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, December 29, 2014
Tuesday, December 23, 2014
Monday, December 22, 2014
Status Quo Sunday Gives You An Early Christmas Present
Big ups to Mervyn McCoy of PaperLab Studios, this was awesome.
You can check out the comic series that's being collected in a trade paperback in January, Giant Robot Warrior Maintenance Crew.
Also, I'm a track ahead of schedule, so I might put out some new music soon. I got a lot of concepts on the docket.
I wanted to have my UltraCon Video up, but that fell by the wayside. :(
Thursday, December 18, 2014
Wednesday, December 17, 2014
NEW VIDEO: IndieBox Unboxing- Steamworld Dig
Ultracon Recap video coming soon, but an unboxing video in the mean time.
#BringBackTheBox
#BringBackTheBox
Monday, December 15, 2014
SQS: Status, Quos and Sundays
TLC has been pretty meh. Then Bray Wyatt and Dean Ambrose had to have their crazy-off.
This week, I WAS NUMBER ONE ON REVERBNATION (rock bands in Palm Beach, FL) (for a couple of days)
Ultracon Good News: #SoFloConBros, as always. Bought a Luchador mask, and I'm now giving up music to seek out the Lucha Way.
Ultracon Bad News: Due to shenanigans (which were mostly my fault), I didn't have a set time or place, and that did put a damper on things. Spent $125 on a table when there was so much other cool stuff to go around. And the Magic The Gathering Drafts didn't fire off.
Also, the Lucha Way doesn't pay that well.
I don't want to crap on Ultracon as an event, mind you. The South Florida Con scene has a lot of good friends, and a lot of cool people, and Irving was a great guy. Some interesting panels went on, plenty of good dealers, and I got to guest ref World Foam League. When he said he didn't have a time/place for me, he said, "Whenever, Wherever". The phrase I would use was "unfortunate".
Unfortunate for Ultracon, Holiday Matsuri was a little ways north. How much business one took away from the other, I can't really say. They're separated by over 3 hours on the I-95. I don't think it was as bad as Omni Expo/Florida Anime Experience taking place the exact same weekend. In Orlando.
But. let's talk about some of the good:
Aforementioned Lucha Mask- It's like the bastard child of Bane and Taskmaster.
IndieBox- I bought one of their games and did an unboxing, which will be up this week sometime. Basically, you pay every month, and they send you an indie game, a little cartridge (DRM FREE) with the game on it, a steam key, a soundtrack, and various other goodies. You can even buy past boxes! All the cool nerdy stuff of LootCrate, while supporting the little guy!
The Pow Wow Show- Thanks to them, I had a show this weekend!
World Foam League- Basically, LARP meets WWE. I was a guest ref for their event at UltraCon. The setup was less than ideal, as was the time (right against the cosplay competition), but with that kind of experience, it'll become a really interesting production. They have other chapters opening up, and it does have room to get bigger and better.
Now onto album stuff:
The ink on the album cover is just about dry, and it's going out to the mailing list people first, and I'll put it up on the site. Since I have little left in the way of cons, the next hurdle is getting the KickStarter set up, while working on the rest of the album.
More next week, while I'll try to write up one post a week until Christmas.
This week, I WAS NUMBER ONE ON REVERBNATION (rock bands in Palm Beach, FL) (for a couple of days)
Ultracon Good News: #SoFloConBros, as always. Bought a Luchador mask, and I'm now giving up music to seek out the Lucha Way.
Ultracon Bad News: Due to shenanigans (which were mostly my fault), I didn't have a set time or place, and that did put a damper on things. Spent $125 on a table when there was so much other cool stuff to go around. And the Magic The Gathering Drafts didn't fire off.
Also, the Lucha Way doesn't pay that well.
I don't want to crap on Ultracon as an event, mind you. The South Florida Con scene has a lot of good friends, and a lot of cool people, and Irving was a great guy. Some interesting panels went on, plenty of good dealers, and I got to guest ref World Foam League. When he said he didn't have a time/place for me, he said, "Whenever, Wherever". The phrase I would use was "unfortunate".
Unfortunate for Ultracon, Holiday Matsuri was a little ways north. How much business one took away from the other, I can't really say. They're separated by over 3 hours on the I-95. I don't think it was as bad as Omni Expo/Florida Anime Experience taking place the exact same weekend. In Orlando.
But. let's talk about some of the good:
Aforementioned Lucha Mask- It's like the bastard child of Bane and Taskmaster.
IndieBox- I bought one of their games and did an unboxing, which will be up this week sometime. Basically, you pay every month, and they send you an indie game, a little cartridge (DRM FREE) with the game on it, a steam key, a soundtrack, and various other goodies. You can even buy past boxes! All the cool nerdy stuff of LootCrate, while supporting the little guy!
The Pow Wow Show- Thanks to them, I had a show this weekend!
World Foam League- Basically, LARP meets WWE. I was a guest ref for their event at UltraCon. The setup was less than ideal, as was the time (right against the cosplay competition), but with that kind of experience, it'll become a really interesting production. They have other chapters opening up, and it does have room to get bigger and better.
