Status Quo Sunday GETS READY TO RUMBLE!!!

AFO RUMBLE!
Yes, I'm all set for Anime Festival Orlando this weekend, there's an event page for the show, and you can pre-register here:
Sign up now to get a later spot!
 

THIS WEEK'S JAM:

Boy, it's sad how relevant this song is across the pond and 5 years later. The Republican and Democratic National Conventions are winding down, and I am among the many disappointed that voted for Bernie Sanders and came up short.

A lot of my friends are voting 3rd party because they prefer to "Vote With Their Conscience", but that attitude is what got Nixon and Bush Jr. into office.


Trump is all the bullshit of the Republican Party coming home to roost, and if all of this pent up rage and bluster is rejected by the American people, then hopefully that will cause them to finally calm the fuck down and take some time off.

FUTURE CON THINGIES:
Anime Festival Orlando:
The AFO RUMBLE!
Saturday July 30th, 2016
11:15 in the Lime Room (Panel 1) on Saturday!

Get ready to rumble in the hypest fake wrestling event that Florida has ever seen! 30 combatants enter fighting for glory in WWF No Mercy, one leaves with the championship belt and a special prize!
 
If you pre-register here, you will get a later spot in the rumble, increasing your chances of winning!
https://goo.gl/forms/MvBdzy4xV4eA4uup2

Iwai Mini:
Sunday, August 8th, 2016
Bastard No Rhythm Rockademia
3:30 in Main Events

This is a ploy to get more eyeballs on my event, but it's my first show in a few months! I will be premiering a new song at Iwai Mini. Yes, the Overwatch one.

Mizucon:
August 19th-21st, 2016
TBD

Still waiting on a schedule for this one, but it is on the docket!

STATUS QUO SUNDAYMANIA Star

This week's jam:

I was using this song for something, and I was like "Holy shjt, this is awesome!" The title tracks to Lars's albums are always undeniably good, and while Zomibe T-Rex is more goofy than Lars Attacks! nothing is lost in the transition.

What was I using it for?

OMNI EXPO RECAP VIDEO!


Featuring appearance from:
Frosted Gaming:  https://www.youtube.com/user/FrostedG...
Remain Calm RPG: https://www.facebook.com/RemainCalmRPG/

Ending Song
"Zombie T-Rex" by MC Lars

FUTURE SONGS!
Finishing up another cover AND my Shadows Over Innistrad song! I'm really excited over the Innistrad song, it's going to be something different than what I'm used to, but I really love the base I'm working with. I always relish these projects I challenge myself to, and I'm going in a more sullen, emo direction with this one.

Art is by God-Bird and again, he's doing a really nice job with it. 

Speaking of Magic, I went 4-2 at my prerelease, building a sick Vampires/Werewolves and Madness themed deck. If I got all the pieces out by turn 3 I wrecked my opponents, but anything later than that and I failed.

Regardless, I still need to see it in draft, but I think that a lot of your decks success will depend on how well you pull around the mechanics. I can see investigate being big, since now they're working on making every draw not suck.

One big thing to take away though is that they're slowing the game down A LOT. Any game that doesn't end within the first 20 minutes go to turns and beyond.

FUTURE CONS!
I will have a performance at Out Con. It's a little more than two months away, but it has been comfirmed. I will have a table, and hopefully I'll have some new merch ready by then. But I will have all the usually stuff there which you can still order from Bandcamp.

Florida Fandomania hasn't release any new updates

There's a couple out there in the ether that aren't 100% confirmed yet, but I'll most likely be returning to Anime Iwai, the successor to Chibi Pa, and MizuCon.

WRESTLEMANIA?
All you need to know...








 

Status Quo At The Expo

This week's jam:


My favorite non-Megalovania song. The game's Pacifist Run was a very emotional experience and this song provided the right mix of desparation and uplifting to fill me with... DETERMINATION.

WHAT HAPPENED THIS WEEK?
Fuckin' Omni Expo was this weekend! which is why I didn't post up any recap shit on Saturday. Let me run through the whipdash of that day.


OMNI EXPO!
Left home at around 10-ish and got to the convention center at around 1. The shitty thing is that ConJure, another convention was taking place not too far away, so I think Omni Expo mioght have been a little more full, but it had good attendance.

Most of the afternoon was spent bumming around, taking pictures and the like. I bought some Magic cards to throw into the audience since I left my Fat Pack at home, and in one of my packs, I pull out this guy:


For those of you rolling your eyes and thinking "Oh fuck, he's talking about Magic again, nobody cares", guess what? As of March 6th, 2016, it costs:
$91.52


That's not a typo, I pulled almost $100 out of a pack of Origins. 

