I should be hearing back from them soon.
In the next couple days, I'll be updating the site with times and whatnot. 

OH YEAH, I DID GEEKFEST!
I didn't have a show at GeekFest, but the card was pretty full, and any place with a stage was too crowded. I DID take pictures, and that video will come soon once my workload is a little lighter. Under Ultracon's wing, it took a big step up from where it was in 2013, but still kept it nice and manageable.

I'd be remiss to not to shout out  that I met up with Zach of ZifProd, who recorded my Chibi Pa Concert:



Monday, March 16, 2015

Status Quo Sunday Rides The Bomb To Hell

This week's jam:

Can I get this entire music video tattooed on me?

 So I'm posting this ASAP when I get home from work Monday since I'll be working hard to set everything up for the next couple tracks I'm sending out: Two are for Status Quo Radio and the other is for my Dragons of Tarkir song, which is more or less complete.

Time's short for me this week, so I'll go into a little bit of detail about the songs at what to expect this week:
DRAGONS OF TARKIR- Heavily based off of Metal-Influenced punk acts such as The Offspring and Rise Against, especially since I've been listening to the band above.

I guess since this loosely follows the plot of the block, I guess that means this is a KHAN-cept album?


...I'll see myself out.


BAD DOCTORS- Rerecording this song. I've improved a lot since then, and the main thing I'm working on is both my singing and my meter.


CLASS 9- Codename right now, but I think it rounds out things rather nicely. Since you know the drill by now, you can kinda have a general idea of whatr of who the song is about. But really, as TF2 drifts further and further out of relevance, I've been making it more personal, and the original idea for TF2 concept album is more of a framework than an idea of itself.


But for this song I was planning on having be a little more mellow, like some Talking Heads, but as I started writing it, and really wanting something a little more intense, so it's a lot more classic punky, like The Buzzcocks.


Everything else is a deathmarch right now, as I'm trying to get stuff into Rob as he's getting married in April, and things aren't lost in the shuffle.



RAW was phhbbbt, so here's some good wrestling stuff:




And finally, I'M HEADED TO MIAMI HURRICON!



Monday, December 29, 2014

Status Quo Sunday's Ten Lessons Learned.

Album's going strong, a little ahead of the game, so, let's look back 2014!

Cesaro's on RAW and he's talking about how-

Oh, right. Um, something relevant... OK-

MY TOP 10 (IN NO ORDER) CONVENTIONS OF 2014! (and the lessons learned)

1. Sands Of Anime
Location is everything. It was by this really nice, beautiful beach, and with some time, it could be a destination con, ala Umicon Daytona. But, they also put the music act opposite the voice actor panels. And the merch tables were out of the way.

2. Miami Hurricon
BRING A FUCKING MIC STAND.

3. Omni Expo
Never underestimate the power of a good connection. I met up with a lot of people there, who I would go on to work with and become good friends with, such as the guys from Orlando Nerd Fest and Sci-Fried, DJ RoboRob (who's producing Status Quo Radio), and Geekapella.

Also, KNOW WHAT DATES OTHER THINGS ARE AT.

4. Hero Hype Con
Learning from your mistakes. Hero Hype Con picked up the slack, and knowing what to expect and being prepared for anything, let me perform better. Also, I got a really sweet spot, before the cosplay competition.

5. Anime Festival Orlando
You don't need to hustle 100%. I feel like I need to at these things, but I was having way more fun once I settled down and played some Magic The Gathering. Really, A LOT of Magic The Gathering, lol. My concert went well, but again, cons are supposed to be fun, and I don't have to be on the clock.

 6. Creator Owned Expo
Supporting the little guy feels really good, and as I'm watching RAW, it reminds me of the benefit of putting guys over. Which they don't do on RAW. Be like Ron (Kerronian, head of COE), not RAW.

7. Orlando Nerd Fest
Hard work feels great when it pays off. Like Creator Owned Expo, it feels really good putting guys over, and when that person does the same to you (like what MC Lars did to me), the feeling is euphoric.

8. Umicon Music Initative
Act like you never made a mistake. A string broke, I was inbetween two other acts, and I only had so much time left. I just translated everything and went along with it, and became EVEN MORE OF A DORK.

AARON DISMUKE, I WILL HAVE MY REVENGE!!!

9. Chibi Pa: Suki Desu
Putting the artists alley infront of the Dealer's Room is a REALLY smart idea, and it's almost TOO obvious to think of.

I was also going to put something here about good turns deserving another, as when I lent my amp to the staff to borrow for an event, fate rewarded me with Andrew from S.S. Hanami helping me out on drums, but con organizers should also take note of this list.

10. UltraCon
Putting the panels and what times they're at RIGHT OUTSIDE THE PANEL ROOMS is another REALLY good idea.

But, there's also another bonus lesson here: Know your limits. I'm not at the point where I'm marketable enough yet to where I can sell merch at cons via table. I'm a hard sell; original content in an environment based off of fandom.

So I'm going to be less aggressive in trying to snag cons this year. I'm definitely not quitting, but I'm not going to shotgun everything, and waste money on tables and stuff like that. I might even try to snag some small shows on Clematis Street, like a REAL musician.

It's a big world out there, and 2015 is going to be a big year.

Huh, my birthday's on a Sunday this year....

Monday, April 21, 2014

Status Quo Sunday Rocked Me Like A Hurricon

I've mentioned it before, these gigs of legend.

