I had a dream last night. It wasn’t some big important dream about social change or anything like that, so put the pitchfork and torch down. It was a Nerdapalooza dream. I always start getting them about this time of year. They’re never Nerdapaloozas of past… they’re always Nerdapaloozas to come. This year was more me running around trying to solve problems without pants on (strangely no one seemed to care… I guess since they’ve all seen me without a shirt already), but it was filled to the rafters with screaming fans. It was beautiful nonetheless, and I look forward to making it a reality in the next two and a half months.

We don’t have many announcements this week, as we’re scurrying to get a lot of the behind the scenes stuff done. I do have a fun announcement of a contest from our pals over at Nerdy Show for our musically inclined readers:

Nerdy Show is oft known to do some crazy competitions, and this one may be the best yet! They are challenging fans and beatsmiths to throw together Capcom and Marvel themed beats (no real restrictions past that) to this 3 on 3 melee mixtape that will be featuring MegaRan, 8-Bit Duane, My Parent’s Favorite Music, Adam WarRock, The Wordburglar, and Tribe-One. Wow!! For more details be sure to go over to the contest page!

Also for ya, we have two artists for announcing! First up, we have the comedy rap group Illbotz, newcomers to Nerdapalooza, but ready to rock the place. They’ve been cranking out hilarious rhymes for a while, and while skits are usually more filler than content, Illbotz really captures the middle ground between hip-hop and comedy. Check out their latest video to Your iPod Sucks for more on that!!

Second up, I have the distinct honor and privilege to unveil another “Featured Performance,” and one that I’ve been dying to both see live and host at the nerdy stage since inception. I am truly pleased to announce The OneUps! For those not in the know, the OneUps are arguably the most dynamic video game cover band around, jumping between jazz, rock, metal, salsa, and anything else they want to throw in for fun! Go ahead and watch their performance at PAX 08 for a sample. The vid’s nine minutes long, but if you dig what they do to Super Mario Bros 2, you’ll want to stick around for Chrono Trigger

Tickets for Nerdapalooza 2011 are available through brownpapertickets.com for just $30 for single day tickets and $45 for weekend tickets only for attendees who purchase tickets before June 1st. To reserve your room today call 407-851-9000 or their toll-free number of 1-800-380-6751 and ask for 5th Annual Nerdapalooza Group Block, or online at this link, which will automatically take you to the Orlando Airport Marriott website with the discount code of nernera entered as the discount code.

That’s all we got for this week! Stick around as we keep working up a storm and getting ready for July!

Much nerdy love,

[hex]