After that, I went to play a quick game of Remain Calm, an Zombie-themed RPG that involves surviving in the Zombie Apocalypse.  It's based on the D20 system used by Dungeons and Dragons, so if you're familiar with that, then you should be fine. 

One interesting thing about it is that it also uses your smart phone to log into a website where you get your character sheets and can set up your equipment. The pros of this system is that you can modify the game almost immediately and gives plenty of opportunity for expansion. The con is that the site isn't the best optimized for mobile phones. 

The scenario we played out was very straight forward: we're a group of survivors looking to get to the other side of a road. Fresh off the RP-heavy FATE Campaign I was involved in with [insert quest here], it was a nice break to see something with numbers. 

Two mechanics that help set it apart and make a lot of sense in the setting are infection and noise. If there is any contact with a zombie, you need to roll probability for how likely it is that you are infected with the zombie virus, an event that can take it's toll in a campaign. Noise came in to play a lot more frequently: As we performed actions and as the GM took his turn, there was a possibility that zombies can moan and attract more zombies, screwing us over more. At one point we summoned 83 zombies in a single turn.

Our team barely made it across, but it was a fun time.

However, it wasn't very streamlined, so a bunch of crazy combinations were able to take place, like a slingshot that threw lawn darts covered in spikes. There were a lot of options that weren't practical for a beta release, or wouldn't come into play during a con game. Also a lot of the pieces we were using we laminated stand ins. So a lot of stuff is still in beta.

With more time and money, the game can get a worthwhile package to sell to the masses. In the mean time, you can find out more from their website.

After that, I went to my show and drew a pretty decent crowd. I played some new stuff, some old stuff, and added older songs back into the fold. 

I also did the Stone Cold beer smash before I did "Hell Yeah" which is what I always wanted to do!



Aside from the technical issue of not having a PA System, I think it went over well.

Still thinking I might need a liason or someone in the back to collect e-mails for the mailing list and sell merch.

Just an idea I had. 

After that, while I didn't manage to have my post show booze, I did run into Frosted Gaming who hosted an impromptu panel in the middle of the hall. So in response, I threw a mini-concert playing a couple of my MtG songs, and they went over big! I should host more guerilla concerts in the future....

WHATCHA DOIN' NOW?
Setting up for Hero Hype Con, maybe working on a couple cover songs, some to release, some for "back pocket" reasons, I dunno. Also some arts and crafts for the future stuff.

Finally, getting everything ready for PAX East. That's going to be fun.

When's Your Next Con?

I've been doing conventions in Florida for almost 3 full years now, and while there have been cons all over the state, I see a lot of familiar faces wandering the halls. If you look at my recap videos, you'll see some people pop up in different costumes, or the same costume twice, etc. and we super fun awesome times. However, the most common question I asked in this scenario is:
"When's your next con?"

I'm glad to get asked this question, because it means people want to see me again, whether they stopped by a show, or we just hung out in the halls. However, periods like these where I don't have anything scheduled (too early in the year), it's hard to answer.

Pretty much all of my con performances are when I've straight up asked or submitted a panel application. Sometimes I get rejected, but go anyway, but I can't do that with every con.

That's where you all come in. If there's a con you're going to, let me know! Better yet, let the people in charge of the con know that you'd like to see me there, because at the end of the day they want panels and guests to make sure people come.

So, if you have a con you're going to and you'd like me to play, shoot them an e-mail. In exchange for helping out, I'll hook you up with a T-shirt, a CD, a poster and play an acoustic concert for you and your friends!

Status Quo Sunday Turns On The Kickstarter Machine

This week's jam, which you've heard before if the song is not familiar to you:


From of an A.V. Club article on heavily sampled beats, this one made the list, and has been featured in a lot of songs on DJ Hero. Also that drum beat is the same one from Foster The People's song "Houdini".

KICKSTARTER/ALBUM NEWS:
6 days late, but...


STATUS QUO RADIO KICKSTARTER IS LIVE!!!

It has been a VERY long time coming, but little by little, we're making our way there to the final release date. In progress for about 5 and a half years, the project is coming to fruition, and I couldn't be happier.



There were a shitton of other things I wanted to write about right now, but it's late, and I want to get this out (technically) on time.

FUTURE CON NEWS:
It looks like fall will be very busy for me, with Umicon, Mizucon, Chibi Pa and Ultracon looking very likely to round out the year. I will provide details on all of them as they are confirmed and coming out.

PAST CON NEWS:
My set from Orlando Nerd Fest was made into a proper video on Twitch but I think I'll wait a bit before I feature it here on the site, since it might get uploaded to YouTube or something else.

As an aside:
Today was a big day for fake video game wrestling video game events:


The PAX Rumble: #TURNONTHEFOGMACHINE


Rustlemania In YOUR House!:

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....