Everything was 100% on point. My setlist, planned out, was rehearsed for weeks in advance. I had sent out plenty of invites on Facebook, and did a ton of advertising in the days leading up to this past Saturday.

One of my neighbors in the vendor's room, Knova, was kind enough to lend me a cameraman (SUP ALEX?) so I can have it all on video. I had a complientary table, I sold some CDs, got a TON of names on the mailing list, and took plenty of pictures of some cosplays for the coming recap video.

On stage, I was perfect: No lyric fumbled, no note missed, and all eyes were on me. This would have been perfect.

If I remembered to bring a fucking mic stand.

We learn the best lessons from the harshest situations.

Anyway, good con, great price (aka none). There was some sponsorship from Florida Supercon, which is why a couple things managed to work, like the sponsorship from Microsoft for the game room and the location for what is a free con put on by a college club (Miami Airport Convention Center). 

I just want to give a big shout out to EVERYONE who came out to see me! This put a huge smile on

-I got to see HotDiggedyDemon, whois absolutely gigantic in person. He didn't have any cartoons to show off, but he did make for an entertaining Q & A.

-I got to play Zombies!!! which is a game I only seem to play at cons. Imagine the survival horror aspect of the early Resident Evil games and the "HA HA! YOU'RE SCREWED!" of Uno.

-I got a game of Commander in (I faced against the WORST possible Commander, I run an Oloro lifegain deck, he played Erebos, God Of The Dead, effectively neutering ALL of my shenanigans) BUT I DIGRESS

Wednesday, April 16, 2014

Status Quo Sunday Gathers ALL The Magic In Miami

THIS SATURDAY: MIAMI HURRICON!!! 
It's at the Miami Airport Convention Center. I'll be in Ballroom A at 3:30 PM.

You can stop by my table in the dealer's room, we'll hang out, play Magic and talk about whatever!

Now, what are the three things I'm most excited to check out?
1. Hotdiggedydemon- Been a fan of pretty much everything he's done since first catching him on Newgrounds with "Wacky Game Jokez 4 Kidz!" and judging by his previous panels, they're pretty funny, if not an interesting watch.

2. All The People I Usually See At Florida Based Conventions- Namely, the Bronies of South Florida, Carlos from The Hero Hype Con and Ron from Creator Owned Expo. For a state as spread out and desolate as Florida, this is the closest I've ever been to feeling like I'm part of a scene.

3. The TCGs- Yeah, they got Pokemon and Vanguard, but I got me a Commander Deck that will WRECK SHIT.

SPEAKING OF MAGIC THE GATHERING: While the past week or so was mainly prepping for Miami Hurricon, there was also a Magic The Gathering Pro Tour Qualifer not too far away from me. So, this past Saturday, me and a couple friends took a ride down south to play.

The format was Sealed, where you're given 6 15-card booster packs and have to make a deck out of those. One of my friends got into the Top 8, the other made money by getting into the top 16, and while I didn't win anything, I did pretty well (4-3) with what I had, since I mostly got a bunch of junky rares that were either too expensive/useless, or were in colors that were shallow given the rest of my cards.



In other news, everyone I've sent Act 1 of Status Quo Radio to has enjoyed it, and right now I'm looking to finish it up and have it ready for Kickstarter by July. Mostly it'll be for handling mixing/mastering, and merch production.

See you next week for the Recap!

Monday, March 31, 2014

Status Quo Sunday Welcomes You To A New Kind Of Tension

On March 28th, my Dad turned 63, and as a birthday present, I took him out to see American Idiot, the musical based on the Green Day album. He loved it when we saw it on Broadway a couple years ago, and while in the Broward Center for Performing Arts the show was much less elaborate (and are seats were wa further back), it was still a good show for a great album and gave me the itch to work on Status Quo Radio.

Really, the show and singing the album in Rock Band made me realize how well put together the whole album is, and what a coincidence, it turns 10 in September. What a kick in the ass it all is, and now I'm even more determined to get SQR finished. 

HOWEVER, there is another song I worked on instead for podcast Overlord and Heir Commandant, Ozone, who wanted me to do a song for an upcoming project. It's about wrestling, a.k.a. The Only Reason I Turn On My TV Expect For Playing Video Games.

This week is back to more music, more con hustling and more "Crap I Do When I Should Be Working On Magic". Next week, I should have up a new song AND something upcoming confirmed.

I got the setlist all worked up for Miami Hurricon, and you'll hear about that, and another BIG convention very soon!

But as it's shaping up right now, Miami Hurricon, for a FREE show in it's early years, is really good. Of all things, I'm looking forward to meeting Max Giraldi, a.k.a. HotDiggedyDemon, to see if Senpai notices me and my song "Protocols Ordering New Youth":


Sunday, March 23, 2014

Status Quo Sunday Is Going To Miami

MIAMI HURRICON THAT IS!!!
Saturday, April 19th, 2014
Miami Airport Convention Center
711 NW 72nd Avenue, Miami, FL 33126
3:30 PM in Main Ballroom A

And it's all free! Not a lot is out regarding other panels yet, but it's a free con put on by the University of Miami's Anime Club. I'll be playing some stuff live for the first time, and will be selling posters, CDs, and being my usual charming self :).

OTHER STUFF:
My music equipment is up and running and got back to writing some stuff out. I'm back in the "writing soundtrack stuff" business, and you know I'll post it up the second I can.

Not a lot this week...As I get closer to Hurricon, I'll let you know more, and as usual, my Mailing list people get free mp3 downloads!