Now onto album stuff:
The ink on the album cover is just about dry, and it's going out to the mailing list people first, and I'll put it up on the site. Since I have little left in the way of cons, the next hurdle is getting the KickStarter set up, while working on the rest of the album.
More next week, while I'll try to write up one post a week until Christmas.
Monday, December 8, 2014
Ultra Status Quo Sunday
ULTRACON OF SOUTH FLORIDA THIS SUNDAY!
There's going to be a lot of awesome guests there, like:
-Larry Hama, THE ORIGINAL CREATOR OF G.I. JOE!
-Steve Cardenas, THE ORIGINAL RED RANGER FROM MIGHT MORPHIN' POWER RANGERS!
-Larry Mainland, from THE WALKING DEAD
-RHYTHM BASTAR- oh wait that's me...
END OF THE LINE IS OUT!!!
Really solid animation. I've always wanted to make an SFM Music Video for "Boston Boom Bringer" or "Gang Of Nine", since people are doing absolutely incredible things with it.
I'm getting this spare PC I found up and running, and so far, it runs TF2 with no hiccups. It's a desktop, and is more powerful than my laptop, so I'll be using that more for production and gaming, and my laptop will be relegated to tour-mate, since the Wi-Fi on it has been busted for a while.
Regarding the album, THE COVER IS FINISHED, I REPEAT, THE COVER IS FINISHED.
Yeah, plenty of good stuff all around. Granted, there's been plenty of not so good news this week, with killer cops getting off the hook left and right, but at least it gives me the opportunity to post up this nugget from the Dead Kennedys:
There is still hope, as we, as a society, are more and more willing to call out this bullshit.
Anytime someone says "Not all cops...""But a black guy shot a white guy this one time...""ALL lives matter!", etc., remind them that this still goes on, and by making it about them, they're enabling this crap to continue.
There's going to be a lot of awesome guests there, like:
-Larry Hama, THE ORIGINAL CREATOR OF G.I. JOE!
-Steve Cardenas, THE ORIGINAL RED RANGER FROM MIGHT MORPHIN' POWER RANGERS!
-Larry Mainland, from THE WALKING DEAD
-RHYTHM BASTAR- oh wait that's me...
END OF THE LINE IS OUT!!!
Really solid animation. I've always wanted to make an SFM Music Video for "Boston Boom Bringer" or "Gang Of Nine", since people are doing absolutely incredible things with it.
I'm getting this spare PC I found up and running, and so far, it runs TF2 with no hiccups. It's a desktop, and is more powerful than my laptop, so I'll be using that more for production and gaming, and my laptop will be relegated to tour-mate, since the Wi-Fi on it has been busted for a while.
Regarding the album, THE COVER IS FINISHED, I REPEAT, THE COVER IS FINISHED.
Yeah, plenty of good stuff all around. Granted, there's been plenty of not so good news this week, with killer cops getting off the hook left and right, but at least it gives me the opportunity to post up this nugget from the Dead Kennedys:
There is still hope, as we, as a society, are more and more willing to call out this bullshit.
Anytime someone says "Not all cops...""But a black guy shot a white guy this one time...""ALL lives matter!", etc., remind them that this still goes on, and by making it about them, they're enabling this crap to continue.
Wednesday, December 3, 2014
The Electric Status Quo Sunday
CHIBI PA RECAP VIDEO!
Fun fact: The guy who was Bojack Horseman was also the Hulk from my Hero Hype Con video.
JANELLE MONAE'S BIRTHDAY!
Can we talk about her for a second? Every time I look at her, I think “That’s the kind of thing I want to do!”
It’s earnest music wrapped up in something fantastic. You can tell there’s a method to her madness, looking at the videos like “Many Moons” and “Primetime”, which are mini sci-fi movies.
In the process of making Status Quo Radio (my Team Fortress 2 inspired concept album), The Electric Lady has become one of the biggest inspirations; an album the rocks, an album that rolls, an album that takes you to another place for a little while.
-The album? MORE SONGS BEING TRACKED! MORE COVER ART... ARTED! This thing is actually starting to take shape, and I couldn't be more pleased. I'm working with three awesome dudes making this all work right, so the end product can be something I'm proud of.
Fun fact: The guy who was Bojack Horseman was also the Hulk from my Hero Hype Con video.
JANELLE MONAE'S BIRTHDAY!
Can we talk about her for a second? Every time I look at her, I think “That’s the kind of thing I want to do!”
It’s earnest music wrapped up in something fantastic. You can tell there’s a method to her madness, looking at the videos like “Many Moons” and “Primetime”, which are mini sci-fi movies.
In the process of making Status Quo Radio (my Team Fortress 2 inspired concept album), The Electric Lady has become one of the biggest inspirations; an album the rocks, an album that rolls, an album that takes you to another place for a little while.
-The album? MORE SONGS BEING TRACKED! MORE COVER ART... ARTED! This thing is actually starting to take shape, and I couldn't be more pleased. I'm working with three awesome dudes making this all work right, so the end product can be something I'm proud of.
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