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.

Status Quo Sunday Counts Down To Omni Expo

-All right, OMNI EXPO IS THIS WEEKEND!!! Practicing's going well, I'm going to be burning a fresh batch O' CDs, and I'm not nervous AT ALL! NOPE.

The Facebook Event is still here BTW.

Saturday's show is going to be at 8 PM, Sunday's at 3.

I will NOT have a table there, but I will have my merch for sale at both shows.

Also, I recently got me a 2DS, so if you want to battle some Pokeymans, and Pass Streets, hunt me down!

As for what I'm looking forward to at Omni Expo:
-Meeting Ryan Frye and Grifter Cosplay, two guys from my first Florida con.
-Ellen McLain and John Patrick Lowrie from ALL OF THE ORANGE BOX
-Playing some Magic
-Busting out a few rounds of Zombies!!!
-Streetpassing and Pokemon Battlin' mofos.


-Even with all of my preparation, I did manage to finish up another song, and the mailing list peeps will be getting it THIS WEEK!!! It will be up on SoundCloud after OMNI EXPO. Hopefully something comes of it, but I doubt it.

If anything, new songage by me that's not part of Status Quo Radio.

No new Echo Chamber this week, but I will put up a post game Thursday/Friday.

Status Quo Sunday Gets By With A Little Help...

ALL RIGHT, so forward progress is being made in general on everything!

Except my Magic playing. I only went 2-2.

-First and foremost, I've gotten a Flickr page, so you can view all the pictures I took. Right now, only Miami Hurricon is there, but I'll add more as I got back into the archives and dig up some good stuff :)

-Second, progress on another song is coming along and I really like the job the drummer did. So once this song is done, Act 2 will be more or less complete. Hopefully I can finish it in time for Omni Expo. This is really starting to come together, and right now my goal is to finish one "Act" in between each con I'm going to. Act 1 is already (more or less) 100% complete,

After all of that, I'm going to get a Kickstarter set up so that I can get some funding to have it mixed, mastered and printed.

-Speaking of cons, here's my Hurricon recap video!


-And, five minutes before I hit "Publish" on this bad boy, Hero Hype Con comes out with their commercial (WHERE I'LL BE PLAYING!!!)


-Finally, at long last, the E.T. Atari Cartridges have been found. I have no idea how to feel right now: Elated, because something we've believed for a long time has finally come true, or upset, because a long held myth has been taken out of the realms of legend an into reality? These are trying time we are living in my friend.

Status Quo La Quo Sunday Takes You To Wrestlemania

LISTEN HERE, BROTHER, DUDE, WE GOT SOME BIIIG ANNOUNCEMENT FOR YOU BASTARDMANIACS

TWO NEW CONVENTIONS!!!
OMNI EXPO- OMNI EXPO’s first focus is that of an electronics media tradeshow that brings manufacturers of the worlds latest cutting edge technology to a targeted consumer demographic that wants the best the future has to offer right now. The second focus is to create an umbrella venue for like-minded smaller conventions and trade shows in the area that have a similar consumer base. These conventions and trade shows will encompass all aspects of future technology based media, such as but not limited to science fiction, electronic based gaming, multi-cultural fantasy, and animation.

BASICALLY IT'S A NEW HYPE-ASS CONVENTION IN ORLANDO, FLORIDA!

Lots of awesome guests are lined up, such as Ellen McLain (GlaDos), John Patrick Lowrie (Sniper- TF2), Robert Axelrod (Lord Zedd), Kyle Herbert (Dragonball Z), Jen Taylor (Princess Peach from the Mario games, Left 4 Dead) AND MORE!!!

Also, returning for Year #2,

HERO HYPE CON- A small convention in the heart of Miami showcasing cosplayers, gamers & fans, within the super hero world. So basically, GET HYPED!!!

I had a lot of fun last year, and I know this year will be even better!


More news as it comes.

So Wrestlemania XXX opened up with a tag match that ended up in a giant cuddle puddle, and ended with a championship match befitting of this special anniversary. Cesaro won, Daniel Bryan got what was coming to him since Summerslam, and Brock Lesnar ate the Undertaker like a delicious sandwich from Jimmy Johns.

Also I started watching Kill La Kill. The creators have shows like FLCL and Gurren Laggan on their resume, so you know it's going to be out there. While I've yet to see those series, this is just plain insane.

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!

Status Quo Sunday Embraces The Darkness In My Soul

Dark Souls 2 came out, and it got me playing Dark Souls 1 again. It's still hard, but I feel like going through it a couple times, and learning to level up my Warrior better definitely helped out a lot. I'm only mentioning this because I'm working on music again (HINT HINT).

Last Wednesday I streamed some Rocksmith, thinking about doing it this Wednesday as well, maybe I'll change up the games every so often, who knows?

I found out I'm in Reverbnation's Top 10 Rock Artists for my area! I'll be putting more stuff up on there as well, since it just makes multi-posting stuff easier, as well as hopefull getting my music out there.

Speaking of which, a couple of conventions are getting back to me, and I'll be sending out follow ups and registration papers, and all kind of other neat things, so I can get some live shows before... well, hopefully at one of them I'll have something big to announce regarding the album.

Now, this weekend, while I had some fun playing DnD, Magic and watching UFC fights, there were some sad times, and I feel like 2 Green Day songs cover the situation well:
Wayne Knight died in a- Oh, wait, he didn't? I was gonna play "Time Of Your Life" but I guess not.


Also, Fred Phelps is on death's door. So...

Status Quo Sunday Is Up To 500 Posts

First the absolutely crushing news: My audio interface has been giving me some problems, so I have to send it back to Focusrite to get it fixed OR get a new one. This past paycheck was the one I use to pay all of my bills, so it'll be two weeks before I can afford another one.

Then the OK news: This doesn't affect anything I recorded, but I can't use Studio One. I can, however, import all the tracks I have recorded into Reaper so I can get a new song up in the meantime.

Finally, the best news: Since I don't have it ready today, the new song will be given to the mailing list people first, AND a free CD and poster will be given away to one lucky subscriber! Song goes out this Saturday at midnight, so be sure to sign up to get in on it.

Since this is a big posts, and people are idiots, here's a couple of my biggest milestones in what I feel to be the history of the site:

1. Releasing "Dino Hunter MD: The Sound Track"
It was something I did for some of my best friends, for something I was proud to be a part of, and something I followed through with until the end. It was hard, but I learned a lot of lessons for "Status Quo Radio"

2. My first convention gig at I-Con, which led to my first bit of music being played in a podcast
Even though they do regular podcasts sparingly, I still loves me some Rag-Nerd-Rok.
Also, they're trying to reboot it, so donate via IndieGoGo!

3. Getting my music featured in a game

4. My first ever interview! (2:00)

5. The one time Complex Magazine pimped out my song, "Lord I Miss Deadly Premonition"

6. The one time the TF2 Subreddit loved the shit out of my song "Boston Boom Bringer"

7. The one time the Two Best Friends Play subreddit loved the shit out of my song "Fahrenhype" 

8. Being a part of the awesomest podcast evar!!!

9. ALL THE FLORIDA CONVENTIONS (SO FAR)!

Still many more to list, so if I forgot any, let me know in the comments section that's totally here.

Now, let's take a look back and what everyone who stumbled through on Google decided were my best posts:
10.  Echo Chamber Post Game Episode 52
I don't know what it is about this episode, but- Oh... the first episode of "Anime Cow Is Late For School"

9. Discussion Topic: Gradual vs. Tier
A brief write up I did of budgeting Rock Band Network royalties... Interesting...

8. STATE OF THE BASTARD ADDRESS 2013
The most recent State Of The Bastard Address. It's like Status Quo Sunday, only more WHOA! Because I have a whole year, you see...

7.  Status Quo Sunday Gets Back From OMFG at AFO and listens to AFI
What folloooows... Is a compilation of AFI's early releases and my impressions of the biggest convention I've been to so far (aside from PAX East)

6. My Greatest Moments In Rock Band
A few little vignettes about some good times I had playing on plastic instruments.

5. YOUTUBE PARTY PARTY HARD!!!
A.K.A. Random videos that had stuff I did in them intersperse with other stuff so I don't look like a braggart.

4. The Great Plastic Guitar Gig In The Sky
A post-mortem on the Guitar Hero series. I have one for my Tony Hawk feelz, but it didn't make the Top 10. SORRY.

3. Todd In The Shadows: Best Pop Songs of 2010
Something that I linked to that features someone who is constantly googled.

2. REPOST: Cee Lo Green Coming To Rock Band
Me trollin' people. Not doing to good at it. At least I got some hits?   

1. Guitar Hero Arcade Setlist
AKA My Speculations, Followed by Actual News. CERTAINLY NOT UNDERWHELMING AT ALL

AHHH THE MEMORIES...

So, what does the future hold?
-Album Number 2, "Status Quo Radio". I'm looking at my options for mastering it, and trying to get a budget together so I can put out a Kickstarter.

-More conventions and shows! Florida's equivalent of Williamsburg is only a 10 minute drive away, so if I can score some shows there, I will.

-I'm going to be streaming again! This Wednesday, 8 PM, either The Walking Dead: 400 Days or Fables: The Wolf Among Us.

See you all next week, hopefully with some better news.